Facebook engagement refers to any action that people perform on your Facebook page.
Examples of these actions include reactions, comments, shares, and clicks.
But why should you care about engagement? And how do you get engagement on Facebook?
You’ll find everything you need to know in this article.
Why Is Engagement Important on Facebook?
If you’ve been around on Facebook for years now, surely you know that organic reach has declined. ?
(Check out Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement in 2018)
Gone are the days when you could simply post random content and expect tons of attention. If 100 out of 1,000 fans would interact with your post today, consider yourself lucky.
For that reason, you need to increase your Facebook engagement. It’s one of the best cures for organic reach decline.
More engagement means:
- Increased social proof
- A higher chance of going viral
- More conversions (especially if you’re offering something and you require people to sign-up)
If you want to see what an engaging post looks like, well here’s an example from my Facebook page:
Want an engagement like that – or more? Sure you do.
Let’s explore 12 actionable tips in the next section.
Related content: 14 Facebook Post Ideas That Boost Your Page Engagement
How to Increase Facebook Engagement (What’s Working Right Now)
1. Share content posted by one of your Facebook fans.
Are your fans expressing their love for your business on their page?
Sharing photos or content created by them shows that you care.
Fan-created content is more effective in promoting your brand than your own content. That’s because people trust the opinions of their friends and family!
Source: Starbucks
Before you share or repost a fan’s content on your Facebook page, just make sure to ask their permission and give them credit.
2. Ask people to comment on your post in exchange for free stuff.
Guess what everybody likes? Free stuff.
The idea of winning something never fails to excite people.
And that is why this Facebook engagement tactic works:
You simply need to offer something valuable (for example, an ebook or case study) and ask people to “comment below” if they want to have it!
3. Ask your audience to share their ideas.
Want more Facebook engagement but you don’t have something to offer?
Here’s a strategy that’s often used inside Facebook groups:
Encourage your audience to express their thoughts and opinions. The key is to ask a question that requires an answer that makes them feel good!
For example, inside my Facebook group at UpViral, I asked people to share their business in the comments section.
Guess what? Over 100 people were delighted to reveal their business.
You can ask other questions as long as they’re related to your niche. Keep them positive and encouraging!
Golden tip: Asking questions is a simple means of knowing your audience better. Use the information you gain to build a customer persona and improve your marketing campaigns.
4. Figure out the best times to post.
According to Facebook’s best practices for page engagement, the best time to post is when your fans are online.
If most of your fans belong to a different time zone, post when they’re awake. You may be asleep during those times, so be sure to schedule your post.
To determine when your fans are awake and active, head over to Insights. Click the Posts tab and you’ll see a graph for when your fans are online:
5. Be consistent in posting content.
Posting at the right times is not enough.
Another important tip to keep in mind is to post consistently.
Being consistent with your posting allows you to stay top-of-mind with your audience. That way, people can expect to see new Facebook content from you regularly.
Remember to post in moderation. Under-serving or over-serving your audience can decrease your engagement.
You may need to test many times to determine the best posting frequency.
6. Include a call-to-action within your Facebook post.
Perhaps the most valuable (but often forgotten) element of an engaging Facebook post is the call-to-action.
Ask yourself: “What do I want my audience to do when they see my post?”
Here’s a great example from Amy Porterfield:
In her post, you can see that she’s promoting her latest podcast episode.
She invites her audience to listen with her call-to-action that says, “Listen to this week’s #nofilter episode” with a link to it!
Use action words such as listen, click, read, sign-up, comment, and learn more!
7. Understand your buyer persona.
You may consider something to be amusing or entertaining, but your Facebook fans don’t.
This goes to show that people have different opinions. And since you’re looking to boost Facebook engagement, their opinions matter more.
In that case, you need to anticipate their needs and preferences. Market research helps you do that.
One of the tools to conduct market research is Insights.
Earlier (in tip #4) I mentioned that Insights shows you when your fans are online. Aside from that, it will also show you the kind of posts you’ve created that resonated best with your fans.
This will give you an idea of what topics and post format they like.
Another useful tactic is to check what’s working for your competitors. (You want to pick the top 3 competitors that share the same target audience as you.)
8. Don’t forget to have fun.
Relevant and useful topics are essential to your Facebook business page.
But don’t forget to add an element of FUN once in a while! ?
Share what’s happening behind-the-scenes.
A photo of your trip.
Funny memes.
9. Write better copy.
Yes, your writing matters for gaining better Facebook engagement.
One thing you should always do is to write copy that your audience cares about.
I love this post by Rachel Pedersen. It’s a perfect example of what a well-written copy looks like:
These are the reasons why her copy works:
- It’s accompanied by an image of Rachel herself which makes it authentic.
- It complements the image. (Your copy should always reflect your photo and vice-versa).
- Her audience benefits from the post. Notice that it offers actionable tips – do’s and don’ts for being genuine in marketing.
- She writes the way she talks. (Be conversational!)
10. Create live video posts.
Surely, you already know how effective video content is in capturing attention.
But between a pre-recorded video and a live video? Live video wins. ??
Facebook announced that live videos are more likely to appear higher in News Feed. They also added that people spend 3x more time watching a live video than a video that’s not live.
Lulu’s, a Taiwanese fashion brand, did a campaign that resulted in a 1.6X return on ad spend and a 64% increase in overall purchases.
They broadcasted a Facebook Live event that featured top fashion influencers. Next, they used segments of the live event and used them to run video ads.
You can use the same strategy if you’ll be running video ads soon! It’s a great way to showcase one of your most engaging content to your Facebook ad audience.
11. Use real photos – stay away from stock imagery.
No doubt about it:
Stock images are easier to obtain and they require less work on your part. But while they’re convenient, they lack authenticity.
Natural photos may not be “picture perfect” but they give people a real look at your business, allowing for trust and engagement to take place.
12. Display social proof.
When people consume a brand’s content, they’re silently judging which one is better.
As a business owner, you can influence people’s perception of you by using a powerful marketing tool: Social proof.
Here’s what social proof is (in a nutshell): When people see that others like and trust you, they like and trust you too.
So imagine if you added social proof elements in your Facebook post. Here are some examples:
- Picture of a reward or recognition you just received
- Screenshot of a customer testimonial
- An endorsement from a celebrity or an influencer in your niche
Showing your audience that others approve of or recognize you sends out the message that your offer is valuable.
Maximize Facebook Engagement (Using This Facebook Ads Tool)
These are just some of the many ways to increase the engagement of your posts.
When your posts gain better engagement, more people will be able to see them. As a result, they can act on your offer. It’s an opportunity for you to lead them further down your sales funnel!
Are you excited to create engagement? If so, get started right away.
I’ve also got great news for you:
Starting today, you can maximize your most engaging Facebook posts by turning them into ads.
Our tool called ConnectAutomate is for business owners and marketers who want to run profitable Facebook ads but have no idea about whether their ads will work out or not.
What ConnectAutomate does is that auto-boosts your best organic Facebook posts based on the rules you set. For example, you want to boost video posts with likes greater than 100 and comments greater than 20.
Here’s a sneak peek of what the tool does:
If you’re going to run ads soon, do your best to create engaging posts and then use our tool to automatically pick the best-performing ones. ??