So by now you’ve probably heard about Facebook’s new algorithm, which launched just this past January. (If you haven’t, check out our blog about it!). One of the major changes was that businesses would be less visible overall in people’s newsfeeds, and that strong engagement would be the main way for businesses to keep their views high. Facebook was clear that a specific type of engagement would be prized above all others: engagement which encouraged interaction between friends.
Now, that’s all well and good for Facebook to say, but what exactly does that mean in practice? What kind of posts should businesses be creating that will keep regular engagement high (the usual likes, comments, shares), but will also encourage interactions between your followers and their friends without engagement-baiting?
We’ve come up with three solid strategies that will put this into practice and help you build up your rate of engagement. Read on!
1. Ask questions.
This is easy to say and slightly harder to do. Most social media familiars know that you ought to encourage comments by asking questions. But what kind of questions are the right ones? To come up with better questions that will actually encourage your audience to engage, consider the age range and demographics of your target audience. What kinds of things might they be likely to respond to? What kinds of things might interest them - or irritate them? Most businesses tend to be very cautious and not post any questions about topics their audience may have strong feelings about - and for good reason! But not every topic should be considered off-limits, especially since people communicating with other users creates such great engagement. Try to think of topics that your audience will want to engage in, but won’t build any animosity or negative feelings towards your brand. (Do you like the Red Sox or the Yankees? Do you prefer to wear clogs or sneakers at work?)
2. Post cute, funny, or interesting photos and videos that will encourage people to tag their friends.
This is a great way to tap into the ‘engagement with their friends’ concept. People love to tag their friends in comments if the photo or video is something they think their friend would like! It might be a cute video, a funny quote, or a picture of something your target audience enjoys. Don’t be afraid if it isn’t explicitly relevant to what your company does - as long as it is relevant to your target audience, it is relevant to you! Many companies use this to their advantage and post content like this almost exclusively. However, since Facebook has made it clear that they do not want engagement-baiting, you can’t write anything like, “tag a friend” in your text. Think about in your own life. What kinds of posts have you tagged your own friends in?
3. Polls.
Facebook polls have become increasingly popular as of late for a good reason. Polls are a super easy way to encourage your audience to engage. In order to participate in the poll, you have to engage with it! People very often will tag their friends and encourage them to participate as well, or post comments with their own reactions to what the results are. This is a super easy way to actually get responses to the questions that often go unanswered, such as “What kind of content would you like to see more from our page?” If you create a poll with that question and input your own answers, users are much more likely to respond! This will create great engagement for your page.
What kind of content has worked the best for you to engage your followers? Tell us in the comments!
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