Since 2017, engagement on Facebook Pages has decreased by 20%, leaving many social media managers scratching their heads. Engagement is one of the pillars of social media success and is a key indicator of who’s interacting with your content.
Growing engagement means you have more likes, follows, and comments, which increases the likelihood of being found first in the feed of your viewers. But if you’re not getting organic engagement, how are you supposed to rank higher in the algorithm? It’s a question that marketers everywhere are trying to answer, and a few have come up with some solutions to increase engagement on Facebook. Charley Grey has outlined some of those tips for you.
5 Tips for Boosting Facebook Engagement
1. Focus on Quality, not Quantity
Social media platforms are meant to be used as a place to inspire, engage, inform, and entertain. If you find that your page engagement is down on Facebook, shift your thinking from how often you should be posting to focusing on the quality of the posts. The reason you may not be getting higher engagement results is that your five or six posts per day aren’t relevant to your audiences and don’t provide them with answers to questions and concerns or provide information.
Social media platforms are all about building community with strangers who share similar interests. If your business is saturating their feeds with content that’s irrelevant to their needs, you could be losing your community. Instead, come up with a strategy that aims at posting quality content once or twice a day across all of your platforms.
2. Create for Facebook
Creating content for social media platforms takes time, and time is not always a luxury, so it may be tempting to create one piece of content and spread it across all of your social channels. However, that’s not such a good strategy, especially if you’re already struggling with engagement on your Facebook page. What works on Instagram may not work on Facebook, and what works on Twitter may not work on LinkedIn. Instead, your tactic should be to select a topic and then develop a unique caption or post for each of your platforms surrounding that idea.
To accomplish this, use a posting tool that allows you to edit and schedule posts for a variety of platforms using different content pieces, or use the scheduling tool directly inside the Facebook platform. Just remember to keep your content topic the same and the message clear so that your audiences learn what to expect from your pages.
3. Go Live
Many businesses don’t understand the impact social media has on the buying process and how much significance they should give it when developing their marketing strategy. However, social media is highly impactful, especially when you create live content and videos. Facebook has recently tweaked its algorithm to push Facebook Live usage and rank live streams higher than other videos. The added bonus is that your target market will see the face behind your brand and come to know you as a person, building trust and competency.
With added social trust comes an increase in engagement on Facebook. The more often you choose to go live at a conference, behind the scenes, or while your company is doing something impactful, the more likely your content is to rank higher in feeds. According to experts from Buffer, you might also consider covering topics such as an interview with another industry leader, breaking news, or sharing weekly tips that are practical for your audiences.
4. Ask for Opinions
You may think that engagement starts with your audience commenting or liking your content, but that’s not the case. When you put together your Facebook strategy, incorporate several days that simply ask your audience a question or for an opinion. You’ll pique interest and get your community to engage by encouraging them to comment. Not only does this boost engagement for your page, it also makes sure that the algorithm recognizes people are interacting with your page. Over time, this can have a significant impact on your social ranking, putting your right at the top of news feeds.
However, don’t forget to reciprocate the comments! Many businesses fall short and fail to respond to direct comments or messages. Responding is equally important as the content you put out.
5. Be Active in Groups
According to the Hootsuite staff, one of the top ways to increase engagement on Facebook is to join Facebook groups and be active. Similar to sharing organic content, you’ll want to monitor these groups carefully and be selective when joining. If your industry or niche doesn’t have a group, or you want one specifically for your company, create your own and then spread the word. Invite friends, family, co-workers, and other industry leaders to like and join your group where the content is exclusive and real-life questions can be answered without fear of judgment. These interactions are meaningful and can really pay off for your overall Facebook engagement.
Here at Charley Grey, we’re passionate about helping you reach your business goals when it comes to your webpage design. And for our managed website clients, we can help increase engagement on Facebook and other social media channels. To find out more about how we can help your business grow, contact us today!