Everyone on social media will tell you that a post is as only as good as its visibility. This aspect of social media is innately understood by marketers and social media gurus, who rely upon tried and true methods of getting their message delivered to the masses. Whether you already have a developed social media presence or simply have a small collection of followers on Facebook, these individuals are your gateway to the outside world, to exposure and to free marketing. If you have been struggling with optimal post reach as of late and want to use data-driven solutions to rectify the problem, continue reading to find out what has been proven to work based on hundreds of thousands of posts’ results.

Schedule and Space Your Posts

We know that Facebook posts have a half-life of around five hours – what does that mean for your exposure? It means that if a post is going to do phenomenally well, you’ll know within a short period of time. Never put all of your eggs in one basket; by scheduling your posts in advance via the integrated schedule tool for Facebook pages, you can have a regular stream of content pouring out for your viewers. Studies have shown that pinging users with this information at all times of the day can produce excellent engagement rates (yes, even at night; less competition). A disproportionate number of successful posts or those that have gone viral are actually posted during the weekend, so save your better content for these occasions.

Use Images When Possible

Not every piece of content can be incorporated into an image, but you do have the ability to use images quite often. When sharing from other sites, you can replace the thumbnail image before you schedule the post; you can also set cover and feature images for your posts and pages with one of many simply WordPress theme add-ons. Why are images so important in boosting Facebook post reach? Because people demand them! We have seen a consistent trend documented from multiple labs and studies of social media data that suggests that a status update with an image will produce about 40% more engagement and interaction than a post without images.

Incorporate Hashtags

Yes, even on Facebook, you can benefit from the use of hashtags in your posts. While the hashtag feature for Facebook as a whole seems to be less utilized than was expected, one study reports that posts with one or two hashtags (no more than two; your reach will actually diminish if you spam) in them can increase engagement by 20 to 30 percent. Predominately applicable to those who use Twitter quite a bit as well as Facebook, many currently unconnected individuals will instinctively click on various hashtags for subjects, giving them a chance to see your statuses. You can also use this as an opportunity – Facebook status posts can be automatically fed directly to Twitter upon publication, so using hashtags and the @ function in Facebook posts will mean that your content is properly indexed and pinging users across multiple social media networks.