Social Media has empowered the man on the street to voice an opinion, communicate across barriers, and influence others. Facebook is often a preferred social media and provides a platform to get up and personal with friends, fans, and customers. Gone are the days when businesses talked to customers but very seldom engaged with them.
On Facebook, engagement means interaction between individuals or businesses and followers and fans. The number of engagements indicates the success of a post and its content. Engagements are likes, comments, shares, views, and link clicks. Relevant, captivating content encourages engagement.
That engagement with Facebook users is critical is not questionable. The most important factor, though, is how to engage well, measure the engagement and look for valuable connections with followers.
Skip ahead:
Facebook provides an opportunity to engage with followers
Facebook is the perfect way to connect with people and have conversations; it lends itself to valuable interactions; this is, in essence, engagement.
Engagement is facilitated by content and measured by response to content.
There are various ways to create content that works, but it needs to cut through the clutter. People scroll down their Facebook timelines quickly and gloss over anything that isn’t relevant or doesn’t appeal to them.
Your content must be worth reading.
Relevance boosts engagement on Facebook
Engagement depends on the quality of information and visual appeal you present on your page. Post on your page frequently and never show repetitive or mundane content.
To assist with this, Facebook provides many statistics to inform you of, for instance, the age of your followers, where they live, when they use Facebook, and what their favorite posts are.
Use this information for future content.
Avoid click-baiting at all costs. In other words, never ask for likes or follows; the true reflection of success lies in natural, progressive responses and not solicited engagement statistics.
The key to engagement on Facebook is captivating content
Facebook is predominantly a visual media, so the design of your posts is of utmost importance. The challenge is to captivate the person seeing your post and draw them in to look deeper.
When you accomplish this, you start the fundamental process of engagement.
The primary question is whether your content adds value to the Facebook user.
Is it worth the time they take to read it? Will it be noticed? Does it have a call-to-action or facilitate an easy way to contact your business?
Likable posts perform well
To make your post appealing, you must put your creative cap on and think like a Facebook user who is about to interact with you. Insert humor and refer to topical conversations or current events to make your content relatable.
Create a bite-sized snippet of your message or product offering, just enough to pique interest; this is the switch that flicks on and converts users to followers, fans, and customers.
Don’t present an information overload or use too much text. People will not read it. If it interests your audience, use dynamic video clips to explain longer content.
Over 95% of all Facebook users access Facebook on their mobile devices or tablets. These have smaller screens, so copy-rich posts are unappealing and difficult to read.
Take this into consideration when putting together content.
Great design boosts engagement
Just because it is Facebook doesn’t mean that your post must look anything less than any other advert or message you present to the public.
The better the design, the more likely someone will be inclined to engage with you.
Create your posts specifically for Facebook. Use the standard Facebook size for timeline posts and adapt this correctly to stories.
Clear calls to action are the most effective
Engagement requires activity; by Including a call to action on your posts, you create a path for Facebook users to interact with you.
Be clear about the step to take; any ambiguity will lessen participation.
Examples of calls to action are:
- Invite users to participate in a competition.
- Ask for opinions.
- Provide links to click.
- Encourage participation in groups for common interests.
- Use videos and motion content.
Facebook engagement rates indicate sentiment toward content
Facebook users essentially show their sentiment towards your post by reacting to various options available on Facebook:
- Liking or disliking a post
- Commenting on your post
- Sending direct messages to you regarding your post
- Sharing your post with others
- Watching a video that you have posted on your timeline
- Clicking on your post to view it properly
- Clicking on a link, you have shared on your timeline
It’s all good and well to encourage engagement, but not all attention is positive.
Keep an eye on comments and immediately address any negative feedback by providing solutions or explanations.
Facebook engagement statistics provide insights
Facebook provides a suite of tools and insights that assist in measuring engagement rates; there are three favored methods to calculate the engagement rate:
- Reach measures the number of people who had the opportunity to see your post. Calculate the number of interactions and divide it by the post’s reach. Multiply the answer by one hundred to give you a percentage of engagement. In other words, a high ratio shows effective your post was. This measurement is considered the most indicative of actual interaction.
- A second option is to divide the number of engagements by impressions and multiply by one hundred. Impressions are the number of opportunities each person has had to view your post.
- Another option is to divide engagements by the number of followers to determine the engagement rate per follower.
Based on calculating engagement using reach as a measurement tool, the median engagement percentage is between 1 – 5%.
Monitor your stats regularly to rectify negative trends immediately. If your performance is better, you have a winning campaign or post.
Fortunately, Facebook provides information on who, when, and where your customers are. Facebook’s insights tell you what time they prefer to see posts and on which dates they like to see posts.
Take cognizance of these patterns to grow engagement.
Engage with your followers on Facebook when they are online
The valuable thing about Facebook is that you can access all the statistics about your page and your posts if you have a business account.
Use this to track your followers’ behavior and communicate accordingly to increase participation. Examine when high levels of engagement take place and add this to your posting plan. Facebook has free features built into the platform to schedule posts.
Analyze posts with above-average engagement and use the structure and style for future communication.
Monitoring conversation on Facebook is vitally important
As your audience grows and engagement grows, so does the need to maintain conversations.
Comments give insight into how customers feel about you, the information they need, and their frustrations.
By engagement measurements to analyze your followers’ preferences, you, in effect, have a glimpse into your target market, allowing you to refine your engagement strategy.
Final thoughts on Facebook engagement
Engagement is one of the primary reasons businesses benefit from Facebook. Engagement measures actions on a post and includes likes, comments, shares, clicks, and views.
Cultivate engagement by posting content that is both relevant and captivating. To benefit from this, you need to be responsive.
Monitoring engagement provides valuable insights into your followers and sentiment towards your communication.
Keeping track of engagement rates allows you to determine which posts are successful or not.