{"id":1480,"date":"2020-10-14T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2020-10-14T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.echobox.com\/resources\/?p=1480"},"modified":"2022-09-19T16:03:01","modified_gmt":"2022-09-19T16:03:01","slug":"the-ultimate-facebook-research-series-for-publishers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.echobox.com\/resources\/blog\/the-ultimate-facebook-research-series-for-publishers\/","title":{"rendered":"The ultimate Facebook research series for publishers"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Facebook remains the key distribution platform for most publishers. Amidst the expanding landscape of social media platforms, Facebook continues to drive the lion’s share of social referral traffic for publishers: it generates nearly 14% of overall publisher traffic, followed by Twitter as a distant second at around 1%, according to the Social Media In<\/a>dex<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

At Echobox, we\u2019ve spent years studying Facebook\u2019s algorithms<\/a> and features in order to build unique innovations that exist nowhere else, such as a breaking news detection engine, algorithms that reverse-engineer Facebook\u2019s Newsfeed algorithm, Audience Graphs (a novel way to mathematically represent a publisher\u2019s audience), and many more.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Thanks to this extensive and ongoing R&D, we\u2019ve gained exclusive insights into how Facebook functions and behaves for publishers \u2013 and consequently, how publishers can maximize their performance on Facebook.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

In this article, we highlight a series of our most eye-opening Facebook research pieces that are sure to be valuable to any publisher. Keep reading and we guarantee you\u2019ll learn something new!<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

When is the best time to post on Facebook?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

A simple search online shows just how many varying answers there are to the seemingly straightforward question of when a publisher should share on Facebook to achieve maximum traffic. Coschedule, Fast Company, Hubspot, ShortStack, Forbes, Hootsuite, QuickSprout and many others claim to have the answer. And many publishers are using these supposed \u201cbest time\u201d insights to determine how and when they post content to social media.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Hypothesizing that this conventional wisdom is flawed, our data scientists conducted a comprehensive analysis of the optimal time to post to Facebook. This piece of Facebook research is based on extensive data from sector-leading publishers around the world and accurately answers the question of when the best time to post on Facebook really is for publishers.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Download this original research about the best time to post on Facebook:\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\n\t\t\tWhite Paper: When is the best time to post on Facebook?\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIs there a best time to post on Facebook? Depending on your business and your audience, the best time to post on Facebook can vary.\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How often should publishers post on Facebook?<\/strong><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Another question many publishers face is how often to post to Facebook in order to maximize referral traffic. How often should a publisher share content in order to appear regularly in Facebook\u2019s News Feed? While you may suspect that posting too frequently can have negative effects, did you know that Facebook also penalizes publishers for not posting frequently enough? So how often is \u201ctoo often\u201d for Facebook? What is the ideal timing and spacing for your Facebook posts in order to achieve optimal visibility and reach?<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Our data scientists studied this question and discovered that many publishers, unbeknownst to them, are suffering from traffic declines on each post due to Facebook penalization. Over the course of a single day, these \u201chidden\u201d penalties<\/a> result in significant traffic opportunities essentially being wasted.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

This research examines how Facebook\u2019s penalties impact publishers in different verticals and quantifies their effects in terms of lost traffic. Although this research was covered by various outlets (such as What\u2019s New in Publishing<\/a> and New Digital Age<\/a>), we recommend reading the complete research to understand how posting frequency can significantly impact your Facebook traffic levels, and how to optimize the spacing of your posts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Download this original research about Facebook post frequency and resulting penalization:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\n\t\t\tWhite Paper: Facebook\u2019s penalization algorithm revealed\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tIt\u2019s arguably one of the biggest secrets in social media publishing: Publishers are routinely being penalized by Facebook algorithms for posting…\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Should publishers reshare content on Facebook?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Should we reshare content on Facebook? How much should we reshare? How does resharing impact our Facebook performance?<\/em> If you\u2019ve ever asked any of these questions, you’ll find scientifically proven answers in this comprehensive research and 4-step guide.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

We studied 1.85 million Facebook shares to understand how resharing articles impacts Facebook performance. Our findings indicate that publishers who reshare their content on Facebook achieve 67% additional clicks<\/strong>, yet they only reshare a mere 8% of their total content on average. There’s an immense potential for publishers to capture more Facebook traffic, at no additional cost, by simply resharing content. This step-by-step guide shows you how, along with examples from leading publishers and recommendations for designing a Facebook resharing strategy that drives results.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Download the guide to learn all about resharing on Facebook for publishers:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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\n\t\t\tThe publisher\u2019s ultimate guide to resharing on Facebook\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\tWe studied 1.85 million Facebook shares to understand how resharing on Facebook drives publisher traffic and engagement. Learn the 4 steps to effective resharing!\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Does posting photos on Facebook affect clicks and traffic?<\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

How do Facebook post formats impact performance for publishers? Anyone looking for a clear answer will find that the available guidance is limited and mixed. While some in the industry have advised publishers to use a combination of Facebook post formats, we weren’t aware of any existing publisher studies proving the impact of this strategy. We therefore decided to conduct the largest ever scientific study on this topic, with a focus on photo posts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n

Our data scientists carried out a rigorous experiment to determine whether the introduction of photo posts had a positive impact on publishers\u2019 Facebook performance. Partnering with 11 leading publishers from around the world, we measured how the use of both link posts and photo posts to varying degrees affected performance across 4 key metrics:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n