Introduction
This blog is regarding the ever challenging issue of how to address your Facebook fan base. Although this blog is a guide as a general overlook on how to engage with the fans, each tip will differ depending on the market and what type of message the post wants to portray, whether it is one to drive traffic, drive sales or just to emotionally connect with the user.
Why is it such a big deal?
This section of the blog is posing the question as to why we are looking at the finer details on how to engage with Facebook users. Facebook represents a huge potential market for any business, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stand out and put the business apart from the competition.
A few Facebook statistics will provide the reader of how significant the Facebook market is, and why it is imperative for any business to market on Facebook, and to do it in the most effective and efficient way.
1. 936 million daily active users on average for March 2015
2. 798 million mobile daily active users on average for March 2015
3. 1.44 billion monthly active users as of March 31, 2015
4. 1.25 billion mobile monthly active users as of March 31, 2015
Hopefully these statistics outline the significance of Facebook, and the reason it is vital for any business to proceed with marketing the business on Facebook, and why it is so significant to build a fan base which you can engage with.
How to engage?
This section is providing a number of tips on how to engage your fans on Facebook. As previously stated these tips are not generic for every market and will differ depending on the market. However, as a business owner, or a marketing manager in a business, you as a reader will understand how to interpret each of the tips to maximise your marketing methods on Facebook.
1. Create a Balance
This is intended to give the users a different look and feel, to outline that the business page is different and more interesting from the competition. If every piece of content was the same, or in a similar context, then the user’s would get bored and will look elsewhere.
This is a screenshot of two different posts – as you can see one is a video and the other is an article, consequently, creating a balance and variation in the types of content posted. (Buzz Feed Food, 2015)
2. Express With Emoji’s
This may seem like a irrelevant tip, however, Hubspot observed that “something as simple as a smiley face emojticon in your post can increase likes by 57 percent, comments by 33 percent and shares by 33 percent over posts without them”. Posting emoji’s shows personality, and help fans relate to you.
We have circled the use of emoji’s in this post.
3. Share Timely Content
This is referring to other people’s content, the content you post does not always need to be yours. If there is a story, a current event, or any type of thing which you know your fans will be interested in then it is worth sharing with them.
The Boston Globe an American newspaper knew their readers would be interested in the Red Sox parade, subsequent to them winning the world series. Thus, they sought to provide details regarding the parade, making them a good source of information for the fans. (Social Media Examiner)
4. Use the Data Provided
To understand your market, and the type of posts your fans like, it is crucial to examine the data. Pages that post content and do not understand how their fans react to the posts are unaware of how to engage their fans, consequently, the engagement is unlikely to maximise the potential.
Facebook’s page insights is the source of the data, it provides the business with key information that will not leave them in the dark when analysing the engagement of each post.
5. Have Knowledge of When Your Fans Are Online
Businesses that post when the bulk of their fans are offline will face the consequences of a decrease in engagement. This relates to the point above, however, this point is worth raising separately as it is one of the most useful pieces of information the business will learn regarding your fans.
6. Optimise Your Tags
As a business you want the most amount of people to see your content as possible, this will happen by attempting to optimise your social media tags, which can make your posts more likely to come up in search results.
Each of the highlighted areas can be edited to maximise the likelihood of people seeing your content. You can also upload images.
7. Be Responsive
People expect customer service online, in a shop, over the phone, thus, they look to get a good response when online, consequently, they expect the same on Facebook. It was outlined that 95% of brands to not respond to comments made by Facebook users on their Facebook pages (Hubspot). By responding to comments and questions demonstrates a high level engagement by the business, and this in turn will benefit the business by creating relationships with the fans.
8. Ask Questions
By asking questions encourages the fans to engage with the business, this will create a higher engagement rate. However, the types of questions will depend on the business, and the data should be analysed to understand what questions work, and what questions do not get a high engagement rate.
9. Discuss Current Events
Social media is where people share their lives with the world, when people discuss current events it gives the business a chance to engage with the users. For example, when Valentines is round the corner a number of pages will post content regarding the widely celebrated date. Another example is something big happening in the news, after a natural disaster, the brand can post its condolences, consequently, will humanise the business (Singh, Veron-Jackson and Cullinane, 2008).
This is a screenshot of The Independent’s Facebook page, discussing the current event of Nepal’s tragic earthquake.
10. Know and Understand Your Audience
To be able to engage effectively and efficiently with your audience you need to know your audience well, thus you can tailor the content to what they like. You can do this by using all of the tips previously stated, and continuing to analyse the data.
References
Facebook. (2015). Stats. Available: http://newsroom.fb.com/company-info/. Last accessed 27th April 2015
Hubspot. (2015). How to engage fans on Facebook. Available: http://cdn1.hubspot.com/hub/53/How-to-Engage-Fans-on-Facebook-04.pdf. Last accessed 27th April 2015.
Hemley, D. (2013). 26 Ways To Engage Your Fans on Facebook.Available: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/26-facebook-fan-engagement-tips/. Last accessed 27th April 2015.
Singh, T, Veron-Jackson, L and Cullinane, J. (2008) Blogging: A new play in your marketing game plan. Business Horizons. Vol. 51, Issue 4. Pages 281-292