Top Tips For Engaging Facebook Posts
When a business takes the time to post something on Facebook the end result is never to get a single like or share, but as that has been happening to many people lately we feel obligated to provide our own top tips for engaging Facebook posts to help people out.
As more people use paid advertising we have seen a trend of less organic reach compared to just two years ago. Because of this, some people feel that posting items on Facebook is not worth the effort as the results they used to get just aren’t there.
While it is true that paid for and promoted posts are doing well, there is absolutely no reason to give up on organic reach; it just takes a little bit of knowledge to craft efficient and effective messages that will reach your audience.
Tips for Engaging Facebook Posts
- Understand the Audience – We probably say this too much, but it is always true; you need to understand and listen to your audience before you try speaking to them. Just because someone else says you should write a certain way, post at certain times, or even talk about a certain topic, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work for your brand and your audience. The only way you can understand what it is that they want is by listening to and understanding what they want. That means monitoring the communities they are in, seeing the content that they like and promote and truly getting a handle on what they find important and interesting. This does take time and in some cases trail-and-error, but it is worth it as you are in a much better position to talk to and with your audience.
- Imagine you’re Pitching a Movie – Why do people see movies? Usually it is because they watch an exciting or engaging movie trailer that builds interest while showing a small piece of the movie. That same idea should be used on Facebook. It can be like a notification method for blogs and newsletters. Even if you opt to put all the content on Facebook you need to be mindful of the teaser that readers see and that wording should be interesting and informing enough to give readers a reason to follow or click on the post. Think about things that make people go, “I need to read about that!” or that people will want to learn about. Build the excitement through the teaser.
- Provide Quality Content – High quality content is an absolute must and it needs to be relative to your audience. If you gain a reputation for producing good or great content then people will pay more attention to your posts. The flip side is a reputation for boring or uninteresting content means people will ignore everything you post because they won’t expect better and don’t wish to waste time. Within the content if you want to increase range and drive organic engagement encourage reaching into another medium like Twitter with hashtag mentions.
- Have you Tried Videos? – Videos are a current sweet spot with Facebook in regards to prioritization algorithms and preferred content to view, especially when using Facebook’s native uploader. That is almost like having a cheat code for a video game. Of course the videos need to be useful, interesting and speak to your target audience and most of all need to be authentic. Facebook users will watch ‘real’ videos but shy away from obvious commercial quality videos.
- Consider Recurring Segments – Any sort of recurring content series has been a proven method for keeping users engaged. Weekly or monthly series that provide useful information are the type of things people look forward to and share. Think of it like a TV show that you can’t wait to learn something new from. Why are recurring segments popular? The answer is comfort; people know what to expect, when to expect it, and based on prior content – if they will like it.
- Use Open-ended Questions – Open-ended questions are a great way to spark discussions and increase reach. You can’t do it all the time, but when done properly they can reach out to your audience and cause them to open up and share which is the beginning of a dialogue and a surefire way to create engagement.
The bottom line is that organic spread of posts on Facebook has taken a bit of a nosedive as paid promotion has become a more popular option, but that doesn’t mean it is dead. By using some or all of our top tips for engaging Facebook posts you can make sure that your content gets just as much reach as its paid counterparts all while you create more of a relationship between your brand and its’ customers.
