The 10 most-liked Facebook brand posts in September

WHEN IT COMES to effective branded Facebook posts, there is one rule: The simpler the better.

Track Social is an analytics firm that monitors 10,000 brands’ social media activity in real time, and it found that the Facebook posts that got the most likes in September weren’t based on intricate social campaigns. Rather, they were heartfelt.

Target and Walmart’s sincere tributes to the victims of the September 11 attacks, and other companies’ get-well-soon messages to various ailing celebrities, generated the most engagement.

The counter-intuitive lesson seems to be: Going off-brand, if only briefly, proves your brand has a human side, and thus pays dividends in new brand engagement.