How To Increase Engagement on Facebook

Facebook is an incredibly powerful marketing tool that can allow you to reach billions of users every day. But how can you get those billions of users to interact with your posts?

We explain why engagement is important and how you can increase engagement on Facebook in this blog post. Keep reading to learn more!

Why Facebook Engagement Is Important

At a surface level, engagement is people liking, commenting, and sharing your posts. But, when you look deeper, engagement means more than that.

Engagement is a sign that people like and relate to your content. They interact with your posts and Facebook page because they are interested in your products or services. They are at the awareness stage of the buyer’s journey, and their previous interactions with your paid and organic posts can help you discover how to convert them into paying customers.

Similarly, the Facebook algorithm prefers posts with more engagement, bumping them to the top of people’s feeds and suggesting them to people who have not seen or interacted with your business. As a result, engagement is vital to increasing your brand awareness and earning more followers. The more followers you have, the more earning potential.

Overall, increased engagement is important for your business. You need to increase Facebook engagement to increase the visibility of your Facebook posts and nurture leads.

How To Check Engagement On Facebook Posts

Now that you know that engagement is essential, you likely want to check how your latest posts have consistently performed. You can do so using the Facebook Insights feature.

Here is how you can check the engagement on your posts:

1. Open Facebook Page Insights.
2. Click on the “Post” tab.
3. Read and compare the views, likes, shares, and comments for each of your posts.

14 Ways To Increase Facebook Engagement

1. Utilize Facebook Live Videos

Facebook Live Video is a feature that allows you to record and post a video simultaneously. Your audience can watch the video in real-time, posting comments throughout. It is a live stream built right into your Facebook feed!

Live videos are a fantastic way to boost engagement on Facebook, and not just because you can interact with your followers in real-time; Facebook’s algorithm will rank live videos higher, pushing them up the News Feed. As a result, live videos tend to receive up to six times more engagement than videos uploaded to the News Feed.

2. Stay Away From Stock Photos

Scientific studies show that the human eye processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text. Therefore, it is easier to grab people’s attention with an image. Every Facebook post should accompany either a photo or a video.

Photos are often the easiest visual media to include because they do not take as much budget, planning, and editing as video content. However, that does not mean that you should be taking the easy way out when it comes to photos.

It is always incredibly obvious when you use stock photos. They are generic, and they never match your brand. Your Facebook page fans will be able to tell when you are using stock images, and it will decrease their trust in your brand.

We recommend always taking your own pictures for your Facebook posts. Another great alternative to constantly doing photography is to showcase your fan’s pictures.

3. Get Your Followers Involved

One of the simplest ways to increase engagement on Facebook is to encourage your followers to get involved with interactive Facebook posts.

Your followers will not want to interact with your posts unless they have a reason to. You need to encourage them through questions, polls, and other calls to action built into your posts.

For example, a social media manager can ask their followers one of our 56 engaging questions at the end of their posts. Followers will feel spurred to chime in to answer the question, especially if it is one that they can relate to. Questions are one of the foolproof ways to encourage Facebook users to interact with your posts.

4. Post On Facebook Stories

Facebook Stories are a new feature that allows you to share videos and photo content quickly and easily. It is a great way to highlight the behind-the-scenes activities of your business, which can be engaging content for customers who are interested in learning more about your work.

5. Create A Facebook Group For Your Followers

We recommend starting a Facebook group to encourage meaningful interactions between followers and make your followers feel recognized.

Facebook groups are private communities that people can join through request or invite. They can post, comment, and interact with other members on the group page.

Many companies are establishing Facebook groups, creating a sense of community among their followers. It also helps boost engagement because it is a feed dedicated to your business and your business only. No more fighting with the Facebook algorithm to have your posts seen; you can make a Facebook post directly on your group’s feed.

6. Quality Over Quantity

Let’s face it, the world of social media moves fast. One day a funny meme can be trending. The next day, a new TikTok dance has moved into the spotlight. It can feel overwhelming for a social media marketer to try to keep up.

The fast-paced environment of social media can make many social media marketers rush to get content posted, even if it is of sub-par quality. They believe that consistently having a voice (aka putting their posts out there) is better, but that is not necessarily true.

Your social presence is integral to setting a tone for your brand. All posts need the recognizable style, colours, and images of your brand. If you constantly post low-quality Facebook posts that do not match your brand, your followers may not identify with your posts and lose interest.

Focus on quality over quantity when it comes to Facebook posts. And, if it feels like you are struggling to keep up in the fast-paced News Feed, build out a content strategy and plan your posts in advance.

7. Keep Your Posts Simple

Have you ever been scrolling through your feed only to come across a post that seems as long as a book? A long or complicated post is an excellent way to have your content ignored.

The average human has an attention span of 8 seconds. If you post incredibly long and complicated content, it will feel like too much work to read. Therefore, few people will interact with it.

You should always post content that is simple and straightforward. It will be easier to read on mobile devices, it won’t interrupt people’s scroll, and it will help increase engagement on Facebook.

8. Stay On Brand

Your business has a brand that sets it apart from the rest. It has unique colours, imagery, logos, tone, and feel. If you do not maintain your brand in your Facebook content, it can negatively influence your Facebook engagement.

Your team should give every post a thorough once-over to ensure that it complies with your branding. Beyond the appearance and tone of the post, you need to ensure that even the content is on-brand. Make sure to always ask yourself, “Is this topic something that aligns with our brand and niche?”

9. Always Use A Call To Action

A call to action (CTA) is key to increasing Facebook engagement. A call to action is a statement that explicitly asks or tells your followers to take a specific step. Examples include commenting, liking, or sharing a post.

When you include a CTA, you explicitly tell your followers what to do next. Studies show that adding a CTA can increase conversion by 83% because followers know exactly what you want them to do. You just need to convince them to follow through on the CTA.

10. Be Human

Your Facebook profile is a polished version of your business. It may feel unprofessional to show that there is a person (or team) behind it creating content, but that is what people love! People have a natural desire to form connections with other people, so much so that they are more likely to interact with posts that show other people.

Make sure to highlight the people behind your business in your Facebook content. Whether that is incorporating pictures of your team into your Facebook advertising, hosting live videos, etc., being human is a great way to increase engagement.

11. Be Responsive

Facebook engagement is a two-way street. When your followers respond to a post, you need to respond to them. When a brand reciprocates engagement, it helps build a connection with followers. As a result, followers will be more likely to interact with your next post.

In order to be responsive, social media managers need to keep on top of their accounts, monitoring posts and responding to comments from followers. We recommend hiring a dedicated social network manager to manage your social media accounts.

12. Get Verified

Facebook pages with the little blue “verified” checkmark next to their names tend to receive more interaction on their posts. The reason for this is that users tend to trust business pages that have been verified for authenticity by Facebook.

If you want to verify your Facebook page, follow the steps below:

1. Go to your Facebook page profile.
2. Click “Settings” > “Page Verification” > “Verify this Page.”
3. Enter the publicly listed phone number for your business, country, and language.
4. Click “Call Me Know” to allow Facebook to call you with a verification code.
5. Receive a call with a 4-digit verification code.
6. Enter the 4-digit verification code and click “Enter.”
7. Wait for Facebook to review your request

13. Learn From Top-Performing Posts

One of the best ways to increase Facebook engagement is to learn from past successes.

Did a post from a few weeks ago receive a lot of likes, comments, and shares? Does your audience always respond well to video posts? You can learn from past successes, integrate them into your marketing strategy, and increase your Facebook engagement.

Similarly, you can also repackage successful content into future posts to increase Facebook engagement.

Try sharing top-performing posts and see if you can get another wave of attention on Facebook. Make sure not to re-share your well-performing post too early. Otherwise, your followers may grow bored.

14. Get To Know Your Audience

Your Facebook audience is the heart and soul of your marketing strategy. You need to know how to best speak to them to increase your engagement.

We recommend creating avatars for the standard people you expect to be in your target audience. An avatar will help you determine the best way to market to your audience and encourage them to engage with your posts.

When creating an avatar, include the age, occupation, annual income, personality, gender, and other traits of the primary people you hope to convert into loyal customers. The detailed avatars will help make creating relatable content easier.

Not only will you increase your engagement when you tailor your posts to your avatars, but you will also be a better social media marketer.

Must-Haves For Your Facebook Engagement Strategy

Between running our own Facebook and other Facebook pages for our clients, we have identified two must-haves for every marketing campaign.

A Posting Schedule

A posting schedule includes the days you will post and what you will post on those days. It is vital to ensure you post about holidays, product drops, and other relevant news. A posting schedule will make running your Facebook page much easier and more efficient!

A Software That Makes Posts For You

Hootesuite is a Facebook plugin that allows you to schedule your posts in advance. You do not have to worry about rearranging your schedule to ensure you are free and able to make a post at just the right time; Hootesuite will do it for you.

Professional Management For Your Facebook Page

Do you struggle to post consistently? Or maybe you don’t know what to post to increase engagement? Barker Social’s team of experienced social media marketers can help manage your Facebook presence and increase your engagement. Contact us today for more information.