Nearly 20% of all Facebook posts from the Interbrand Top 100 Brands now incorporate clickable hashtags, according to a recent report by Simply Measured.
That percentage reflects a rapid adoption of the tactic by marketers, taking into account that the tags were rolled out by Facebook only on June 12.
However, brand posts containing hashtags are not driving additional engagement, instead performing at the same level as posts without hashtags—and suggesting that people are not yet discovering brand posts by their tags.
Below, additional key findings from the study, which examined how the Interbrand Top 100 Brands used Facebook from May 1 to June 30, 2013.
Top-Performing Content
- During May and June, photos accounted for 74% of brand posts on Facebook and received 95% of total engagement on brand posts.
- Photos posted by the top brands averaged more than 9,400 engagements per post, making them by far the most engaging type of content.
- Videos are the second most engaging content type, averaging more than 2,500 engagements per post.
- Brands have recognized the power of visual content: together, photos and videos account for more than 80% of brands posts.
Status Updates
- Although status updates trail photos and videos, they rank third in per-post engagement.
- Analysis of over 500 status updates from the top brands shows that the longer a status update is, the less engagement it typically receives.
- However, if a status update is too short (shorter than 50 characters), it also has a lower engagement rate.
Interbrand Top 100 Brands on Facebook
- Nearly all of the Interbrand Top 100 brands have well-established Facebook pages: 98% of brands have a fan page, and 60% average at least one post per day.
- Brands average 1.5 posts per day, but some post much more frequently and are still able to maintain strong engagement rates. For example, Ferrari has one of the most engaging brand pages: It averages eight posts per day, but it still has an engagement rate of 43%, nearly 3x the Interbrand average.
- The Interbrand 100 Top Brands average 7,259 engagements per post.
About the research: The report examined the Facebook activity of the Interbrand Top 100 Brands from May 1 to June 30, 2013. It was based on data from Simply Measured's analytics and reporting platform.
