With over 50 Million Small Businesses on Facebook, how can you optimize your content to increase likes? While it may seem like a daunting challenge, the effort is undoubtedly worthwhile. In fact, Synapse estimates the average value of a single Facebook fan is $174 – which may convince you that you’re spending your time well.

There’s no doubt that capturing the attention and loyalty of your target audience on Facebook is important – not only to increase likes but revenue too.

With so may small businesses vying for attention on each users’ news feed, it is more important than ever to make the most of every Facebook post.

The more fans interact with your Facebook content (liking, commenting on posts and sharing), the higher the likelihood that your content will appear on their news feed. 

Tips to Increase Likes on Facebook

1 – Post After Hours

Increase Likes on Facebook by Posting Off Hours

Scheduling a Facebook update with dlvr.it is easy. To do that, create a new route in dlvr.it and schedule posts between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. Collect enough data (suggest 5-10 posts worth) and check if your key metrics increase. Don’t stress about creating new content. Re-post the same content you post before 8 p.m. Alternatively, if you are not comfortable posting the same content twice, do one posting window.

Create a posting schedule to increase likes

 

2 – Include Photos/Images

Post with images increase likes on Facebook

Create Photo Posts in dlvr.it. According to Trend Reports, between 65 and 85 percent of people describe themselves as visual learners. The data from Facebook clearly shows that photo posts increase engagement. In one click, you can quickly test photo-posting engagement. Look at the before and after results in your dlvr.it stats. Are you getting more clicks from each post?

Add photos to increase likes on Facebook

 

3 – Include a Call-to-Action

Post to Facebook at least once per day to increase likes

In addition to posting great content at least once per day, test different call-to-actions that will be automatically included in your Facebook posts. Furthermore, data shows a call-to-action should be placed within the first ninety characters of you Facebook update.

Here are some great call-to-action suggestions:

  • Read now
  • Click to save
  • Learn more
  • Visit now
  • Click for details

Add call-to-actions to your Facebook udpates to increase likes

 

4 – Understand What Your Audience Likes

Over 68% of your fans ignore your posts because they are uninteresting. Learn what your fans like before posting. Understand the images, videos, posts they share and build content that mirrors that.  Facebook People Search is a wealth of free information that can help you build a profile on your customers and competitors that you can then use to create smart content that will increase likes.

5 – Add the Page Plugin

Use Facebook’s Page Plugin on your website. A like button next to your blog posts is great for getting your content shared, but the Page Plugin will help you increase likes.

6 – Repost On Other Social Networks

By now you have likely noticed that your Facebook posts don’t reach your entire fan base. Recent research indicates that any given post only reaches 6% of your fans, and that number continues to decline! Bring attention to your Facebook posts on Twitter and Pinterest for example by creating an RSS feed of your Facebook posts and instantly sharing to other social networks.

7 – Keep it Short

Keep your posts short and sweet. Some research seems to suggest that shorter posts (those between 100-119 characters) may result in the highest engagement. Other research suggests keeping your character count to 40 characters or less for optimal engagement. (Tip from Forbes)

8 – Optimize for Facebook Search

As a result of optimizing your page for Facebook Search, you’ll increase the likelihood of being discovered by key prospects. Use relevant keywords in your posts, images, videos and Facebook bio. Link to your page from your website and other web properties.

9 – Post Videos

Video posts have 135% greater organic reach than photo posts. Facebook video posts are a powerful way to reach more people and increase likes.

10 – Optimize Facebook Cover Photo

Make sure your Facebook Cover Photo is professional and optimized for both desktop and Facebook mobile sites. When people come to your page, it only takes them a split second to decide whether to like it or not.

11 – Add a Call-to-Action to your Cover Photo

Facebook has a call-to-action feature that will help Pages drive business objectives. Check that you have this feature enabled.

Additionally, remember to add hashtags to your Facebook posts. Because fans follow specific hashtags they care about, this will expose your content to new audiences.

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For even more tips on increasing likes, read our guide on How to Create the Perfect Facebook Business Page.