Facebook Business Pages have been experiencing greater declines in organic engagement in recent years. This struggle is experienced by businesses in every industry from sports to finance. Facebook’s drop in organic reach started in 2014 and became even more noticeable in 2018. Without the ability to gain exposure free of ad spend, businesses are struggling to get more likes, comments, and shares.
While you may not be able to get the type of organic engagement of pre-2014, there are still ways to get engagement without ad dollars. You have to be willing to put in the work on a consistent basis. Here are a handful of ways to generate more engagement for your Facebook posts.
Reply to all comments
When you do receive a comment, reply to it right away. It doesn’t matter if the comment is a complex question or someone commented with an emoji. Staying on top of all comments received will help you build a strong following. Replying to comments helps posts rank higher in Facebook’s algorithm. This is because Facebook is more likely to promote content that receives interactions. You also create opportunities for conversations which will improve a post’s organic reach.
Conversations online lead to conversations off-line which means your customers are talking to others about your brand. You’ll increase your sales opportunities and brand loyalty.
Go Live
Facebook wants users to use its Live video feature. This means that your Facebook Live videos will receive greater organic reach than other native videos. In fact, 80% of brands experience this increase when choosing to go Live. Live videos tend to receive six times more interactions than regular videos. You can use Facebook Live in a variety of ways. Here are a few ideas:
How-to video: Great way to help customers better understand how benefit from physical products
Broadcast a live event: Use Facebook Live to involve your online community when hosting a seminar or participating in a conference
Ask-me-anything: This is an effective way to give your followers a chance to ask you questions while you live stream
Pay attention to and use best posting times
If you’re sharing posts when your followers aren’t using Facebook, you’re wasting your time. Use Facebook Insights to figure out when your fans are online. Whether they’re active at 9 am or 1 pm, pay attention to the times they’re on and post accordingly. Use Facebook’s Creator Studio to schedule posts ahead of time. It’ll help you operate more efficiently and be consistent when posting.
Are there are other ways you’ve seen to be effective in generating more Facebook engagement? Let us know in the comments below!
For any questions you may have about Facebook marketing or social media marketing in general, email Josh at josh@jamiascreative.com!