4 Ways To Extend The Life Of A Facebook Update

Social Media marketers are always juggling a bunch of things. We’re always thinking about impacting and engaging our fans. That’s our job after all. Of the many things we consider on a daily basis, on the top of our list is what to post and when to post.

We know that the lifespan of a social media update is short. Most engagement and impressions happen within the first few hours of posting. This could change with Facebook’s new algorithm update, but it shouldn’t change it dramatically.

Wisemetrics analyzed Facebook update data and confirmed that the life of a post is quite short. Here’s what they found:

• 75% of engagement occurs within the first 5 hours.
• 75% of impressions are reached with only 2 hours 30 minutes.
• 75% of your audience sees your message in less than 2 hours.
• It takes 30 minutes for a post to get 50% of its Global Reach.

Pretty depressing, huh? It doesn’t have to be. Here are ways to increase the life of your posts.

How To Increase The Life Of Your Facebook Updates

1. Promoted Post

This is going to cost you some money, however, it’s a sliding scale and worth it. The more fans you have, the more you’re going to pay. But the more you pay, the more fans you’ll reach. A promoted post lasts, on average, for about 3 days, which means you can take that post that might only last a few hours and extend it over the period of a few days.

2. Re-Share

By re-sharing a post you’ve already posted, you’re giving that second chance to shine. In order to be effective here, be sure to change the text when you click share.

3. Repost

I find nothing wrong with posting something multiple times. If you’re sharing an article, you might want to break it down into a few different shareable posts. Take a look at my previous article for some tips on doing that.

4. Timing

Timing is everything. Analyze your Facebook Insights and see when your fans are on Facebook. You can also take a look at this infographic for more data on the best times to post.

*Bonus*  Increase Engagement
By increasing the engagement, you’ll increase the length the post is shown and the amount of people the post is shown to. For more details on increasing engagement on FB see here.