“Meaningful Social Interaction” or MSI is the it-girl of social media for the moment. The term was coined by Facebook leadership to describe the type of user experience Mark Zuckerberg is now prioritizing as part of the latest News Feed overhaul. The social giant gave many examples of what defines an MSI – chief among them: conversation around a piece of content posted to Facebook. As a newsroom, there are several ways you can encourage more conversation around the links and content posted by your Page. Here are just a few ideas:
- Ask a question in the post caption.
- Follow up in the comments by asking a question as the Page.
- Engage your audience in comments by responding to their questions as the Page and giving additional information. Have a conversation in the comments and encourage your talent to get involved.
- If you have embedded Facebook comments on your website, ask a question at the end of your story to encourage immediate on-site conversation.
- Choose to post stories people want to comment on and share. Emotional stories tend to be shared more, according to a NewsWhip study. The most shared stories get more “love” and “haha” reactions overall.
- Use Facebook Live to create a dialogue with your fans – ask and answer questions live.
These “new” best practices look a lot like the old ones: post good content, and have a meaningful conversation with your audience. But for many media orgs who have long-since abandoned the comments on Facebook, this may take some adjustment and experimentation.
How Can I Tell What Works?
If you’re looking for some guidance on “what works” when trying to increase post comments, check out this brand new feature on the SND Dashboard… The Top 10 Posts widget now has a brand new filter allowing you to sort the top ten posts by Simple Engagement (Likes + Comments + Shares) OR by any of those metrics individually such as by “Comments Only.” When looking at the top 10 posts “by comments,” you can quickly see which posts in your market or station group are driving the most conversation.
Looking for more ways to increase MSIs? Reach out to Team SND at support@socialnewsdesk.com.
