Community

Your facebook followers won't all see all of your facebook posts. Sometimes they're just not online but more often it's because facebook only shows posts from people/businesses they've interacted with, or posts that facebook things they'll be interested in. It actively chooses to show posts from facebook accounts with high engagement. This means that you might have a low number of followers but if many of them like, comment and share your posts you have high engagement. 

Likes are good but comments and shares are much better. if someone comments on your post, their comments may be shown to their followers who in turn might then come to your facebook page. So getting comments and shares is very powerful and can help build followers more effectively. 

Here are a few things you can do to increase engagement: 

1. Try to post a little more frequently - facebook wants to know you're active

2. Try to make a series of posts complete in themselves, without links to your website or elsewhere. This will keep people on your post and increase the change of commenting there. If you constantly send followers to your website, they might be interested but won't then go back to your facebook page to comment or share

3. Think about how you can attract attention with each post. One large photo or video has a lot more impact than a collage of several. 

4. Ask questions. Word your posts so it gets a response e.g. 'which do you like better - swimming in hot or cold weather?' Simple questions work best. Or you could ask for information or memories, or invite followers to add something to the post. 

5. Consider how you can provide some kind of added information or advice, something that might intrigue or excite. What sort of things do you like, or comment on yourself? What would make you share a post? Try to post the sort of info that would work for you.

6. You'll need to post about your business, and there's nothing wrong with sales messages (that's why you're on facebook) but it's also good to build some 'foundation' posts that create interest, build engagement and followers. These could be posts about the wider area, something you've noticed, recommendations about other businesses (who may then share your posts) or short anecdotes. 

I'm going to be launching something new in early 2024 and so want to build engagement on one of my facebook pages ready for that. I recently 'resuscitated' a page that I'd left dormant for 3 years (I couldn't bring myself to delete it but was no-longer working in that area) and started by posting a 'Some news' update, together with a very short shaky video filmed at the end of my garden on a wintry but sunny day. People like 'some news' updates so it did well for that reason and then it got shared because the video was calming and positive. It's still being shared and I'm getting views from Thailand, Vietnam, New Zealand and US, with comments and more shares. They're definitely not my target audience for the future but their interactions tell facebook that they need to prioritise my facebook posts again. 

If you do something like that, make sure you stay 'on brand' for your own business and don't get too off-track. I've since posted each day about different elements of local distinctiveness so I know the followers I'm building are more my market. Some of these 'foundation' posts have been incredibly popular. One of the posts was about the lynchets seen in fields in the Yorkshire Dales, and the reasons why they're there, together with the origin of the phrase 'do your stint'. So an attractive photo + info + a short anecdote that people can pass on - this led to some pretty impressive responses, shown below. 

Of course not every foundation post will do so well. That particular page doesn't have an incredible number of followers but they're building. And this is a good time of year to experiment a little. For example, I've tried posts about particular topics to guage the response and then also tested posts that are a little more heart-felt, such as one about a sense of community, and found they do well.

So what are your tips for increasing engagement on facebook? What's worked well for you?