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/> One of the measures Facebook uses to determine how many people see the posts from your Fan Page is comments. That is, are people commenting on the post you made? If so, Facebook believes the post is engaging and is likely to show it to more people. This algorithm is commonly known as “Edgerank” and increasing the Edgerank of one’s Fan Page has become an obsession for some, but for good reason – it’s how you reach your Fans, and their friends, and their friend’s friends, etc.

The same goes for clicking on a post to read it when it’s truncated, or a picture to see the whole thing. “Likes” on posts also increase how favorably your post is seen in Facebook’s eyes.

To increase Edgerank, get the people who are seeing your FB posts to engage with them.
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In order to get your posts seen by more people, you’ve got to get the people who are seeing it to engage with it. When that engagement is up, Facebook will show it to more, hopefully they go on to engage, and so on, etc.

Social proof is a huge driver in engagement. That’s why it’s easier to get the 100th “Like” on a post than it is to get the 1st. People tend to follow what the people before them have done. No likes begets no likes, lots of likes begets more likes.

And it’s exactly why this nifty tip I’m going to show you can help increase your Facebook Edgerank before your post is even published.

I’m sure you’re aware of Facebook’s post scheduling capabilities. Click the clock icon when writing a new post for your Page and you can schedule it to publish at a later date.

Once that post is scheduled, you’ll see this:

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Click the “View Post” link, and you’ll see a list of all your scheduled posts. Click the date/time link for the post you want to give a head-start:

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From there, you can leave a comment on your own post:

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When your Facebook scheduled post is published, the comment you wrote will ALSO be published with it. You can also “Like” your own post, but that’s bad form – skip it.

Being able to schedule Facebook comments is helpful for situations where you want to explain more (i.e. schedule a picture of a dish and post the recipe in the comments).

But it’s also a tool that, when used effectively, can increase the engagement of your post. You’re breaking the ice by leaving the first comment. Your fans will click the comment to see what someone else wrote (curiosity always pulls) and potentially leave a comment themselves.

A few cautions: if you do this all the time, your audience will stop responding to it. Mix it in with your current strategies, don’t make this your only strategy.

It’s doubtful that a comment YOU write increases your Edgerank alone. The goal here is to start the social proof early to get other people engaging, not to post 100 comments yourself and hope that helps your post spread (it won’t).

Make sure your comment is useful. You’ll look like a douchebag patting your own back if you’re not adding to the conversation and increasing the overall value of the post. So be interesting, be helpful, be funny, but don’t just toot your own horn and say, “Awesome” about your own post. src="http://media.michellemacphearson.com/wp-includes/images/smilies/icon_wink.gif" alt=";-)" class="wp-smiley" />

Give this a try on your own Facebook Page and share your results / techniques in the comments.

The post rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michellemacphearson.com/increase-facebook-edgerank-post-publishes/">Increase Facebook Edgerank Before Your Post Publishes appeared first on rel="nofollow" href="http://www.michellemacphearson.com">Michelle MacPhearson.