3 Strategies for creating facebook posts that spark engagement!
Tuesday, February 2, 2016 - Joe Kiedinger
Do you have a small to mid-sized local business with a familiar or growing brand? Do you have hundreds or even thousands of “likes”, yet you struggle to get people to engage (likes, comments, shares) with your Facebook posts? Time to stop wondering if Facebook is worth your time or if your posts will reach anyone. A few small changes in what and when you post could make a big difference. Here are a few tips we’d like to share:
1.) Know your “likes”.
Use the Facebook Insights feature to learn more about who likes your page. Here you can find out the gender, age, and location of people that like your page.
You can also see how they have been engaging with your post.
And you can see what times they are most likely using Facebook:
Kinda cool info, right? Now, knowing this information, be sure you create posts that put your likes first (this is a nice way of me saying “don’t always talk about yourself”). For instance, say the data above showing many more female “likes’ is from a florist’s Facebook page. You may get further with your Valentine’s posts giving women ideas for Valentine’s floral gifts for their loved ones rather than going after the standard messages aimed for lackadaisical husbands. Since there are many more women liking your page, direct the message to your primary audience. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t post a message directed at men, but be sure to focus on your major audience.
Instead of posting just an offer, use what you know about your audience to give helpful information along with the offer. For instance, this example post:
Ladies – did you know that 85% of women do not receive flowers on Valentine’s Day? What a shame! Stop in and pick up a single rose for your BFF, or maybe even your Mother-In-Law. On Valentine’s Day we have $4 single yellow roses for the awesome women in your life. See you on the 14th!
By the way, that statistic is completely made up, so if you are a Florist, do some fact checking before making that post!
2.) Use engaging images or video.
Look around at what major brands are doing. Are they posting text only Facebook messages? No.That’s because they recognize the power in having eye catching images and that Facebook may even be giving more attention to video and image based posts. Your image doesn’t need the tell the whole story – you just want it to compliment the message you include with it.
Back to the florist example, include an image of a beautiful yellow rose with that post. Or, create a video with your smart phone using the free Hyperlapse app from Instagram that shows one of your employees speedily stocking a vase full of beautiful yellow roses.
3.) Set a small budget for paid promotion.
Yes, Facebook is free, but by using a small budget to promote your page and posts, you can make your Facebook presence much more impactful. Why go through all the effort of making posts if no one is seeing them? Use Facebook’s helpful guides to better understand the advertising function. Start by “boosting” a post you made with $5 for 1 day. See what results you get, and where your advertising can take you from there.
A few small changes to your Facebook posting can make a big impact. We recently saw a Facebook page we started managing in late November go from virtually 0 engagement to this:
Having a strategy that involves creating content that focuses on the people that “like” your page can really take you places!
Still overwhelmed? Let’s chat! Or, download our “5-Minute Facebook Resolution” E-book:
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