Link Format

Episode #5 of the course How to create stunning content on Facebook by PromoRepublic

 

As we have already mentioned in our first lesson, links are quite engaging. There are two ways to share links on Facebook:

1. Paste your link into a post and Facebook will automatically populate an image, title, and description
According to Facebook statistics, this type of linking is more engaging than a plain text post. The user sees additional information about your content, and you have a better chance to engage and convert your followers. You can also edit the link description according to your tastes.

Tip: Be careful when sharing someone else’s links. Depending on the URL’s metadata, Facebook can pull up unnecessary information like an ad or some other text you don’t want to share.

2. Upload an image and paste a link in the status update box or upload a video file
In this case, the image is not clickable. The post will contain only the information you mention. Be aware that long links do not look attractive. If you need to post one, use URL shorteners like ow.ly, bit.ly, goo.gl, and others.

Note that in this case, your link will open in a separate tab.

If you upload a video file, it won’t contain any description, and the preview image will look much better.

Although the first way to share links (mentioned above) gets almost double the clicks, that does not necessarily mean that it’s the best choice. Which method you use depends on many factors.

For example, say you want to share a YouTube link. If you do it according to the first method, your link will look like this:

And there is nothing you can do with the description, because YouTube links are not editable. Therefore, it might be better to use the second method and upload a video file (or if it’s an image, upload a nice one of your choice together with a solid description and short link).

The same applies to images, articles, and other shareable URLs: carefully check the appearance before publishing to make it look perfect.

Hack: If you create your posts via PromoRepublic or Buffer, you can change the automatically inserted image in just a few clicks.

Our next lesson will reveal the truth about timeline contests on Facebook. There are some important rules you need to follow if you don’t want Facebook to ban your promo.

 

Recommended book

“Everybody Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content” by Ann Handley

 

Share with friends