A reoccurring theme I have noticed within the small business and nonprofit arenas is Facebook engagement. Everyone is aware of the importance of engaging on Facebook, but cannot seem to get enough audience involvement to truly make it worthwhile. So, here are my secrets to increased Facebook engagement.
Ask Questions!
When you are sitting in a coffee shop, or at a work mixer, the best way to engage with someone is to ask questions. So it goes without saying why this tactic would generate more responses on Facebook. However, there are a few tricks to this trade. John Haydon sums up the key to asking questions superbly in his “16 Ways To Get More Comments On Your Facebook Page” post. He says:
“Asking questions are probably the easiest way[s] to get fans commenting. But keep in mind that Facebook fans don’t like homework. If they have to spend time trying to understand a question, they’ll be less likely to answer it.”
The takeaway here is to be simple in your questions. These are my top 5 question types:
- Yes /No
- True/ False
- Requesting Tips or Recommendations
- Ask “heart string” questions
- Specific Questions
An added benefit of asking questions is that you get a better understanding of your audience based on their responses.
Responding to Comments
One of the first things I learned about engagement is that the company, brand or person behind the blog post, Facebook post, or Tweet, should almost always respond to comments. The key to replying according to Guy Kawasaki is to do it:
- Fast: Within 24 hours
- Often: Reply to everyone’s comments, and comment on your fans/followers’ posts as well
Always responding to comments may not be the best practice for all cases. A company should never directly defame their critic over social media. There are two large companies that do this well and use different approaches:
- Dunkin Donuts: hardly ever addresses negative criticism, instead their fans/followers respond
- LivingSocial: always takes negative conversations away from social media, by publicly requesting the follower/fan to call or email them
While it is important to engage it is equally important to stay away from conducting negative conversations over social media. By doing this you ensure that they do not evolve in a public arena, and that you are not feeding the media negative information.
When to publish a post
Everyone knows that it is important to share information on Facebook. But did you know that you could generate up to 20% more engagement by sharing it at specific times? Below is a table designed by Buddy Media which indicates when publishing information should generate the most engagement. Over the course of two weeks in January - February 2011, they analyzed the Facebook posts and engagement rates of approximately 200 clients, to generate these results:
- Strategies for effective Facebook wall posts
By timing the publishing of content when fans/followers are most likely to be on Facebook, companies/brands have a higher probability of being seen in newsfeeds and updates. These results do not mean that all information should only be shared during this time. It simply implies that if you follow these steps your engagement should increase.
What are your secrets to increasing engagement on Facebook?
Excellent blog! Keep writing :) This info is so useful! Thanks again!
ReplyDelete