Don't take social media engagement lightly: it's important. It is about conversing with your customers and your fans. It does requires work, but what relationship doesn't?
To continue my series on social media engagement practices I'll finish up my list on how you can increase engagement on Facebook. For most brands, especially B2C brands, this is going to be a huge market for you. When it comes to Facebook it is all about newsfeed marketing. In other words, getting your brand and your content on as many people's newsfeed as possible.
Today we'll talk a bit about how to enrich your Facebook content and page to keep fans active and sticking.
Encourage people to post on your wall.
While getting people to comment on your posts is highly effective, another effective method for engagement is encouraging their participation on your wall. This is effective for 2 reasons. One, it opens up a dialog for your fans to communicate with other fans. It builds a community between your fans, spurring common interest.
Secondly, it shows up on the newsfeed. Like I have said before, it is all about the newsfeed. People on Facebook are nosy. This small act allows the poster's friends to see what he/she is doing. Since Sally likes this brand, perhaps I should too. In many ways, Facebook users are always trying to keep up with the Joneses.
You can encourage posting in many ways. For example, if you have a fashion brand, you can ask people to share a picture of their favorite look. You don't get if you don't ask, so, a simple request is all it may take. Many times an incentive will also work. Ask your fans to post something on your wall and they will receive 20% off. If you have a physical store you can post a sign on your register or in the store somewhere. Let them know you are a social brand and you will be surprised at the results.
A more sophisticated strategy is to use Facebook tabs which allow fans to comment/review easily. Wildfire, a social media app & contest application (which I use and will go into more in future posts) will allow you set this up in a few clicks. They have a ton of templates to chose from, which makes the designing side very easy.
Host a contest.
Oh, how I love a good contest. In fact, contests in the social media world are a godsend. Who doesn't love FREEBIES? I know I sure do. I sign up for tons of contests on Facebook. Airlines like Virgin & KLM do contests extremely well, and you should head on over to their page for some inspiration.
Contests are good for Facebook because they encourage sharing (sometimes for more entries) and encourage fan growth. There are a ton of different types of contests to hold. Sweepstakes are the least engaging but will allow for the most growth since they are the easiest to enter.
Allow people to interact with your site through Facebook.
People are spending more time on Facebook than any other site, or at least it seems that way. If you can allow them to interact with your site without having to go to your site, you are in good hands. Again, the way you do this is through the use of tabs. I use Static HTML: frames tab. Search for it in the apps. The reason I like this app is because you can import your URL and it does the rest.
Cross pollinate other social sites on Facebook though tabs.
Again, it is all about the tabs here. You can stream your Pinterest, Instagram, Flickr, and Twitter feeds through your Facebook page. Why not grow your other sites as well, all in one place?
As I have talked a lot about tabs in this post, it is apparent that a "all about tabs" post is necessary. Stay tuned for that.
How do you increase engagement? What have I missed? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.
READ THE OTHER ARTICLES IN MY SERIES HERE:
Social Media Engagement - Overview
Social Media Engagement - Facebook (Part 1)
(image: Aija Lehtonen / Shutterstock.com)