26 Tips for Better Facebook Page Engagement
โ Thanks to Social Media Examiner for this great article
Have you noticed a drop in your Facebook engagement?
Wondering how you can better engage with your fans?
Making small changes to what and how you post can help your Facebook updates generate clicks, likes, and comments.
In this article, youโllย discover 26 tips for boosting Facebook engagement.
#1: Pose a Question
One of the simplest and most effective ways to kickstart a dialogue with yourย Facebook fansย is to ask them a question. Basically, youโre inviting a response. If fans can relate to the question and youย find a way to leverage peopleโsย interests or needs, theyโll find it hard not to answer.
Here are some questions to ask:
- Specific: Whatโs your favoriteโฆ?
- Tips: How do youโฆ?
- Experiences: Whatโs your favorite moment from experience/memoryโฆ?
- Edgy: Do you thinkโฆ? (controversial question)
- Direct: Why do youโฆ?
- Events: Who is going/Who attendedโฆ?
- Timely: Today isโฆ, so what are youโฆ?
#2: Ask Fans to Make a Choice
A fun way to get your fans to engage with you is to publish a โthis or thatโ post.ย Ask people to choose a side, pick a favorite, or make a choice between two things. An added benefit is that it can create a division among your fans, which can spark a dialogue in the comments.
Most of the time, those debates are good fun butย be mindful of trolls. If you want to spark even more debate, you can always mix in a little controversy but avoid politics.
#3: Post When Your Fans Are Online
People use Facebook at different times of the day. Some are on Facebook throughout the day, while others may only check it in the early morning or evening. If youโre randomly publishing a few posts each day, thereโs a good chance some of your audience will miss them. By the time they check their feed, your content could be buried.
A better tactic is to post when your audience is most active.ย Check yourย Facebook Insightsย to find that data. To access it,ย click the Insights tabย and thenย click Postsย in the left menu.
By default, the dashboard shows data for when your fans are online. You canย adjust the date rangeย toย compare blocks of timeย so you canย see what times of the day your fans are most active.
Tip: Posting late at night (when your fans are less active) isnโt necessarily a bad thing. Thereโs less competition in their feed, so the people who are active on the site are more likely to see and engage with your content. If that engagement jumps a bit, thereโs a better chance your audience will see it when they come online in the morning.
Try posting at different timesย to see what works best for you.
#4: Share Relevant Images
A picture can say a lot more than a text post. A visually striking image can bring the rapid thumb-scroller to a halt. Images have proven time and again to improve engagement, especially when they tell a story or connect with the audience on a personal or emotional level.
According toย BuzzSumo, Facebook posts with images see more than double the engagement of basic text posts.
Use relevant, colorful, and high-quality images. If you want to spice up your photos but donโt have Photoshop-level skills, try free tools likeย Canvaย andย Adobe Spark.
#5: Engage With Other Brands
Thereโs no rule that says you need to limit your Facebook efforts to your own page. Wander the social landscape,ย post to other pages, andย engage with brands when
However, you need toย be tactful. The other business and their fans know what youโre up to, soย donโt post spam. Treat it just like you would audience engagement:ย build the relationship, share content, and engage with people.
If you canย work out an agreement to share someone elseโs content, it will help provide a mutually beneficial boost in organic reach, as both sides are exposed to a wider audience.
#6: Crowdsource Feedback
People love giving feedback. When youย ask for input the right way, your audience will jump on board and be quick to respond. The added benefit is you can uncover opportunities to improve your business and delight your customers.
Imagine the potential boost toย customer loyaltyย (and future engagement) if you make changes to your business based on the input you receive? Give this tactic a try. Itโs a much more personal approach than surveys and you canย respond to people directly to address their feedback.
#7: Include a Call to Action
The standing rule for any kind of marketing is that if you want your audience to do something, you have to tell them to do it. Use a call to action in every post, whether itโs toย prompt a comment, share,
Alwaysย tell your audience what you want them to doย to encourage engagement.
#8: Boost Your Best Posts
If you have a blog post or other website content that has seen tremendous traffic, post it to your Facebook page and boost that post. You donโt need to throw hundreds of dollars at it; give it a modest boost of $25 andย target the people who like your page and their friends.
You wonโt necessarily see thousands of shares, but a boosted post can help get your best content in front of your target audience and spark some engagement. The more people engage, the greater the organic reach to their networks. This tactic can be especially effective if youโre sharing high-value content with a lot of great takeaways, such as a solution to a problem or an answer to a question.
Toย find your most popular content,ย check yourย Google Analytics. In the dashboard menu,ย click Behavior > Site Content > All Pages.ย Review the metrics for each postย to determine what content to promote on Facebook. If you donโt have any archived content to pull from, thatโs okay. You can always boost other post types from this list with a small budget to give them an extra nudge.
#9: Share Industry News and Hot Topics
Even your most loyal fans are interested in more than just your business. Sharing big news from your industry will show your fans that youโre not focused solely on promoting your business; you want to keep them informed about current topics. Theyโll appreciate and respond to that.
Curate industry news from a trusted sourceย and ask your fans what they think.ย Ask peopleย to contribute their thoughts and share the post.
#10: Adjust Your Post Frequency
If your Facebook engagement is slipping, it might have something to do with your post frequency. Posting too little (say a few times a week) wonโt help you establish relevance with Facebookโs algorithm and youโll be fighting for space in your audienceโs feed.
On the other hand, posting too often can hurt you, too. Facebook tries to show users the most interesting and relevant content from everyone they follow. If youโre posting a half-dozen times each day over a short period, expect a lot of your content to be missed.
To find a sweet spot,ย try posting a few times each day at the times your fans are most likely to engage.
#11: Give People a Giggle
We all love a good laugh in our news feed.ย Lighten the mood for your fansย and show them that you have some personality. Donโt overthink it; just do something to give your fans a chuckle.ย Keep their interests in mindย andย make sure the humor is relevantย to your audience.
#12: Respond to Everyone
If you receive comments from your fans but fail to respond or acknowledge them, theyโll notice and stop engaging with you. It only takes a few minutes throughout the day toย monitor your social activityย andย make a few quick or witty responses to fans who comment.
Consistent responses make fans feel valued and theyโll be more likely to engage with future posts from your page.
#13: Solicit Fan Content
Encourage your fans toย share photosย on a given topic or photos of your products. This is a fun way to spark engagement and dialogue with fans. To go one step further,ย run a contest or offer a giveawayย to encourage more shares and submissions.
Once engagement starts to climb, youโll begin seeing even more image posts from fans.
#14: Share Content From Other Channels
Unless youโre publishing the same posts to all of your social channels, you probably have a goldmine of content that users on other channels have never seen. Donโt let that content gather dust.ย Look over your content, videos, and images on other platformsย (YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, and so on) andย share the best with your Facebook fans.
This is a great way to fill a few gaps in your weekly posting schedule if you come up short on content ideas.
#15: Go Behind the Scenes With Live Video
Visual content is much more likely to be shared on Facebook, and this is especially true for video.ย Facebook Liveย makes it easy to stream live video to your audience, anytime you like, to leverage that engagement.
Donโt stress about the production value or not having a killer splash intro. Fans legitimately enjoy seeing the people behind a business just beingโฆpeople.ย Give fansย a glimpse into how your company operates, show your personality, and make a human connection.
Live video is also a great way toย take your fans with you on company outings or to major events and trade showsย they arenโt able to attend. Once your live broadcast is finished, itโs saved so others can view, share, and enjoy it at any time.
To broadcast a live video,ย open your Facebook page from your mobile device. In the status window,ย click theย option to Go Live.ย Give Facebook access to your camera and microphone,ย describe your video, andย click start.
#16: Make an Emotional Connection
If you want to elicit a big response from your fans, publish a post that appeals to your audience on an emotional level. Share content andย tell stories that pull at peopleโsย interests, emotions, fears, and even their dislikes. Brand loyalty doesnโt come from a product; it comes from a customerโs joy at experiencing a shared sentiment or finding a solution that works.
Emotionย drives loyalty and engagement. Itโs why millions of people couldnโt help but share theย โThank You, Mamaโ P&G commercials, making them the most shared Olympics ad at the time.
#17: Provide Value
Anytime you share or post content to your Facebook page, ask yourself what kind of value youโre providing to your fans. The best way to get their attention is to make sure thereโs a takeaway or something in it for them. At the very least, give them a good chuckle. At best,ย teach peopleย how to do something, inspire them to take action, and add value to their life.
#18: Tap Into Trending Topics
Thereโs a whole world of content revolving around us every second. Keep your ear to the ground for events and trends that might grab the attention of your audience.ย Workย a relevant trending hashtag into a postย to help boost organic visibility in social search.
Both Facebook and Twitter make it easy toย see which topics are trending based on posts and discussions.ย Google Trendsย provides the same insight into trending topics based on search volume and published topics.
If youโre a local business,ย keep up with city, county, and state event calendars and watch for local trendsย that could be used in the same fashion.
#19: Recycle High-value Posts
Youโre not limited to posting only new content to your Facebook page. Occasionally dip into your archives for an engagement spike.
Look at your Facebook posts from a previous year andย identify postsย that created a substantial amount of engagement.ย Post that content again, butย tweak it so itโs fresh. Recycling posts
#20: Upload Native Video
YouTube is a sizable social channel, but if youโve been sharing your YouTube videos to your Facebook page, itโs time to make a switch. Facebookโs nativeย videoย allows you toย upload videos directly to your page, just like photos, and the algorithm works in your favor if you do.
If you compare YouTube shares to native videos on Facebook, native video receives more likes, shares, comments, and reach.
#21: Celebrate Holidays
If you factor in sillyย holidays, along with more serious awareness dates and traditional holidays, youโll never run out of ideas for your Facebook content schedule. If itโs a more whimsical celebration, have a little fun with it.
Your fans might also appreciate knowing when they can get a good deal, like $1 hotdogs on National Hot Dog Day at Sonic. Find ways to add value to every post to spark engagement.
#22: Share Valuable Curated Content
Your audience knows when youโre promoting your business, and if you do it too much, theyโll start losing interest. To mix it up a bit, source high-value content relevant to their interests.ย Be a helpful resource for your fans.
Use a tool likeย Quuuย to curate content for specific audiences. Itโs free and pulls relevant hand-curated content.ย Alltopย andย BuzzSumoย are also recommended for finding popular content to share.
#23: Post a Quiz or Poll
While a survey can generate more serious engagement, a quiz or poll can be a little more lighthearted.ย Focus on current developments in your industry or topics that are relevantย to your audience. This type of interactive content can drive substantial engagement, especially if it generates personalized results that can easily be shared.
A free tool likeย Qzzrย makes it easy to create customized, engaging quizzes that you can post anywhere, including Facebook.
#24: Rethink Hashtag Use
BuzzSumoย analyzed over 1 billion Facebook posts and discovered that posts without hashtags get more engagement than posts with hashtags.
While you shouldย use hashtags for trending topicsย to boost visibility,ย use hashtags sparingly (or not at all) in all of your other types of posts. Donโt make the mistake of using multiple hashtags in the hopes of increasing your contentโs visibility.
#25: Use Audience Targeting for Organic Posts
You canย target a custom audience for your Facebook postsย just like you target a specific audience with your ads.
Like ads, segmentation can potentially limit your reach, but the upside is your content is more likely to be seen by the people you want to get it in front of. It also costs nothing to set up a custom audience for your organic posts.
If this option isnโt enabled on your page, hereโs how to turn it on.ย Go to your pageย andย click the Settings tab. Under General Settings, youโllย findย Audience Optimization for Posts.ย Click Editย andย make sure this feature is turned on. This custom audience option will now be available whenever you post a status update to your page.
#26: Host Contests and Giveaways
Not many types of posts can garner as much attention as a giveaway or sweepstakes. The greater the value and relevance of the reward, the greater the engagement and potential reach. The best part about giveaways is they could potentially cost very little.
Give away your own product or even a decent third-party prize, and your costs are limited. Youโre only paying out of pocket for the cost of the prize, fulfillment, and whatever service you use to host the promotion.
You can alsoย reduce your costs by partnering with another brand for a giveaway. Itโs a good way to get the prize at a discounted rate or provided for free by the other brand. Once the giveaway is live, it can be promoted on your partnerโs social channels as well as your own for a significant boost in reach.
If you use an app likeย Wooboxย orย Rafflecopterย to manage the event, you canย capture email addresses for continued marketing and engagement. Just make sure youย follow state and federal guidelines andย Facebookโs requirementsย when hosting a contest or giveaway.
Over to You
This exhaustive list of ideas should help you fill your calendar with a good mix of content types that are likely to promote engagement among your Facebook followers. Keep your Facebook postsย short for maximum effect. The ideal character count is about 50 or fewer.
Also keep in mind that if you want engagement, you need to post and respond to your fans every day. Donโt automate your social presence. Go for the human connection and provide value, and youโll see your engagement rise.
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