The most successful Facebook accounts, and businesses in general, are those with a community of customers that is both highly interactive and supportive. And the only way to build this kind of community is by being a business with the same qualities.
Facebook is among the best available resources for a business to interact with and support its existing and potential customers. And while the importance of the size of your Facebook fan base is obvious, the level of engagement with your fan base is at least as important.
Think about it. Which is more valuable: 1,000 consistently communicative Facebook fans who eventually convert into sales, or 10,000 unengaged fans who never interact, and therefore never convert?
A growing fan base is desirable, but while promotion may build size, content focused on engagement builds sales.
Every one of your Facebook posts should produce greater interaction with your fan base, and lead to sales conversions later down the road. However, getting your Facebook audience to engage can prove difficult. To achieve the highest level of engagement possible, it’s important to consider the tips below when creating and publishing your Facebook posts.
Seven Tips for Increasing Your Facebook Post Engagement:
1. Stand Out
In order to engage with your followers, you first have to get their attention. In a Facebook timeline full of status updates, posts and advertisements, that’s not always easy. When used properly, bright colors, creative images, and memorable text can be very successful methods for catching the eyes of your followers.
2. Timing is Everything
When it comes to your Facebook posts, timing is crucial. While there is no general best time to publish a Facebook post (optimal timing depends on your industry and audience), monitoring and comparing which days and times bring you the most response on your posts can help you decide when to post in the future.
Having a general idea of what your typical Facebook follower’s schedule is like can help in these decisions, as well. The seasons, recent holidays, changes in your industry, and events in your company are also factors to consider when choosing the content and timing of your Facebook posts.
3. Provide Incentive
Promoting sales events and offering discounts via your Facebook posts increases interest in your brand and provides incentive for your followers to engage with you. Giveaways, contests, coupons, special offers, and seasonal sales are all forms of promotion that can be well-integrated with a call to action in your Facebook posts.
4. Use a Clear Call to Action
It may sound simple, but your fans will be much more likely to engage, if you tell them to do so. Clearly telling your Facebook fans to like your page, comment on your post, or share your video increases the chances that they will, especially when you provide them with that awesome incentive!
It is important when using this tip to not use it too often. Telling your fans to do something in every post you publish can backfire and come off as pushy and annoying, and it may cause them to disconnect.
5. Know Your Audience
Creating engaging content for your Facebook posts is all about knowing who you’re creating it for. Let’s assume you’re a brand that offers low-grade, affordable cookware, and your customers (and Facebook fans) are primarily middle-class, single, young adults.
Would a Facebook post with a tasty recipe for a family of four interest them? Maybe, but probably not. However, a quick and easy recipe for an on-the-go meal that can be stored in your latest line of four-dollar plastic containers will definitely appeal to them!
By knowing the audience of your Facebook posts and familiarizing yourself with their lifestyles and interests, you can better achieve posts that they will relate to and engage with.
6. Be Up-To-Date
With the fast-pace flow of updates and posts on Facebook, many use it as a tool for new information, fresh ideas and the latest trends – including your followers.
By maintaining the relevance of your posts and keeping your content up-to-date, you can prove to your fan base that you are a valuable and trusted source to follow and constantly check in with. Your Facebook posts will become less likely to be overlooked, as your followers begin to trust the information and respect the insight that your account provides.
7. PROMOTE!
Even if you have developed the most powerful post your Facebook fans have ever seen, they won’t see it if you don’t promote it properly.
Running an ad campaign with Facebook turns your posts into online advertisements to be seen by your followers and, with Suggested Posts, your followers’ friends.
And the best part is that using a free Facebook ads optimization tool like AdEspresso makes it easy to see which of your posts are succeeding, which posts are failing and why.
Using this data you will achieve greater ROI and lower costs per lead in your marketing efforts.
Follow these seven tips and you’ll be sure to see your Facebook engagement increase – and along with it your sales should increase as well!