When Facebook suggests you to boost and then changed its mind…
Have you ever tried to boost one of your Facebook posts that was performing pretty well organically? Probably.
Now, has Facebook ever prevented you – on second thought – from boosting the post it recommended you boost in the first place, only because the visual attached to your post didn’t comply with Facebook’s ratio rule for text on visuals?
Yes? Then, I’ve written this post just for you.
Oh, and if you’ve noticed that your Facebook posts with visuals including overlay text don’t perform as well as others, keep reading even if you never boost organic posts on Facebook. You should find this post useful.
Overlay text on social media visuals & the Godilock Effect
When your images are fed directly from your website to Facebook via special invisible tags generated by your CMS, Facebook’s “20% text” rule imposed for visuals can be a headache.
Why?
Mainly because a bit more overlay text for your visuals on other social media platforms – like Twitter – can mean the difference between communicating your message and sharing mere eye candy.
On our Twitter neverending feeds, visuals catch the eye – as do videos and animated GIFs, but they usually don’t communicate enough of your message.
Yes, you now have 280 characters on Twitter (and, tweet threads!) to provide more details about your event or campus initiative.
Yes, your followers can always click to learn more, thus following your call to action.
But, how many will bother to do either without a compelling reason to do so?
In the busy, noisy environment a twitter feed has become, your visual can grab the attention of your followers and carefully chosen overlay text can convey essential information or place a call to action.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying your social media visuals should be transformed into walls of overlay text. But, I think it’s important to use as much text as necessary — and permitted by Facebook’s algorithm.
One visual to rule them all?
In an ideal world, you would design as many versions of your visuals as there are social media platforms.
But, you have a busy life and it’s also very easy to forget to attach the Facebook version when posting an article on Facebook or via your social media management platform.
And, if somebody else at your institution shares a link to your article on Facebook (unless your CMS allows the author of the article to upload different visuals for different platforms – something technically possible), different visuals won’t help.
For that very special campaign where the stakes are high, it makes sense to follow the craftsman’s approach by uploading a special visual just for Facebook, but on a daily basis, your website should work for – not against – you.
Keep it simple, Busy!
My journey to a social media visual designed for the common denominator
When I decided to redesign the digital banners we use for our annual higher ed social media, analytics and content conferences, my mind was set on a cleaner, less DIY look.
It was important to feature prominently the photos of the speakers as well as some basic information about the conference. You know, to answer the usual suspects: what, when, where and how?
In the past, I used 2 different visuals: one for Facebook and another for the other social media platforms. But, we had a few mishaps preventing us to amplify successful organic posts – which can help spread the word even more broadly.
The goal was to design for the minimum common denominator and adopt a unique template.
I asked Chase Baker from the CSU Social Team and a past conference presenter to work on this project.
So, this past summer, he came up with a few options including one I later modified to get to the current design.
Since Facebook is always the difficult one with text overlay, I asked Chase to test his designs using Facebook Image Text Check tool – a must-use simple tool for your designer to figure out how much text can be added to your visuals.
Chase wasn’t aware of the tool, but found it really helpful.
As I said above, I later modified the template to adapt it for the different life stages of our annual higher ed marketing conferences. After each small edit, I kept using the tool to make sure I didn’t exceed Facebook accepted ratio.
For all the talk about machine learning and the advanced technology used at Facebook, the algorithm playing the bouncer role at the boosting party is pretty elementary. It seems to rely on a very basic – and not super flexible – ratio.
Just look at the following differences between 2 modifications that got opposite test results from the tool.
The first modification of the template didn’t get Facebook passing grade, the second did:
Can you spot the difference? It’s not even a difference in the quantity of text!
Yet, this tiny difference in design will make or break the chance of your visual to play the organic reach game or get help from a paid boost. If you’re not in compliance with this rule, Facebook won’t even take your money!
So, start to use this tool if you don’t yet — and keep using it – after each modification.
Meet the Faculty: Karine Joly
Higher Ed Experts is a professional online school for digital professionals working in universities and colleges.
When you take a professional certificate course with us, you get a chance to upgrade your skills by working on your projects, interacting with classmates just like you and getting detailed personalized feedback from your instructor.
Karine Joly founded Higher Ed Experts in April 2007 and teaches Higher Ed Expert’s 8-week online course on Social Media Marketing for Higher Education.
She oversee the development of the professional development curriculum for the school. She shares her insights about emerging web and social media trends on collegewebeditor.com, a popular and independent blog launched in February 2005. She also authors the Internet Technologies column for University Business. Karine has presented on social media marketing, web analytics and online courses at leading higher ed conferences (CASE, American Marketing Association, EduComm, eduWeb, CUPRAP, HighEdWeb, PSEweb, UB Tech, etc.).
Tags: Higher Ed Experts Faculty, Higher Ed News, Karine Joly