social media marketing

Three Tips for Boosting Engagement on Facebook

Article Written by : Charity Banners
Most brands and companies have a Facebook presence, but too many of them aren’t connecting with customers and fans. If fans aren’t engaging with the brand through this portal, what’s the point?

Facebook fans can be leveraged to provide brands with valuable feedback, so companies should strive to maintain free-flowing conversation with those individuals. With this in mind, here are three tips for boosting engagement on your brand’s Facebook page.

1. Get down with the visuals.

Everyone likes a good Facebook picture, and the data backs this up—photos get the most likes and comments of any of the other kinds of status updates (links, text, etc). Don’t hesitate to share insights or ask questions using a photo. You might be surprised at the response, particularly if the photo includes text asks an intriguing question or provides an inspirational message. If you regularly ask questions of your page’s fans via plain text, consider converting those queries to photos. Even a brightly colored word cloud is more visually attractive than plain text, and at the very least, more eyes will be drawn to your post, and more eyes means more responses.

2. Get personal.

It might be true that corporations aren’t people, but they are people-driven. If you visited a company, you wouldn’t find empty offices run by robots, so don’t let your Facebook presence give that impression.

Letting fans see the human side of a brand can be very effective for spurring discussion. It also instills a sense of connection and comfort. Did someone on your customer service team have a birthday? Post a photo of the team gathered around the cake. Have you sponsored a team retreat? Collect a few personal reflections from staff members. One of the most frustrating things in life is dealing with a faceless brand or company, so put faces to your name whenever possible.

Does this mean your brand has to delve deeply into each employee’s life? Absolutely not. But offering a little access behind the office doors can go a long way toward maintaining open communications with customers and fans, and that’s a conversation you definitely want to have.

3. Ask for feedback.

Inevitably, any brand will make a move that garners some criticism. However, one great way to both boost engagement and avoid negative press is to be proactive about collecting customer feedback. Fans on Facebook are brand fans for a reason, and many won’t hesitate to let you know what they think of your products or services.

Instead of waiting for them to come to you, why not use your brand’s Facebook page to preemptively reach out to them? Post pictures of newly released products and ask sincerely for their input, making sure that someone is on hand to offer some responses. If customer input from the page is strong enough to effect a change in one of your products or policies, let customers know, and thank them for their time. For example: “We’d like to thank our fans for their input, which led to some important tweaks to the [Name Here] line that boosted our sales. Keep it coming!”

The main thing to remember when engaging with fans is that the conversation is key. Give your Facebook brand followers something to talk about, and your company can glean great insights from those who use your products or services every day. Treat them with respect and humanity, and you’ll be building the foundation for a conversation that will last the lifetime of your brand. Fostering this environment doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does take some commitment on the part of the brand. Why not start connecting today?