Do you have a new Facebook page? Are you looking for advice about how to get more Facebook engagement, likes, and shares to your page? You’ve come to the right place.
Succeeding on Facebook isn’t nuclear physics, and with a little bit of effort, you can get fame and glory there, too.
Don’t Forget the Basics
It’s easy to get side-tracked by all the fancy strategic stuff, but don’t forget the basics. Your “about” page should be complete and detailed, for example.
You should have the appropriate header images, too. That includes the “cover photo”, not just your profile pic.
Engage with other users on their posts. Social media isn’t just a two-way street; it’s a 757 million way street.
If you want participation, participate.
Understanding What Facebook Readers Like to Engage With
Neil Patel uses hard data to answer questions like this. He offers great tips for Facebook, too. He says readers prefer posts about the following topics:
- fashion
- food
- health
- learning
- movies
- music
- positivity
- sex
- social media
- sports
- technology
- television
- travel
He also suggests using the following words in your posts:
- best
- big
- bill
- health
- how
- most
- says
- why
- world
According to Neil, combining these topics with these words will result in more likes and shares. Those aren’t his only tips, either. He also suggests:
- Keep your posts under 80 characters.
- Use emoticons.
- Ask questions.
- Post quotes and quotations. (You can find some quotes and quotations on one of our sites, in fact.)
- Run contests.
- Post more on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Experimenting and Tracking
You should always be experimenting and tracking your results to find out what works with your specific audience.
Darren Rowse shares some examples of experiments he ran here. He increased his engagement figures by 200-300%. His experiments involve trying different types of posts.
One of his more successful experiments involved trying an image collage instead of just posting a single image. He used one of my favorite sites, PicMonkey, to put together his collage. Rowse says that this post got 850 likes and 500+ shares.
Rowse also used a technique that I’ve used and had good luck with. He just asked a simple question. His question was:
“What did you photograph this weekend?”
This was a great question because it not only got answers but uploads of photos.
I’ve seen lots of interaction asking either/or questions. For example, “Do you prefer coffee or tea?” These generated more detailed replies than I expected, in fact.
Experimenting works between when you’re tracking your results. You should come up with a specific plan and measure how well that plan performs. Here’s an example of a plan:
- I’m going to make 4 posts per day this week (28 posts total).
- One of those posts is going to be a quotation about positivity.
- One is going to be a simple question.
- One is going to be a picture collage I’ve made.
- One is going to be a link to something I find interesting from the list of topics above.
At the end of the week, I’m going to look through my results for each post to see what kinds of engagement they’re getting from my audience.
Next week, I’m going to create a new plan based on what worked with last week’s plan. For example, if my audience didn’t engage well with the quotes and quotations I posted, I’ll stop posting those. If my audience responded especially well to the posts I made about food last week, I’ll make more posts on that topic.
More Tips and Tricks
One of the more common tricks I see people using on Facebook lately is to call attention to a particular point they’ve made within an article. For example, if I wrote an article on my blog called “25 Surprising Ways to Get More Social Media Traffic”, I might include a sentence in my Facebook post that reads, “#6 was a no-brainer and blew my mind”.
You’ve probably seen this technique used multiple times. You see it so often because it works.
Pay attention to what your competitors are up to, also. You don’t want to slavishly imitate them, but knowing what they’re doing is just plain smart.
I read an example of this in a post at Social Media Examiner. Dunkin Donuts got a great response from their posts about National Pumpkin Day. Krispy Kreme followed suit, but they were late to the party and didn’t see as good a response.
That episode highlights more than just the importance of keeping an eye on your competitors, though. It’s also a good lesson in timeliness.
Having a marketing calendar that taps into important stuff that’s going on culturally can make your posts more relevant to more people.
Don’t neglect a special day just because it’s small, either. Your audience might respond well to posts about Buddy Holly today, for example. (I’m posting this on the anniversary of “the day the music died” in 1959).
Debra Trappen suggests using lists to filter what you see in your own news feed. She also recommends interacting individually with at least 3 people each day by sending them something thoughtful like a quote or a link to an article that you know those individuals will enjoy.
Try Some Headline Formulas
Nick Steeves offers some ideas about headline formulas that increase involvement with your posts.
My favorite of these?
“Like” if you [do an activity]
I also liked this one:
Remember when [old fad/tradition]?
Nostalgia seems to really push people’s buttons on social media. Why not take advantage of it?
Don’t Post Too Often
My guess would have been to post soon and often, but according to this post from Aaron Lee, posting once or twice per day is more effective than posting three times or more per day.
This is good news for lazy people like me.
Conclusion
It doesn’t take a nuclear physicist to increase your Facebook engagement and likes. In fact, anyone can manage their own social media accounts effectively, without an outrageous investment of time. You just need to try different tactics and pay attention to the ones that are working.
What tactics have you tried to increase your Facebook engagement? Which ones worked best?
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