When it comes to Facebook, if there’s anything better than more fans, it’s more engagement with your existing fans. Whether you think there’s some subterfuge by Facebook to force you to buy more ads, or you could simply use some work on optimizing your posts, more engagement is never a bad thing—and that’s where PostRocket comes in.
Billed as an “Edgerank optimization tool,” PostRocket uses data points gathered across Facebook, as well as information about your fans, to give you specific tips to help optimize your Facebook posts by better leveraging Facebook’s Edgerank algorithm.
Perhaps one of the most useful features of PostRocket is its “autoschedule for best time” feature. You simply provide the content and let PostRocket choose the best times to post, based on previous page activity. This alone could give you a nice bump in interactions and help you deliver information to your audience when they want it.
PostRocket also streamlines the process of picking photos, choosing links, and making your individual post “look nice” (which is important for many of you, I know). For example, data shows that photos tend to get higher engagement than links alone. If you want to post a link-based update, PostRank will cruise through the link and find available photos to use so that you post an optimized update designed to attract more engagement (as pictured below). Interesting but perhaps not as useful are the Instagram-like filters you can use to spiff up your photo before posting, though alongside the filters is the option to add a photo watermark, which might be more handy if you want that added protection for original images.
One of the things we like best about PostRocket is the daily tips and feedback based on your Facebook posts. Some of their recommendations are basic (use more photos, post more frequently, post a wider variety of updates), but since it’s free to try the tool, it’s worth exploring. Basic features are free forever – up to 3 pages – and premium features, such as additional page admins and more in-depth page analysis, start from $9/month up to $599/month.
We also have our eyes on another feature that’s soon to be added to the professional version: Performance Review, which gives you performance analytics for Facebook posts that you’ve created through PostRocket. You already know that all of us on the V3 team are big data nuts, so we’re up for any chance to add more data to our existing pool of analytics. The feature is in a minimal form right now; according to PostRocket, the “fully loaded” version will available in PostRocket v. 2.0 for pro users in the coming weeks.
Shoutmeloud has an excellent review of their own experiences with PostRocket if you’re interested in another case study. We’ve added PostRocket to our digital marketing toolbox and are interested in diving even further into the tool. There’s no denying that Facebook visibility and page engagement continue to be an ongoing puzzle for brands and businesses—and anything that helps make better use of this social media marketing juggernaut is worth at least a look, in our opinion.
Have you given PostRocket a try? When do you, feel free to stop back by and share your thoughts with us.
[UPDATE]: PostRocket announced that it will be shutting down on August 15. According to an email sent by PostRocket co-founder and CEO Tim Chae to customers and published by TechCrunch, “When we first started PostRocket, we wanted to not only help marketers like you succeed in Facebook marketing, but do so with an exceptional product and service to back it. We were never able to reach the high bar we set for ourselves.”
