10 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Engagement

10 Ways to Increase Your Facebook Engagement

Facebook is one of the most popular social media sites. But how many facebook engagement (likes, comments or shares) are we really getting on our posts? And how can you increase this without stepping into paid ads territory?

Read on to find out our 10 ways to increase engagement on your Facebook posts.

1. Use Engagement Prompts

It’s important to give people a reason to engage with your posts and to make it easy for them to know what to say.

An easy way to do this is to ask questions. Whether it is a question about someone’s opinion on something or asking someone to describe their day in emojis, readers are often already preparing an answer in their head as they read the question. They may also check out the comments, seeing what others have to say, increasing the likelihood of them replying to a comment they may agree/disagree with.

In our post below, we asked an easy question that did not require too much thinking and put a fun twist on it, encouraging users to reply with a GIF. This gets people engaging as they will often scroll through the comments to see what funny GIFs others have posted.

And that brings us to our next point, creating a giveaway is another easy way to increase the engagement of followers. Giveaway posts will often require some type of engagement to enter. Typically, the easier the engagement is, such as liking the post, the more likely people are to get involved. This is an easy way to improve your engagement because people are required to engage with the post, leading to the Facebook algorithm making your future posts appear more often for followers, hopefully, increasing engagement in the future also. It is important to be aware that too many giveaway competitions may annoy some followers if they are overused.

Another way to encourage people to engage with your Facebook posts is to tell them how to engage. And the easier you make it, the better.

You can also encourage people to comment on your posts by asking them to fill in gaps or finish a sentence.

When you use these techniques to promote your business on Facebook, you can boost engagement on your organic posts and ensure you attract only the right people to your business.

 

2. Design Posts Around Specific Days or Current Events to get more engagement

Designing post content around current events or a holiday is a simple way to increase your engagement. Tapping into the emotions of your target audience can increase engagement even further. The post below was a post we did just after lockdown last year. It was a post that everybody could relate to as so many of us were working from home at the time. This post below was timely and even tapped into the emotions of our audience as it was something we all were experiencing.

Another easy content idea is awareness days. Incorporating awareness days that are relevant to your business and target audience can generate engagement through the shared interest in it from followers. If it is something that followers resonate with, they will be more likely to engage in it.

 

3. Prioritize Comments and Replies

After you post, it is important to keep an eye on each post and interact with followers. If someone has taken the time to comment on your content, you should return the favour and reply to them.

People are more likely to want to interact with brands who are giving the same back and that is why so many companies are doing it these days. Taking the time to reply, shows followers that you’re listening to them and they are more than just a profile to you. This encourages more interaction among followers in the future.

 

4. Go Live and get more engagement

Facebook Live allows you to speak directly to your audience in real-time and encourages them to engage either through reactions or in the comment section. Make sure the Facebook Live post induces people to watch, no matter when they are joining.

To create even more engagement, respond to all the comments on your Facebook Live post, just like you do on a normal post, and continue the conversation. Not only will doing this strengthen the relationship with those followers you’re engaging with, but you’re also signalling to the Facebook algorithm that the post is quality content that people are engaging with. This engagement will lead to your future posts appearing more for followers and will notify them when you’re next live.

 

5. Find your Perfect Post Time

The more engagement a post receives, the more likely the algorithm is to reward it with reach. This is why it is important to know when the best time to post is.

Every page will have its own perfect time to post. This is because it depends on when your followers are online, where your audience is based and the industry you are in.

The best way to find your best time post is to look at your own data. In your Facebook Page Insights, under the Post tab, you get data on when your followers are online for each day of the week. You can use this data to find the most common time and post during this time. This will increase the likelihood of followers seeing your posts as they will be online during the time, therefore, decreasing the chance of your post getting blocked by other posts before they come online and see it.

 

6. Plan Facebook Posts People Will Save or Share

This may seem obvious but creating content that is specifically designed to be shared will increase your engagement. People love to save posts like how-to tutorials or recipes to try later and are likely to prompt engagement from not only your audience but also their friends. Often, people will save or share posts they think will be helpful to look at later posts.

 

7. Speak to Attributes Your Target Audience Shares

People tend to post content that shows them in the best possible light on social media. Whether it’s the pictures they share of only a select part of their life or posts they share of someone they aspire to as good as, many people put a lot of thought into what they do on social media.

That is why it is important to ensure your content will make them look good to their peers. If it is something that will make them look good, they will be more likely to comment on or share it on social media because it will make them look good if anyone sees it. Therefore, when deciding on your content, make sure it is something that others will not be ashamed to been seen engaging with.

 

8. Make your Followers Laugh

One of the main reasons people are on social media is to be entertained. When this is combined with the fact that everybody loves a good laugh, humour is one of the best content to engage your followers.

Whether it’s witty humour or a horrible Dad joke, there are some important things to remember:

• Make it timely
• Speak directly to your audience

Have a look at our post below. It speaks directly to our audience as the majority of our audience live in Palmerston North, and the timing could not have been better as we posted it on a typical Palmy grey sky day.

9. Show Off Behind the Scenes

Don’t be afraid to show off your real workplace or processes. People love to see what others are up to in their day-to-day life and at work. Whether it’s a behind the scenes shot to show how a product is made or a clip showing your cooking failure when you burnt that batch of muffins, we want to see it!

People resonate with your story and are likely to share their own story, just like they did on this post from Lainey. It helps your audience connect with your business on a personal level.

10. Make your content mobile-friendly

I know many of you would agree with me when I say most people use Facebook on their mobile phones. That is why it is important to ensure that your content is mobile-friendly. If your content doesn’t look good on their phone, followers are just going to scroll past and not engage.

An important thing to consider is the pictures you are sharing. Make sure they are suitable for both mobile phone and computer viewing. If any pictures have words, have a look at what it will look like in both views. Take note: words often get cut off when viewing on mobile phones. If a picture becomes cropped, followers are more likely to continue scrolling.

A short, attention-grabbing caption can often help grab someone’s attention. An easy to read caption can often be more effective. It helps to get your message across to those who are having a quick scroll on Facebook. This can increase your engagement as those become more likely to read it and from there comment, react and share.

Have a look at our blog: Social Media Image Sizing Guide 2020 for computer vs. smartphone display sizes.

Want more tips and tricks on improving your social media engagement?
Check out our Training and Resources for some value-packed tools and workshops