Facebook hasn’t had the easiest time in the public eye lately. undermined user confidence have plagued the social media giant, and with GDPR, security is a top concern for everyone.

Despite these challenges, Facebook remains a leading platform for businesses to connect with customers, generate leads, and boost sales. This is largely due to the platform boasting 2.2 billion monthly active users as of March 2018.

Simply put, the platform’s vast user base is where your target audience and existing customers are. Data concerns aside, people aren’t abandoning Facebook anytime soon, and its user base is poised for continued growth. Therefore, mastering Facebook for business growth remains a strategic imperative.

Engaging Your Audience on Facebook

Before diving into strategies, let’s define “Facebook engagement.” While its meaning can vary, generally, higher engagement means your audience is more likely to:

• Comment on your posts
• Like your content
• Share your content
• View your posts or videos
• Click your links

Increased audience interaction translates to a higher engagement rate, a more successful business page, and ultimately, more traffic and conversions for your website.

Sounds good, right? Here are seven impactful strategies to make it happen.

1. Celebrate Holidays - Even the Unusual Ones

Relevance is key for Facebook engagement. When your content resonates with your audience, they’ll engage. A simple yet effective approach is incorporating holidays into your posts throughout the year.

For instance, Macy’s welcomed the new year with this post on January 1st:

The beauty of this strategy is that it’s not limited to major holidays. Think outside the box and tap into the power of fictional holidays. These are holidays popular in culture but not widely celebrated – until you bring them to life on your Facebook page! Brands have also found success referencing national days like National Scavenger Hunt Day (May 24). Find a day relevant to your business – and there’s almost certainly one – and capitalize on it.

At a minimum, you’ll create awareness about fun and quirky “holidays” among your audience, fostering engagement.

P.S. Our monthly marketing ideas posts feature national days for each month! Head to June to find links to other months.

2. Build Community with a Facebook Group

Your Facebook presence should extend beyond your brand page. Creating a Facebook Group can drive traffic and activity back to your page.

Here’s the difference between a Page and a Group:

• A Facebook page is the public face of a business, organization, or personality.
• A Facebook group is a community of like-minded users engaging in discussions around a shared interest, cause, organization, or personality.

How can a group boost your page traffic?

Imagine you’re a real estate company. You have a page for market updates, home-buying tips, and brand anniversaries. Simultaneously, you’re active in a real estate group where members discuss market trends, share home-buying experiences, and ask questions.

By consistently posting and sharing valuable information within the group, you establish yourself as a trusted resource, naturally driving traffic to your page.

Here are some groups that appear when searching for “real estate groups” on Facebook:

If you can’t find the perfect group, create your own! Check out Buffer’s guide for more info.

3. Engage with Surveys, Polls, and Quizzes

Gauging your audience’s opinion is a guaranteed engagement booster. What fan wouldn’t jump at the chance to share their thoughts when their favorite brand asks?

There’s no more direct way to engage your audience than asking them a straightforward question.

Generally, surveys suit more serious topics, like seeking feedback on areas for improvement or understanding customer experiences. Polls and quizzes, on the other hand, can be lighter, tapping into your audience’s fun side.

Use polls or quizzes to ask your audience about:

• Their holiday plans
• Their views on current events
• Their interest in purchasing a new product

Here’s a Mother’s Day poll example from a small UK jeweler:

They even added a contest for an extra engagement boost.

4. Optimize Your Facebook Posting Schedule

The timing of your posts can significantly impact your engagement levels. The goal is to post during peak hours when more people are online, maximizing your reach.

According to a compendium of 23 studies, the optimal times for posting on Facebook are:

Best Days:

• Thursday
• Friday
• Saturday
• Sunday

Best Times of Day:

• 9 am
• 1 pm
• 3 pm

A more granular look at the data reveals:

• Upbeat content performs best on Fridays, likely due to the approaching weekend.
• 1 pm posts garner the most shares.
• 3 pm posts receive the highest click-through rates.
• Engagement peaks later in the week and on weekends between 1 pm and 4 pm.

Planning your posts around these insights can lead to an almost immediate engagement boost.

5. Harness the Power of Facebook Stories

Storytelling is ingrained in human nature. A study published in Nature Communications highlights its cultural benefits, such as fostering cooperation, enhancing social standing, and even increasing reproductive success.

Perhaps with this in mind, Facebook launched its Stories feature for both profiles and pages last year. Stories are short-lived, user-generated photos or videos that disappear after 24 hours, creating a sense of urgency and encouraging immediate interaction. The in-app camera allows for creative filters, lenses, and geolocation tags, adding another layer of engagement.

Image via TechCrunch

If this sounds reminiscent of Snapchat, you’re not mistaken. Consider it Facebook’s answer to Snapchat’s signature feature.

Creating a Story for your page is incredibly easy:

1. Use your iOS or Android app, as Stories can only be posted from mobile devices.
2. Navigate to your page’s timeline.
3. Tap on “Create Story.”

Now you’re all set to craft visually appealing, short-form video or image montages that present your brand in a fresh and engaging way. The direct messaging feature for Story viewers further amplifies engagement.

6. Directly Engage with Your Audience

Your followers already like your brand—they wouldn’t be there otherwise. Therefore, it’s safe to assume they’re open to directly engaging with you. You just need to nudge them in the right direction.

Since 40 times likelier to receive social shares surpasses all other content forms in effectiveness, a smart strategy is to encourage your audience to share photos related to your brand, product, a specific theme, or even a challenge.

For instance, a donut shop could invite its audience to share pictures of themselves enjoying their delicious treats in different settings. This allows your audience to engage with your brand and product in a fun and authentic way.

The Duke’s, an American restaurant in Thailand, excels at this strategy. They encourage customers to check in, snap a photo, and tag their page on Facebook, rewarding them with free ice cream.

7. Leverage the Power of Video

While high-quality images were once considered the gold standard for Facebook marketing, recent data shows that video dominates when it comes to engagement.

Facebook IQ research found that users in the United Kingdom and the United Arab Emirates spend spent five times longer looking at video content than they did at static content (1:41) watching videos on Facebook and Instagram.

This study underscores the power of video’s interactive nature over static images.

To boost engagement, incorporate more video into your strategy, whether through regular posts, Facebook video ads, or even Facebook Live. (Check out nexus-security’s comprehensive guide to getting started with Facebook Live.)

8. Explore Facebook Advertising

Paid Facebook advertising offers far greater reach compared to organic methods. With its unparalleled targeting options, you can reach your ideal audience based on demographics, interests, and more. Moreover, Facebook advertising is cost-effective and delivers high returns. Several excellent Facebook ads courses are available if you need guidance.

Prioritize Facebook Engagement

Cutting through the noise on a platform as vast as Facebook can be challenging. Focusing on engagement is one of the fastest ways to get noticed. By creating content relevant to your audience, you increase its appeal and chances of standing out.

Implementing the strategies outlined above into your Facebook marketing plan significantly increases the likelihood of audience engagement. Higher engagement not only improves your Facebook metrics but also positively impacts your leads, customer base, and sales.