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Here's an interesting question I received recently:
"For the best bang for my buck, so to speak, is it better to re-share an image or status on Facebook or upload the exact same image to my wall every time? Does Facebook like self-share or will it limit my audience because that image already had its chance a week ago, to get likes? "
-- San Diego
If I understand the question correctly, San Diego is asking if there's any benefit for them to re-share what others post to Facebook. Naturally, we all do this on our personal accounts all day long. When I find something interesting, I will re-share it to my personal Facebook account when I think my friends will like it too. I also re-share things to my personal account when I think the message is something important that I think others should know about.
Curating Content
However, when it comes to business methods, if you're taking the time to share something to your business Facebook Page, then you should carefully consider if that re-shared message is something that your customers will find important. Some companies specialize in re-sharing content made by others; this practice is commonly referred to as content curating.
I'm assuming that San Diego is posting their own content to their Facebook page and re-sharing things found on other pages. I do suggest limiting the amount of re-shared content, simply because that drives people away from your own page and website. If you're going to re-share anything, then use the content found on your own website.
I had to dig into my collected data to look for an answer for the specific question about re-shared content. Sadly, with all the accounts I have access to, I couldn't find enough information about re-shared content to provide a reasonable answer. In that respect, I guess I've been stumped by your question.
Share, and Share Again
On the other hand, this data dive did give me a chance to evaluate the current success of different Facebook post types. The first thing I looked for was any information regarding the re-posting of the same information to the same page. It might seem silly to repost the same information to your Facebook Page more than once, but this is a common practice to promote upcoming events. In my measured results, it looks like Facebook will not penalize you if you post the same photo two, or three days in a row leading up to an event. You can achieve the same reach, or even a better reach on subsequent days.
Content Sharing Types
Text Posts: Of all the post types I reviewed, it looks like the text only status update has the lowest reach, regardless if it's purely organic or boosted.
Image Posts: It seems like image posts have a further reach than all other types right now, that is, as long as the text posted with them captures interest within the first few words. Recent top performing image posts also had hashtags as the first (or only) caption, or had a casual or playful introduction.
Shared Link Posts: I prefer the shared link post above all others. Or rather, let me say that all of your social shares should include a link back to your website. You can upload a photo and then include a link in the description that directs people back to your website. The shared link posts performs better than the Text Posts, and about as well as an Image Post that does without a caption.
Video Posts: I expected to see better performance on video posts right now, especially with some of the recent enhancements Facebook made to their videos. Yet, for all the videos with great reach, I also measured an equal number of videos with horrible organic reach. My conclusion here is that the video itself must be compelling within the first 10 to 15 seconds. That's about how long it will take for someone to scroll right past it in their news feed. There's a lot of opportunity here for businesses willing to put in some video creation effort.
Conclusions
Here are the takeaway points for today:
- It's okay to repost the same image several days in a row leading up to a specific event.
- Image posts with captivating captions have the best organic reach.
- Video posts need to capture attention within the first 10 to 15 seconds.
- Shared links and image posts without captions have about equal organic reach.
- Text only status updates have the lowest organic reach.
