5 Engaging Headline Tactics to Increase Facebook Sharing
Facebook recently changed its algorithm to favor content from family and friends in users’ timelines over that from companies. Content with more engagement (particularly comments and shares) will be given preference. Given this change, and many others that have taken place over the past year—from a tougher click bait algorithm to a crackdown on fake news—knowing how to write an engaging headline for Facebook is more important than ever before. The following five tactics can be used for headlines on a Facebook post, Facebook ad, or your own blogs and articles that you want to share on Facebook.
1) Speak Directly to Readers
When scrolling through content on Facebook, people immediately want to know if—and how—something will affect them. You can instantly grab someone’s attention by talking directly to them in the headline. According to HubSpot, headlines that include “who” have a 22 percent higher click-through-rate (CTR) than those without. Headlines with “you” in them are also highly effective. Research from Buzzsumo found that the most engaging three-word phrase in a headline on Facebook is “will make you.” This phrase gained more than twice the number of Facebook engagements as the second most popular headline trigram, according to Buzzsumo. This information will make you a better headline writer.
2) Appeal to Curiosity
As a coach, you may inherently be a curious person. Flip this thinking around to consider how to make your potential readers curious. Why would someone want to click on your article or post? “This is why” and “The reason is” are highly effective in getting someone interested in what you have to say, according to Buzzsumo.
3) Use Transformative Language
Coaching is all about transformation, so this should be easy to do! People want to make sense of their lives and grow. Consider how someone can do or use something powerful to change and transform themselves, all the while unlocking their fullest potential and achieving greatness.
4) Consider Buzzwords Relevant to Your Audience
Is your audience concerned with VUCA? Obsessed with Millennials and Gen Z? Maybe they want to learn more about mindfulness and gratitude. If you are writing about popular topics such as these, see if you can work buzzwords into the headline in a natural way. For example, a recently published article from our CEO/Executive Director Magda Mook was entitled “How Coaching can De-Escalate the Crisis for Women in STEM, One Workplace at a Time.” STEM (which stands for “science, technology, engineering and mathematics) is a buzzword that immediately pulls in a particular audience. Without STEM in this headline, it would make less sense and be less likely to attract the appropriate audience.
One statement of caution: Do not “stuff” (force) a buzzword into the headline just because. Facebook’s algorithm will detect that you are stuffing and will bury your content.
5) Use Numbers in Your Headlines
Who doesn’t love reading list articles? They make a straightforward promise to the reader to expect X number of things from the writer on a specific topic. They’re also fairly easy to write and valuable to the reader. Buzzsumo’s research found that 10 is the most engaging number to use in a headline. The numbers 5, 15 and 7 (in that order) were found to be the next most engaging after 10. (Notice the number in the headline of this list article that you are currently reading.)
What can you share with your audience? Here are some examples:
- 5 Simple Ways to Practice Mindfulness
- 7 Steps to Declutter Your Mind
- 15 Powerful Questions to Help You Achieve Your Goals
- 10 Habits to Make You More Productive This Year
Lisa Cunningham
Lisa Cunningham is a freelance writer and social media consultant. She holds a master’s degree in professional writing with a focus on web content development from Chatham University and a bachelor’s degree in English writing and communication from the University of Pittsburgh.
The views and opinions expressed in guest posts featured on this blog are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions and views of the International Coach Federation (ICF). The publication of a guest post on the ICF Blog does not equate to an ICF endorsement or guarantee of the products or services provided by the author.
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Hello Lisa,
Thanks for this informative post. I am an online entrepreneur and I often face choosing an appropriate headline for my Facebook post. I always share my post on social media to build a strong community who can help me develop my marketing strategy. Your points are absolutely fabulous and I believe I can work more effectively by applying these techniques. I sometimes use controversial headline obviously not in language which creates more attention to my viewers. “Consider Buzzwords Relevant to Your Audience” this concept I believe would work tremendously well for me.
Thanks for your share.
Hello Joseph,
I’m glad you found the information helpful and hope that they work for you.
Best of luck!
Lisa
Me ha resultado muy interesante, soy coach PCC en Madrid ( España ) y me interesa mucho aprender como comportarme en las redes sociales. Me gustaría recibir más información al respecto, pues tengo mucho que aprender….muchísimas gracias !!!!
Hello Marta,
We’ll continue to share social media related content via Coaching World under the “Business Development” category, so check back often.
Best regards,
Lisa
Thanks Lisa for writing such a good article on Facebook marketing concept and Facebook advertisement. I am looking to try these techniques for my website birchi.in People always try direct method but most of time these trick don’t works. Your tips are helpful for the person to make good blog marketing for their websites or blog. This content is so valuable and surely unique that people are happy and really helpful for them. there is no any other ways to get customers than email Marketing and no any pressure from your side, neither in the form of request nor hint or reminder in any ways.
Thanks
Hello Birchi,
Thank you for your nice note. I’m glad that you found the content valuable, and I hope that they work for you in practice.
Best regards,
Lisa
These headline tactics are very useful and amazing! I think it might be helpful to have some examples which can act as more inspiration for better hands-on experience. I think that might benefit and help the application. What do you think?