Unfortunately, Facebook has increasingly become a “pay-to-play” platform. If you want to reach new customers (or even all of your existing followers), you’ll need to use their paid advertising tools. (Luckily, it’s a pretty robust tool that lets you narrow down exactly who you want to reach.)
But what about those organic posts? Or even regular posts that you’re planning on boosting to reach more of your clients? You might feel your current social strategy isn’t resulting in any clicks, likes, or general engagement. This is of course in part to the Facebook algorithm – but also has to do with how you’re using the platform.
Stop dealing with low engagement and make a change! Try these three strategies to increase your Facebook engagement.
1. Use Video
Have you experimented with video posts yet? Facebook loves sharing video content to their audience. Not linking to a YouTube video – uploading the video right to Facebook, or even trying their live video feature.
Video is an extremely popular format for viewers, yet businesses are still slow to offer it. Set yourself apart from your competitors with fun video! These don’t have to be feature-film-level quality – just your phone’s camera, a quiet space, and a steady hand can be enough!
The type of video you’ll want to post depends on your audience, your industry, and your brand voice. Facebook has also made it easy to create video from within their platform, as you can use images to build an animated slideshow. Even something this simple can be really effective on Facebook.
2. Mix Up Your Content
Are you almost exclusively posting links to your latest blog post or new product update? While this is great to share, you should look to create content which is super engaging, before you even try posting any of your own links. Try alternating your feed with other types of posts, like images, videos (see above), gifs, or just asking your audience simple questions. Using all different post options will also help give you a better sense of what your audience most responds to.
Leaning into what your audience will respond to and emphasizing those posts over ones that go to your website can improve engagement over time. Facebook will look at your page more favorably if it sees that you’re posting content that gets a positive response. Therefore, your posts with links will, ideally, be granted the same reach benefits.
3. Use Images “From the Wild”
People go on social media to interact with brands and learn more about them. Customers are more likely to make a purchase when they have a connection with that business. If your social media pages are only full of bland stock images, you aren’t helping your customers get to know your business.
Take a day and hire a local photographer to visit your office. They can take professional headshots of your staff (perfect for an “About Us” page on your site, plus photos of you at work. These natural photos will be so much more effective on social media – plus they work as great promotional imagery and will boost your website!
In all, Facebook is a place to show the personality if your business. You want to try and use it like you use your personal page – sharing items that you think others will like, and giving them a glance into your everyday life. What tricks do you use to boost your social media engagement? Let us know!