This study sheds light on potential content strategies for university and college Facebook pages in terms of how content should be shared and what types of content should be shared. By recording the engagement levels of 1,400 posts across the 14 Big Ten University Facebook pages, some interesting themes emerged on what these fan bases found most engaging.
How Should We Share?
Posts with a link off the Facebook platform saw significantly lower engagement rates than posts with simply a photo, text or a combination of the two. This is likely due to the low probability of a user returning to engage with a post after being directed away.
The most engaging posts on Facebook for higher education institutions are photos with short snippets of text (fewer than 50 characters). Surprisingly, video content received less engagement than posts with a photo, text or both.
[Tweet “What makes a Facebook post engaging? Photos! #HigherEd”]
What Should We Share?
In this study, there were more than 60 content themes used to classify posts, so the five themes in the infographic truly stand out from the pack.
Here are the top five most engaging posts in order:
- Varsity Sports – Posts related to varsity sports teams saw the highest levels of engagement, as many students and alumni are passionate about their institution’s sports teams and love sharing this content on Facebook.
- Campus Scenery – Second to varsity sports were photos of campus scenery, especially well-known buildings and landmarks around campus.
- Formal Recognition – Posts that formally recognize an institution (or the institution’s city), such as a top S. News and World Report ranking, were third in engagement.
- Holiday Related – This includes posts on holidays that typically incorporate the institution’s logo or mascot, along with the holiday theme.
- Alumni Feature – Content that highlights a successful alumnus’ story is last on this list, but it beat out the majority of content many institutions promote on Facebook.
[Tweet “Facebook posts related to varsity sports teams receive high levels of engagement. #HigherEd”]
Institutions should post about many subjects to appeal to their diverse fan bases and keep students and alumni informed. But incorporating these themes more frequently will make your posts more engaging and potentially increase your following on Facebook.
How Much Should I Share?
When it comes to generating engagement on Facebook, keep it simple. Posts with 50 words or fewer were about twice as engaging as posts with 51-100 words. Videos less than one minute had an engagement rate twice that of videos between one and two minutes. Focus on the most powerful takeaway of your content, and condense it into a 50-word post or 1-minute video.
Want more great social media tips? Download our free eBook on Social Media Governance.
The schools represented are part of a research project. Their inclusion does not represent their endorsement of Converge.
