How to Post on Facebook: The Ultimate 2600+ Word Guide for Beginners and Experts

Facebook is ingrained into modern life. Over 2.9 billion people across the globe use it to connect and share moments. With steeper competition, truly mastering Facebook posting is now essential whether you simply want to catch up with friends or grow a business.

This comprehensive 2600+ word guide will uncover everything you need to know. Expect actionable tips rooted in data-driven best practices and a unique perspective honed from over a decade analyzing social media trends.

Let‘s dive in and level up your Facebook game.

Getting Started: Accounts, Profiles and Pages

Before sharing your first post, you need a Facebook presence. New users can create an individual account using an email or phone number. This allows connecting with friends and family.

Facebook Pages cater more to public figures, businesses and brands since followers don’t need to approve connections. Ensure you create the right foundation:

Year - Monthly Active Facebook Users 
2008 - 100 million
2011 - 500 million 
2012 - 1 billion
2017 - 2 billion
2019 - 2.4 billion  
2021 - 2.91 billion

Chart showing Facebook‘s immense growth over the years. Data Source: Statista

With exponential adoption, new users face fierce competition for attention now. But properly optimizing your profile or page helps content stand out.

Types of Facebook Posts

Familiarize yourself with all formats at your disposal to keep followers engaged long-term:

Text Posts

Plain status updates sharing thoughts, questions and announcements. Despite being the most basic, well-crafted wording still sparks discussion.

Photo Posts

Visually appealing images tend to garner high reach. Photography performs exceptionally well in travel, food, lifestyle/fashion and DIY niches.

Video Posts

If a photo is worth a thousand words, video conveys ten thousand. Humorous clips, inspirational quotes, behind the scenes footage, tutorials and live streams captivate audiences when they scroll. Videos under one minute have the highest completion rates based on Facebook metrics.

Stories

These ephemeral, full screen photos and videos only stick around 24 hours. Their temporary nature encourages more authentic, raw content. Stories are best leveraged for giveaways, polls, “ask me anything” boxes and links.

Blend post formats to pique viewers‘ curiosity. But resist over complicating your feed. Attention spans today average just eight seconds according to studies. You have moments to make an impression.

Crafting Engaging Social Content

Simply posting won’t grow your following alone though. Truly engaging content marries visual media with psychological triggers tailored to your niche. Master these elements:

Pose Questions

Rousing discussions require effort on followers‘ behalf too. Posing questions, especially open-ended, inspires more comments than statements alone ever could. Queries add an aspect of mystery or controversy missing from most feeds.

Give Exclusive Sneak Peeks

Tease insiders with special access to content first through social media. These behind the scenes images or clips prompt audiences to hit like and share with friends to unlock more previews. Remember scarce resources receive greater value.

Incorporate Current Events/Trends

Tying posts back to what’s currently popular signals cultural fluency. Hashtag games like #ThrowbackThursday or #MotivationalMonday provide templates for users less creative. Aligning with awareness months, holidays or news earns relevance with minimal effort too.

Feature User Generated Content

User generated content significantly converts higher than brand photos alone according to SmartInsights. This authenticity and transparency wins trust faster. Crowdsource fun contests for customers or employees to submit images highlighting your products in real world usage.

Go Live Often

Live video cultivates community and urgency unlike pre-recorded footage. Announce sales, demo products, host panels, recognize employees or start a lunch and learn series. Maintain these professional streams via planning agendas and proper equipment.

Savvy content blends emotion and value. Brainstorm what problems your brand solves or how you enhance lives beyond transactions. Spotlight loyal customers and employees. Transparency builds connections rival companies struggle replicating.

Post Creation from Desktop and Mobile

The process for sharing Facebook posts remains straightforward whether from web browser or mobile app:

Posting via Desktop

1. Navigate to www.facebook.com
2. Click “Create Post” in left column
3. Draft update in the pop-up box
4. Insert emojis, photos, videos, locations or tag people
5. Select audience like public, friends, groups, etc.
6. Click the Post button

Total steps? Just six. Easy.

Based on Facebook’s internal statistics, desktop usage now represents just 21% of total time spent on its platform. So make sure to optimize posting for mobile viewers too.

Posting via Mobile

Over 79% of Facebook usage stems from mobile apps presently. And rising as developing countries gain internet access primarily via smartphones, not desktops.

Posting through Android or iOS apps follows comparable logic:

1. Launch Facebook app
2. Tap “What’s on your mind?” status box
3. Compose update and insert attachments
4. Choose audience
5. Hit the Post button

You‘ll notice the interfaces are nearly identical for consistency across devices. This cross-platform reflex lowers barriers to posting from anywhere conveniently.

Based on Facebook IQ analytics, native mobile posting frequency doubles desktop. The top reason cited? Accessibility. Phones remain handy consistently unlike booting up laptops. Higher visibility into notifications prompts engagement too.

If you manage business pages, utilize Facebook Creator Studio for more analytics and publishing options like schedules and workflows.

Posting via Social Media Management Platforms

Rather than logging into Facebook itself, social media managers often prefer consolidated platforms like Hootsuite, Sprout Social and Buffer. These tools enable scheduling future content, managing multiple accounts/profiles and listening into audience conversations easier.

However, native posting on Facebook itself has advantages over third-party automation still:

Pros

• Real-time post personally from anywhere
• Access more analytic data than external platforms
• View/respond to comments quicker
• Change visibility settings easier

Cons

• Unable to schedule natively
• Managing multiple pages cumbersome

Evaluate whether simplicity or scaling requires third-party social management before committing long-term. Cost also factors into platform decisions needing ROI justification.

Crafting Attention-Grabbing Captions

Even amazing photos struggle driving engagement alone without intriguing captions. Since Facebook prioritizes text accompanying posts within algorithms, seriously sharpen writing skills.

Effective captions:

• Spotlight multimedia context succinctly
• Resonate emotionally through humor, surprise or drama
• Encourage social sharing via tagging friends connected to the moment
• Inspire reactions through clear calls-to-action like contests, quizzes or giveaways entries

Length matters also. General wisdom states limiting captions to two sentences or 125 characters. But new Convince&Convert research reveals longer captions boost overall engagement.

Specifically video view duration rose:

• 135% using 80 character captions
• 150% with 125 characters
  This directly translated into more likes, clicks and shares ultimately.

So don’t shy from detail despite common shorter guidance. However, excess length risks information overload. Strive for balance and split details into comments when necessary.

Optimizing Post Timing

With fierce competition, when you post can make/break content performance too. Analyze Facebook Insights data plus your audience’s unique habits to pinpoint optimal windows.

HubSpot research into over 7 million Facebook posts concluded:

• Most reactions occur Wednesday 10 AM – 1 PM
• Most shares happen Monday 12 – 6 PM

However, weekends see fewer publishes overall allowing standing out easier if audiences remain active. Leverage tools like Quintly to understand your fans specifically.

The below heat map charts relative Facebook usage hourly with prime engagement zones in red. Yellow marks moderate interactions and blue/black denote quietest periods.

Chart highlighting the ebb and flow of Facebook usage day over day. Image Credit: SproutSocial

Activity peaks mid-week in late morning through early afternoon. Engagement rises again 8-9 PM once people wind down scrolling before bed.

Tailor this broader data to your audience’s geography, gender, age and habits using Facebook’s built-in analytics found under “Insights” via desktop. Filters even allow honing into your best customers specifically.

no one universal ideal posting time exists despite common myths. Base decisions on evidence directly from your social community.

Promoting Content Through Paid Ads & Boosting

While organic content plays an important role, even the savviest social media managers allocate budgets for paid reach to accelerate results.

Consider these options:

Page Post Campaigns

Boosting posts amplifies visibility through sponsored display to cold audiences who may not follow your page yet. You control parameters like objectives for engagement/conversions, audiences, devices, durations and spending caps. Cost per click or impression models apply based on your goal.

Video Views Campaigns

Pages boast far higher organic reach than profiles on Facebook. But video views competition grows intense. Paying to promote video content helps slash 70%+ in cost per view according to PageLytics. Dial in targeting to metrics that matter most whether watch time or completed views.

Click To Messenger Ads

For ecommerce brands, click to messenger ads seamlessly transport visitors into personal conversations to capture sales. Past customers, website visitors and lookalike audiences prove prime targets as they carry established awareness and intent.

Lead Generation Campaigns

Direct qualified traffic into your sales funnel by enticing them to fill out customized Lead Gen forms. Then export this data into your CRM for future remarketing. Typical forms collect emails, phone numbers, birth dates, event RSVPs and survey responses.

Apparently over 5 million businesses actively advertise on Facebook today. So committing ad dollars likely makes sense tackling saturation. Just ensure you first nail fundamentals like detailed targeting parameters. Garbage in, garbage out.

With advanced promotion capabilities though, Facebook advertising risks complexities overwhelming rookie advertisers. Seek guidance from specialists at Facebook Blueprint, Shopify Pursuit or WordStream to leverage atmospherically-high ROIs possible.

Evaluating Content Performance

Checking Facebook Insights intermittently remains insufficient for continual optimization. Monitor analytics regularly across devices to govern success.

Key Performance Indicators

• Reach
• Impressions
• Engagement Rate
• Clicks
• Conversions
• Return on Ad Spend

Compare performance not just week over week but segment data by audience, demographic, captions used and creative variations. Uncovering why some posts flourish while others flop proves invaluable.

Build snapshots into easily digestible charts or tables using software tools like Google Data Studio, Klipfolio or Grow to spotlight trends for stakeholders unfamiliar with social platforms too.

Sample engagement rate chart demonstrating July‘s social content generating more interactions.

Proactively audit your strategy rather than just admiring vanity metrics like follower counts. Measure real business impact like lead quality, traffic referrals and sales influenced.

iOS Privacy Changes Impacting Facebook Ads

In the closing months of 2021, Apple rocked digital marketing by allowing iOS users to block apps tracking activity across sites and devices. These privacy controls limit data previously leveraged for ultra-targeted Facebook and Instagram ads.

Early testing on Facebook suggests iOS 14+ users opt out of tracking at astonishly high rates:

Table highlighting global iOS user preferences to block tracking since iOS 14 changes. Data source: Lotame

These seismic shifts will disrupt behavioral targeting and retargeting foundationally going forward.

Initial signs already show substantially reduced advertiser revenues. For example, Snapchat detailed in August 2021 earnings that:

• Impressions fell 8% since iOS introduced tracking prompts
• Cost per impression rose 19% YoY

Facebook itself has publicly disclosed advertiser struggles adjusting to limited data access. SMBs with smaller budgets appear hardest hit.

Although Facebook promises its own data will minimize disruptions, marketers must reevaluate playbooks reliant on deep customer insights from external sites. Mobile ad precision drops significantly without browser, in-app and location tracking elements previously fused to construct detailed user profiles.

Those better embracing privacy-centric targeting methods will outmaneuver competitors stuck relying purely on guesswork. Seek first party data like email lists and customer loyalty profiles for better odds when third party tracking vanishes. The stakes rise higher in 2024 as Chrome plans similar tracking restrictions.

Key Takeaways and Next Steps

Let’s quickly recap posting best practices explored throughout this guide:

• Consistently post valuable and engaging content weekly if not daily
• Respond to any questions or comments on your posts in a timely manner
• Experiment with different post formats (video vs images), captions and calls to action
• Optimize timing based on when your audience is most active
• Promote important posts via recommendations and paid boosting to maximize reach
• Track performance data like engagement rates and conversion metrics

While Facebook offers unparalleled global scale, simply creating an account won‘t accelerate business alone. Consistency, quality content and genuine community interactions ultimately win.

Now sharpen your social skills out into the wild beyond this post. Import lessons learned back to continually refine your approach. Soon you‘ll organically build an audience actively seeking out your updates daily for business or personal growth through Facebook.

Any other questions on optimizing your Facebook presence? Sound off below!