Check out last week’s top 10 over-performing Facebook posts from the 2016 presidential campaigns! The data is via our friends at CrowdTangle, and remember that these aren’t the top-performing posts in ABSOLUTE terms, since that would almost always be dominated by the pages with the biggest followings. Instead, these are posts that beat the average for that particular page — posts that reset the bar for success for that campaign on Facebook. If you like this list, check our our weekly Top Ten Facebook Advocacy Posts, also compiled with CrowdTangle data.
A special note to our readers-via-email: be sure to click through to the online version of this article to see the embedded posts. It’s well worth your time.
1. Donald J. Trump
Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays!
Posted by Donald J. Trump on Wednesday, December 23, 2015
2. Donald J. Trump
VIDEO: Women defy media narrative, love Trump at packed Michigan rally
Posted by Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, December 22, 2015
3. Bernie Sanders
I am pledged, if elected president of the United States, to bring about a political revolution where millions of people…
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Sunday, December 20, 2015
4. Dr. Ben Carson
The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.” Mary was greatly troubled…
Posted by Dr. Ben Carson on Monday, December 21, 2015
5. Dr. Ben Carson
…an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as…
Posted by Dr. Ben Carson on Tuesday, December 22, 2015
6. Rand Paul
"It was over a trillion dollars, it was all lumped together, 2,242 pages, nobody read it, so frankly my biggest…
Posted by Rand Paul on Sunday, December 20, 2015
7. Ted Cruz
Seems like a better idea for a cartoon: Hillary Clinton and her lapdogs. cc: Washington Post The New York Times
Posted by Ted Cruz on Wednesday, December 23, 2015
8. Bernie Sanders
Citizens United has enabled billionaires and special interests to increasingly control the political campaign finance system, and amounts to legalized bribery.
Posted by Bernie Sanders on Tuesday, December 22, 2015
9. Rand Paul
Happy First Day of Winter everyone! We need a true fiscal conservative in 2016. #StandWithRand
Posted by Rand Paul on Monday, December 21, 2015
10. Ted Cruz
As we prepare to celebrate our Savior’s birth, we thank God for redeeming the whole world through the gift of His Son.
Posted by Ted Cruz on Thursday, December 24, 2015
Explanation of the Scoring
These posts don’t represent the most-viewed pieces of content on Facebook (since that would almost entirely end up being dominated by the same small handful of large-audience Pages over and over). Instead, we list the posts that performed the best (using shares as the primary metric) against the organization Page’s OWN average (hence the word “over-performing”). To build the list, we CrowdTangle’s tracking system, which generates an average rate of growth for Pages over time (with at least 50 data points before a Page is scored). So, the "x" numbers listed above specifically represent how many more multiples of shares each post received compared with what the Page’s posts normally get. Note that we set a minimum bar of total engagement of around 500 shares or so.
About CrowdTangle
CrowdTangle is a new tool that helps organizations easily keep track of what’s being shared on Facebook. Organizations can use it to find shareable content around their own issue area or to keep track of what affiliated Pages are posting on a regular basis. Launched in late January, the beta version of the tool is already being used by dozens of leading organizations across the country. If you want to see how it works, watch this short video: http://www.screenr.com/Iv1H
– cpd
White House photo by Daniel Schwen, via Wikimedia Commons.
