Slides from my presentation with Theo Lamb at NetSquared Camp, May, 2012

1. How NGOs win on Facebook
Here comes the science

4. ✤ Questions
✤ What kind of content earns the most likes, comments and
shares?
✤ Which organizations are killing it on Facebook?

5. What we did

6. Earthjustice Sierra Club
Surfrider David Suzuki Foundation
Rainforest Action Network Unfriend Coal
350.org NRDC
National Audubon Society Project Aware
Greenpeace USA Leave No Trace
National Wildlife Federation Ducks Unlimited
The Story of Stuff Earth Hour
Earth Rangers WWF Canada
Conservation International Nature Conservancy

10. What we observed

11. Content Types

12. Days of the Week

13. ✤ Other facts
✤ For every 1 comment, there are 3 shares and 11 likes.
✤ External links mostly went to mainstream news sources.
✤ Collectively, the NGOs averaged almost exactly one post a
day.
✤ There was no obvious correlation between day of the week
and post popularity.
✤ Hardly anybody ever uses Facebook Questions.
✤ 18 of the 20 most popular posts were photos.

14. What we figured

15. Engagement =
Likes +
(Comments * 2.5) +
(Shares * 5)

16. Engagement vs. Frequency

17. Engagement
Org Names Removed

18. Content Types by NGO
Org Names Removed

19. Photos and Video
Org Names Removed

20. Links
Org Names Removed

21. Org Names Removed

22. What we admired

29. Top ten posts:
http://j.mp/NGOFBposts

30. What we recommend

31. ✤ Recommendations
✤ You’re probably not publishing enough photos and videos.
✤ People like simple messages laid over photos.
✤ Link more often to sites other than your own.
✤ Ask people to share your content sparingly.
✤ Emulate Earthjustice, Surfrider and Rainforest Action
Network.
✤ Engagement in your social media channels probably reflects
engagement across your entire organization, in all channels.

32. Questions?