Everyone who uses Facebook for their business asks themselves the same question:

“How do I get more likes and shares?”

Even if you’re not active on Facebook, your readers can still share your content on Facebook to help you get even more traffic.

For 99% of businesses with an online presence, it makes sense to get as many shares and likes as possible.

Each time a Facebook user shares or likes your content, that content gets exposed to all of that user’s friends.

It helps you get more traffic, subscribers, and eventually customers.

Don’t get me wrong. Other social platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, and YouTube, are all important as well. But a solid social media foundation starts with Facebook.

It’s tough to ignore the fact that Facebook has 2.2 billion active monthly users. Just based on this alone, it’s inevitable that your target market is active on this platform.

But setting up a Facebook business page and posting content isn’t enough to be successful. If people don’t like your page, nobody will see your promotions and what you’re offering.

There is a common misconception that getting people to follow you on Facebook is a costly investment.

Just because some brands are spending money on Facebook ads doesn’t mean you need to. In reality, you don’t need to spend anything to get consumers to like your Facebook page.

Don’t believe me? Well, keep reading to find out how. I’ll give you the top tips and best practices to get more likes and shares on Facebook without spending money.

23 Steps to Get Facebook Likes

Here’s the best way to get likes on Facebook:

  1. Create shareable content
  2. Timing is everything
  3. Keep your posts short
  4. Encourage comments (and respond to them)
  5. Comment on other pages
  6. Share authentic images and videos
  7. Create an effective profile picture and cover photo
  8. Offer discounts and promotions
  9. Stay relevant
  10. Run contests
  11. Take advantage of Facebook Live
  12. Leverage your distribution channels
  13. It’s all about “you”
  14. CTAs work with your website or on Facebook
  15. Hop on trending topics early
  16. Reduce the social competition
  17. Take a stand to stand out
  18. Data tells you what works best
  19. Create posts that make users feel obligated to share
  20. One type of post gets more shares than all the rest
  21. Optimize every post for sharing
  22. Embed sharing buttons on your website’s images
  23. Add share buttons to email broadcasts

1. Create shareable content

Unless you are a brand new company that just created a Facebook page, I’m assuming you’re not starting from zero likes. One of the first things you should do is take advantage of the people who already like your page.

Get these people to expose your posts to their own friends. The easiest way to do this is by posting content that’s highly shareable.

According to Buzzsumo, these are the top ten most shared posts of 2017:

Buzzsumo - most shared content on Facebook 2017 information

As you can see, four of the top ten posts were videos. More specifically, three of these four were music videos.

I realize it wouldn’t be reasonable for most of you to create music videos. And posting a music video may not be relevant to your brand image. But that doesn’t mean you should give up.

Quizzes and news articles also had high share rates on this list.

Sometimes you don’t even need to get creative. Simply asking users to share your content may be enough.

Otherwise, you’ll need to put your best foot forward to produce high quality content that’s unique and intriguing to your audience.

Did you just come up with new groundbreaking research? Can you produce a video that will easily go viral? These types of things can make your content stand out.

Anything shocking, controversial, or newsworthy can spark a discussion and cause people to share your posts.

Once your content is shared, these posts will be seen by the friends of those who shared it.

But now, there is an increased chance that more people will like your page so they can see this type of content on a regular basis moving forward.

2. Timing is everything

Think about how often you post on Facebook.

Is it once per day? Once a week? Only once a month?

You also need to analyze the time of day you’re posting on Facebook. All of this matters when it comes to increasing engagement and getting more likes.

Research shows that these are the best days and times to post content on Facebook:

Best days and time to post something on Facebook information

Based on this data, you’ll get higher engagements later in the week and on the weekends. If you think about it, this makes sense.

People have jobs and are usually busier during the week. But as the weekend nears, they may be getting a little bit antsy and slack off if they are ahead of schedule.

So they can spend more time on Facebook. People are also happier on the weekends so they are more inclined to like, share, and comment on your posts.

You also need to consider who likes your Facebook page. For example, if 90% of your followers are from the United States, posting at 3 AM EST isn’t going to yield high engagement rates.

Your posting schedule also needs to remain consistent. Stick to your strategy. Don’t post regularly for a month or so and then go silent.

But you don’t want to spam your followers and post too frequently either.  Research shows 46% of people will unfollow a brand on social media if it posts too often. But 18% will actually unfollow brands if it doesn’t post enough.

Find that sweet spot between these two extremes.

3. Keep your posts short

Nobody is going to read massive blocks of text on social media.

There is just too much for them to see from their friends and family. Reading long posts from brand pages won’t be at the top of their priority lists.

Social media platforms such as Facebook are designed for users to scroll through content quickly.

You also need to consider how many Facebook users are accessing content from their mobile devices:

Infographic of the percentage of users that use which device to access Facebook

Paragraphs on your computer screen will appear even longer on mobile devices. Plus, long blocks of text are difficult to read.

If you’re currently posting long content, it may be the reason why you’re not getting enough likes.

How long should your posts be? Research was conducted on five of the most popular Facebook pages to analyze the length of their content:

  • Fox News
  • NBC News
  • Huffington Post
  • BBC News
  • BuzzFeed

The researchers found that 33% of the posts in this study consisted of ten or fewer words. A good rule of thumb is that shorter is always better.

If people see your posts aren’t long, they will be less hesitant to like your page.

4. Encourage comments (and respond to them)

Getting Facebook users to comment on your posts is a great way to gain exposure for your page. The more exposure you get, the more likes it will lead to.

That’s because friends of those who comment, even if they aren’t following your page, will see these remarks. The post and the comments will appear on their timelines.

Now that other people can see your posts, you might get more likes.

Plus, if users see you respond to other people, they will want to engage with your page even more. There are a bunch of different reasons why you would want to respond to a comment:

  • answer a user question
  • thank someone for positive feedback
  • acknowledge a different opinion

Not everyone will have something nice to say or agree with you all the time.

That’s perfectly OK. You can still respond to those comments. Just make sure you keep things professional at all times and stay on brand.

You don’t want to get into a back and forth argument for the entire world to see. That said, there’s nothing wrong with a little bit of a disagreement as long as it’s done respectfully. So tread carefully when approaching this.

Take a look at how Hydroflask used the comments section to respond to a customer complaint:

Example of Hydro Flask responding to a customer's comment via Facebook comments

It’s important you respond to comments in a timely fashion.

We know 80% of consumers expect a brand to reply to their social media comment within 24 hours. Waiting too long to respond could have an adverse effect on your social media marketing strategy.

5. Comment on other pages

Let’s continue talking about comments.

To help your Facebook page gain exposure, you can comment on other pages as well.

Find posts from pages within your industry. Comment on their content to spark a conversation and facilitate a discussion.

I’m not saying you need to go directly to your competitor’s Facebook page to do this, although I do recommend using tools to monitor your competition.

But in this instance, it’s better to find alternative pages to comment on. For example, let’s say your brand sells athletic equipment.

Rather than going to another sportswear company’s Facebook page, you can comment on pages for gyms and fitness centers. Do you see the difference?

Just make sure you’re not spamming other posts. Your comments should be genuine instead of just links to products on your ecommerce site.

Properly executing this tactic can draw attention to your page and lead to more likes.

6. Share authentic images and videos

While you might be clever with words, you should not post text only.

Include pictures and video content as well. Why? These types of posts generate more engagement.

Take a look at the engagement rates of videos and images compared to links on Facebook:

Buzzsumo average engagements by Facebook post type

Adding photos and videos to your page will get more likes, comments, and shares.

As a result, more people will see these, and your page will be exposed to a wider audience. Now you have a better chance of new users liking your business page.

7. Create an effective profile picture and cover photo

This connects to my last point about sharing the right pictures.

The most important images on your page are the ones that people can see at all times. They are also the first things that get seen when someone navigates to your page.

That’s why it’s so important that you learn how to create an engaging cover photo.

Don’t just pick something random. Your logo may be a good idea, but go deeper than that. Find something that really speaks to your audience and reflects your marketing campaign.

Keep it simple. You don’t want to have a cover photo that’s confusing. It should be bold and have a clear point of focus.

It’s also important for you to review the Facebook cover photo guidelines. You don’t want to upload anything that’s in violation of Facebook’s policies.

Here’s something else to consider. You shouldn’t just set and forget your profile picture and cover photo.

Mix it up. Change it based on the season or a promotion you’re running.

Changing these images will show people that you are always updating your page. This gives them more of a reason to like your profile.

8. Offer discounts and promotions

Why do people follow brands on Facebook?

According to research, aside from being interested in their products and services, people followed brands because they were interested in receiving promotions:

SproutSocial - actions that make people follow a brand on social media infographic

If you post exclusive promotional offers and discounts on your Facebook page, you will give people more reasons to follow you.

This also relates back to my earlier discussion about creating shareable content.

People may be willing to share these promotions with their friends and family, which is a great way to get even more likes on your page.

9. Stay relevant

You’ve got to consider the quality and timing of your posts. What is it about?

Post recent content. Don’t share yesterday’s news. People would have heard about it elsewhere.

You need to stay up to date with pop culture, especially if it’s relevant to your business.

Just make sure you are always staying on brand.

When something happens that’s newsworthy, try to find a way to spin it and make it relevant to your company.

For example, let’s say you sell clothing. If a winter storm is heading toward a certain region of the country, you can use that to promote warm gear like hats, gloves, boots, and coats.

But avoid sensitive topics such as politics, religion, etc. Discussing those subjects could end up hurting your brand’s image.

10. Run contests

Contests and promotions are a great way to create higher engagement with your Facebook audience.

Running a contest that encourages user-generated content will expose your page to a wide audience. As a result, you’ll get more likes on your page.

Caption contests are a great way for you to get more comments on each post.

But if you can get users to post pictures and videos to their own timelines and tag your brand, it will be even better for your brand exposure campaigns.

Here is a great example of a contest run by REI on its Facebook page:

Example of a contest run by REI on Facebook

It’s smart because it encourages users to share photos wearing gear purchased from the company.

Creating more brand awareness on Facebook will help the company get more likes on its page.

11. Take advantage of Facebook Live

Go live.

Broadcasting live videos on Facebook is one of the best ways to engage with your audience.

There are endless options for you to consider with your live stream. It’s a great opportunity for you to give a product demonstration. You may also consider giving exclusive tours of your facility.

Use your live broadcast to preview new products that are in development. Ask customers for their feedback to make them feel as if they are part of the creation process.

Facebook isn’t the only social media platform with a live video option, but it’s the most popular.

Infographic showing the percentage of respondents who streamed live video on various social media platforms

You can use this channel as an alternative method to run contests and promotions, which we previously discussed.

It’s important that you stay authentic and true to yourself. Don’t try to become an actor or be someone who you aren’t.

If you’re funny, tell jokes. Be entertaining.

If you can offer entertainment to Facebook users, they’ll tell their friends about it. The more people tune into your live stream, the more likes your page will get.

12. Leverage your distribution channels

So far everything we’ve discussed involves how to get people to like your page directly from within the Facebook platform.

But that’s not the only way to do it.

You have other content distribution channels to take advantage of.

One of the first places you should look to is your email subscriber list. I bet the people who signed up to receive email promotions from you also have an active Facebook page. Get them to like yours.

Be direct. Include a link in your promotional emails inviting people to like your Facebook page: “like us on Facebook.”

You can have a similar button on your website. Include a link to your Facebook page in the description of your YouTube videos.

Use other social media channels to your advantage as well to drive more traffic to your Facebook page.

13. It’s all about “you”

Social networks are all about the user.

Everyone creates their own profile, which shows who they think they are to all their friends.

It’s about customizing their own experience and seeing content from the people and connections that they want.

In some sense, social media is a platform designed for users to focus on themselves.

The reason why this is so important is because you need to understand that users are mainly focused on content directed at them.

Ideally, that would mean tagging users so they would get a notification.

Obviously, that’s not possible for most businesses.

However, you can still learn from this by making your Facebook posts more about the user who is reading them.

In simple terms: use the words “you” and “your” a lot.

Here’s what I’m talking about…

When I post on the Neil Patel Facebook page, I post two main types of things:

  • links to blog content
  • inspirational messages and quotes

For the second type, I focus on messages that focus on the reader (mention “you”):

Example of a Neil Patel Facebook post focusing on "you"

Using the word “you” is a lot like writing someone’s name—it makes the reader pay attention.

This rule also goes for writing content in general.

Whenever possible, I try to use “you” in my headlines and content:

An example headline focusing on "you"

14. CTAs work on your website or on Facebook

Calls to action (CTAs) are unbelievably effective tools to get readers to take action in almost any situation.

They are one of the most important factors when it comes to landing page conversion rate.

The main reason why they are so effective is because there’s almost always a disconnect between what you want and what other people think you want.

When you post a link to your content on Facebook, what are you looking for? Primarily likes and shares (maybe comments) for the reasons we talked about before.

But think of it from a user’s point of view.

Let’s say they click through and love the content.

Then what? Although it’s obvious to you that you want the content to be shared, it’s not to most readers.

But if you ask them to share your post if they like it, then all of a sudden it is clear what you’d like them to do.

And if they really liked the content, many readers won’t mind sharing it.

Dan Zarrella conducted some really interesting research regarding CTAs on various social networks.

First, he looked at Twitter.

He found that the most retweeted posts contained one of six common phrases/words in them.

Every single one of them was a call to action or part of a call to action.

Infographic by HubSpot showing retweets per follower by call to action

Adding “Please Retweet” to a tweet more than doubles the expected number of shares—that’s huge.

More importantly for us here, he also looked at Facebook posts.

He found that posts with the word “share” (as in “please share this…”) got about twice as many shares as posts without it.

Infographic by HubSpot showing social calls to action work on Facebook

Another interesting finding is that including the word “share” also nearly doubles the number of likes a post gets.

The takeaway is very simple:

If you want a particular post to get extra shares, just include a call to action such as “Please share this post.”

Although I’ve yet to see it studied, it makes sense that this approach would be most effective when you use it only once in awhile.

If you include the same type of call to action in every post, it may lose its potency (depending on how often you’re posting).

15. Hop on trending topics early

Most ways to get more likes and shares revolve around making your content more appealing to your existing audience.

However, another option is to get a status post in front of a new audience that is eager to like and share posts.

The way to do this is by jumping on trending topics.

You can find these in the top right-hand part of your newsfeed:

Facebook trending newsfeed

Users who spend a lot of time looking at trending topics are the ones that care about knowing things first.

They want to like and share such posts to show to their friends that they’re “in the know.”

When a user clicks on one of those links, they see all related to that trend posts.

You don’t have to do anything special to show up there as long as you link to an article with the main keyword (the link’s anchor text) in the headline or mention it in your description.

Facebook post showing how many likes, comments, and shares it has received.

That being said, the results prioritize high engagement posts. So, the first posts that a user will see when they click on a trend will have lots of likes, comments, and shares.

However, even with a few dozen likes, you should still get a decent amount of extra exposure.

The most difficult part is finding a relevant to your business trend.

This won’t work for every business, but if yours has anything to do with entertainment, it could be a great way to grow your audience and get extra shares.

16. Reduce the social competition

For many sites, it makes sense to prioritize the biggest social networks.

Instead of trying to get traffic from several networks, just pick two or three, including Facebook.

You might have noticed that over time, I’ve reduced the number of sharing buttons on the side of Quick Sprout posts.

As of writing of this post, there are only two buttons.

Post showing two options for social media feed - Facebook and Twitter

If a reader wants to share your content, they will usually decide which network to do it on (if they use more than one) based on the buttons displayed.

So by limiting the choices, you control where most of your shares will end up.

This is really important because sharing works in an exponential way. Each extra share has the potential to send an increasingly large amount of traffic.

Put in simpler terms, it’s better to get 50 shares on Facebook than to get 5 shares on 10 different networks.

The second benefit of reducing the number of buttons vying for your readers’ attention is that it may increase your overall shares as well.

There’s a classic example of how limiting choice can increase output.

In 1995, a study was conducted to examine how choices affected purchases of jam.

The researchers alternated displaying 24 types of jam with displaying only 6 jams.

Although the 24 choices of jam attracted more attention, only 3% of those who tried a sample actually bought a jar.

On the other hand, 30% of people who tried one of the 6 jams bought a jar.

Limiting choices actually increased the conversion rate by 1,000%.

People get overwhelmed when they have too much choice. It becomes a chore to consider the benefits and drawbacks of all options.

When you have 6-8 sharing buttons beside your content, it will take extra time and effort for the reader to decide which network to share the content on.

Although having sharing buttons is not like selling jam, it’s not a coincidence that many other content providers have found that they don’t get any extra shares with more sharing buttons.

17. Take a stand to stand out

People share things to shape how other people view them.

If you want to be thought of as a caring animal lover, you share posts about volunteering for animal shelters.

If you want to be thought of as a super cool marketer, you share Quick Sprout posts, right? 😉

So if you want your content to be shared a lot, it has to stand for something.

There’s a spectrum for this.

You could write an article like “11 Tips for Content Marketing.” If someone shares it, they show their interest in marketing to friends.

However, it doesn’t really take a stance on anything.

Their friends who actually know anything about marketing certainly won’t think that the sharer is an expert on the subject for sharing that.

People don’t want to just be seen as interested in something important to them. They want others to think that it’s a huge part of their lives and that they are an expert in it.

Consider the difference that sharing an article like the one below makes:

Alright Google, You Win…I’ll Never Use Private Blog Networks Again!

Private blog networks are a controversial topic. By firmly declaring that you stand on one side, you make your opinion known.

This does two things:

  • friends who agree with you think that “you know your stuff”
  • friends who do not agree with you think you’re an idiot
  • friends who don’t know anything about it think you’re going up against Google, and that means you must be doing something impressive

If your friends share your opinions, which often happens, when you take a stance on a controversial topic, it only strengthens their view of you. This is why most people do it without realizing it.

That post about private blog networks is real, by the way. It generated over 480 comments and hundreds of shares.

You can take advantage of this motivation behind a lot of sharing in just about any niche.

Pick a controversial subject, and then clearly state which side you’re on.

For example, in the United States, the future of Social Security (essentially a pension plan) is a very controversial topic.

Bernie Sanders posted a very clear statement and link that shows that he supports expanding Social Security:

Example post by Bernie Sanders

Anyone who wanted to show their friends that they care about the well-being of the elderly (and future elderly) is extra motivated to share something like this.

Also, people who want to show that they are politically active also shared this.

Put all that together, and this post received over 1,000 shares and 6,200 likes in the first 18 hours.

People want to share posts that reflect them and that show others who they are. Take a stance shared by many people on an important topic, and they will be extra motivated to share your post.

18. Data tells you what works best

The most difficult aspect of a lot of these tactics is that it takes a fair bit of knowledge and practice to get things working just right.

Although you can try any of these tactics right away, it may take several posts (or more) before you actually start seeing a significant increase in shares and likes.

The more you do them, the more you’ll understand the principles behind them, and that’s how you’ll learn them.

However, not all tactics are like that, including this one.

The ideal scenario is to minimize guesswork. To do that, we need data and analysis.

What you should do, at least once every few weeks, is look at how your posts have performed:

Example post by Neil Patel

Record all their likes, shares, and even the number of comments in a simple spreadsheet.

However, you should also put those into a category.

Example of posts and the user interaction data in a spreadsheet

Those are fairly broad categories, which is fine to start with. Once you’ve made over a hundred posts or so, you can start getting more specific with your categories.

For example, instead of just “Writing,” you could divide those posts into:

  • Writing better
  • Writing faster
  • Writing tools
  • Editing

The point of doing this is to see which types of posts receive the most likes and shares.

Once you have a decent sample size (at least 20 posts in each category), you can calculate average numbers of shares and likes.

Data in a spreadsheet tracking category and user engagement

These are just hypothetical results that I could get from my posts (not real numbers).

The takeaway is pretty obvious: to write more about social media and less about entrepreneurship and writing.

The numbers clearly show that posts about social media get by far the most engagement, while entrepreneurship posts don’t get much.

By simply writing more about subjects that get more likes and shares, I’d immediately get a better average engagement.

Additionally, this would help my EdgeRank, which would result in even more likes and shares in the future.

19. Create posts that make users feel obligated to share

Another big reason why people share posts on Facebook is because they want to bring awareness to an issue.

Creating posts that highlight an important issue or cause to your followers, as well as including a call to action, will result in getting many more shares than usual.

Again, this will improve the EdgeRank of your other posts, resulting in even more long term traffic, shares, and likes.

Let’s look at an example of what I’m talking about.

A humane society was running a food drive in order to collect food to give to pet owners in need.

It’s easy to see why anyone might be touched by this gesture, let alone actual pet owners, volunteers, and activists that follow the society’s Facebook page.

They made a post about this on Facebook, and although the description could have been written more effectively, it still garnered over 300 likes and 75 shares.

Example of a post by Toronto Humane Society

The best subjects for these types of posts are charities. Your followers feel that you’re doing your part to help out, and they should too by sharing the post.

This is one of the few tactics that’s difficult to implement if you’re in a marketing niche since there isn’t a whole lot of charity going on.

However, in most other niches, you can simply go to Google News and search for “(your niche) charity events.

Example of a Google News search for animal charity events and the search results

A post on either of these topics would get a lot of engagement and would be perfect for any business in the animal niche.

20. One type of post gets more shares than all the rest

A study on Facebook content found that certain types of content get more of particular types of engagement.

Simply Measured infographic showing the share of engagement type across Facebook Post content types

There are a few things that stand out.

First is that status posts get a much higher percentage of comments than all other types.

If you want more comments on your posts, start posting more interesting status updates as opposed to links, photos, and videos.

It makes sense when you think about it.

Status updates are mainly posted by regular users to be seen by their friends, and friends converse with each other.

But it works the same way even if you have a Facebook page. Michael Hyatt occasionally asks questions to stimulate discussions.

This one has over 35 comments:

Example of a post by Michael Hyatt

The other thing that really stands out is that videos have a much higher share percentage than any other type of post.

Shares are typically considered more valuable than likes because they are effectively an endorsement of your content. They usually (but not always) lead to more traffic and engagement on a post.

It’s simple: If you want more shares on your posts, start including more video.

Example of a video post share on Facebook by Fitness Magazine

Ideally, create your own videos to get the benefit of the content views as well.

But you can always post popular videos related to your niche if you think your followers will enjoy them.

Finally, just remember that you should test this for your specific business. Those study results were drawn from all niches.

I’ve personally seen video work really well on Facebook in some niches but not in others.

A good plan is to test how your followers react to video content by sharing videos made by others at first. If it goes well, then start creating your own.

21. Optimize every post for sharing

SEO and social optimization have a few things in common.

One component is the use of meta tags. But they use different types of meta tags.

With social networks, you need to include specific og (Open graph) meta tags in your content in order for it to format optimally on social networks (including Facebook).

I’ve written in the past about how crafting custom titles and descriptions in these tags led to a 174% increase in Facebook traffic to Quick Sprout. It’s an easy thing to start doing, but it can have big results.

What it looks like: If you don’t include any meta tags in your content, Facebook will do the best it can when someone shares a link to your site.

Sometimes it will do it well, but other times it will only find the title and introduction, and your link will look something like this:

Example of a post shared by Neil Patel on Facebook

Honestly, that’s terrible. It’s not going to stand out from all the other well formatted content in a typical feed. It’s unlikely to drive you any additional traffic.

But when you include the right meta tags, Facebook knows exactly where to pull your title, description, and image from. You can ensure that no matter who shares the link on Facebook, it will show up as intended.

Example 2 of a post by Neil Patel on Facebook

Setting your tags: There are tons of og tags that you can set, but pretty much all social networks only pull data from a few main ones.

It makes sense to focus on these to save your time:

1. og:title – The headline that shows up on Facebook (usually same as post)

Example: <meta property=”og:title” content=”How I’m Going to Achieve the $100k a Month Challenge without Using My Name”/>

2. og:type – Specify the type of your content. That way, Facebook knows whether it’s a video, post, or even a local result. There are many types; choose from this full list.

Example: <meta property=”og:type” content=”article”/>

3. og:image – The URL of your preferred featured image.

Example: <meta property=”og:image” content=”https://www.quicksprout.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/quicksprout.png”/>

Note: You can make more than one image tag. If you do, Facebook (and other networks) will pick the image with the best size for its users.

4. og:url – The original (canonical) URL of your post.

Example: <meta property=”og:url” content=”https://www.quicksprout.com/2015/05/11/how-im-going-to-achieve-the-100k-a-month-challenge-without-using-my-name/”/>

5. og:description – The small description that appears under the headline on most social networks.

Example: <meta property=”og:description” content=”  Last week I posted about my setback on the $100,000 challenge. Some of you were happy with the results so far, while others were disappointed about how mu”/>

Although you can manually edit these tags for all your content, the simplest way to do it is to install Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin. Whenever you edit a post, you can scroll down to the plugin to add the most important tags in appropriate sections:

WordPress SEO by Yoast - social tab screen

22. Embed sharing buttons on your website’s images

This change takes under a minute to do, but it will earn you extra shares from all your content on a regular basis.

One of the problems with your readers sharing your content on Facebook, or other major networks, is that they just post the link.

You can fix it from showing up incorrectly by creating the tags I just showed you above.

However, there’s one other situation that needs fixing:

Some users just want to share photos.

All major social networks are visual. Pictures get the most attention from users. In turn, most users tend to look for good pictures to share to get likes, comments, and re-shares.

When they find a good picture on a site, most have to save a copy, then go to the social network, login, and upload the picture…it’s a pain.

And as you might know, people are lazy.

On top of that, they often mess up the link or description.

You can make it really easy to share pictures from your site on Facebook by using the SumoMe image sharer plugin.

It adds a sharing button to every picture on your site for whatever social network(s) you choose:

Example of a social media sharing function on a post or website

Now visitors just need to click the Facebook button, and it will open the image ready to be shared on Facebook with everything filled in correctly.

23. Add share buttons to email broadcasts

The final tactic you can use to get more shares and likes is to ask your email subscribers for them.

These are the people who like your content the most and who usually are going to be the most willing to help you spread it.

Ideally, you want to have a link that says something like:

Click here to share this post on Facebook

To do this, create whatever anchor text you’d like, but set the address to:

https://–precisewww.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u={YOUR URL HERE}

For example, the Quick Sprout home page would be:

https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=http%3A//www.quicksprout.com

It’s pretty easy to mess up, so I suggest you use this free share link generator. Just paste your URL in the Facebook field:

Facebook free share link generator

And the tool will spit out a link to use.

When your subscribers click it, they’ll see something like this in a new tab:

What users see after using a free share link generator on Facebook

Again, if you have your meta tags configured, you can be certain that your posts will look good when shared.

Conclusion

Getting more social shares and likes on Facebook is important. It’s a major source of traffic for businesses in almost every niche.

I’ve outlined 23 different tactics that you can use to get more likes and shares.

Don’t try to use them all at once. It’s better to use a few at a time, observe your results, and optimize your strategy.

Over time, keep trying more until you’ve gone through all 23 tactics. By then, your typical likes and shares should more than double.

I’ve also created an infographic below that breaks down the basics of what you need to do to get more Facebook traffic.

Click on the image below to see a larger view:

how to increase your facebook engagement by 275%

Follow the advice in this guide, and you’ll be on your way to tons of new Facebook likes in no time.