Photos boost social engagement

New data from SocialBakers reveals that, no matter how big or small a brand's following is on Facebook, their best posts are those that include a photo. Similar research by Twitter reveal the same can be said of Tweets.

by Helen Leggatt

According to SocialBakers' study of more than 30,000 brands' Facebook posts over the course of a month, three-quarters of those posts were photographs. That compares to just 10% that were links and 6% that were a simple text status.

Furthermore, across all Facebook Page sizes, photo posts drove the most interactions, although the Pages with the largest following of 1 million+ demonstrated the highest interaction.

However, as SocialBakers point out in their blog post, their findings do not necessarily mean that by posting a photo a brand will automatically garner huge engagement.

"It simply reveals a common trait that the best posts feature more frequently than do ordinary posts," they say. "In order to take advantage of insights like these, you need to know more than just one metric - you need to know all of them."

Douglas Mason, a Twitter data scientist, also revealed the power of photos in his analysis of millions of Tweets sent by verified users in the U.S.

His results show that by adding a photo Tweets averaged 35% more ReTweets than those without. Similarly, Tweets with video saw 28% more ReTweets.

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: brand marketing, photos, social marketing, social network, SocialBakers