Perhaps the most difficult aspect of social media marketing is getting “fans” and followers, but once you do, it’s important that your fans are engaged, not passive. An interactive community keeps everyone interested – and keeps you in the minds of potential customers. In this blog post we’ll talk about Facebook in particular, and how to keep your followers engaged.
Below are 5 tips to help increase your Facebook fan engagement
- Be relatable rather than promotional. Sure, you want to “toot your own horn” once in a while when it comes to your product/service, and that‘s fine. However, it’s just human nature for people to want to talk about themselves, so make your content relatable; that is, write posts that your followers can really relate to, or that could get a discussion started.
- Ask the IMPORTANT questions. Whether it’s face to face or online, one of the best ways to get everyone involved in the conversation is to ask questions. Don’t just ask any question, though. Ask those about topics you feel your followers care enough about that they will want to answer.
- Don’t post and think you’re done for the day – interact! Ignoring your followers is the worst thing you can do in social media. Strike up conversations when time allows, answer your followers’ questions. Of course there is no way you can answer every question of every follower, but do interact when time allows. Every now and then, offer a blanket response that applies to all of your followers such as “Thanks for all of the suggestions guys!”
- Enjoy yourself. Sure, business is business – but on Facebook, you can’t be all business all the time. Have fun, lighten up and engage in casual conversation every now and then. Your followers will feel more in touch with you, and essentially more connected to your company.
- Find your posting rhythm. Spamming your followers with constant posts is no good, but neither is failing to post often enough. If you don’t post but once a week, your followers are likely to forget about you; post 20 times a day, and you’ll annoy some who may decide to “un-follow” you. Find a good frequency that works best for your unique situation. Most find that posting no more than 2 to 4 times each day works well. Use tools like Topsy to gain insight into what your most effective posting times are.
Whether you’ve already built a large base of fans on Facebook or are just dipping your toe into the world of social media, keep these tips in mind and keep your fans engaged. It will make a huge difference in the level of success you experience with Facebook.
