Do you struggle to increase Facebook engagement no matter how active you are on the platform?
You might discredit it given that younger generations have moved onto newer platforms, but Facebook is still the most widely used social media platform on the web with a user base of over 3 billion monthly active users, according to Statista.
This proves that it’s still worth including in your marketing strategy.
But you need to be careful. The Facebook algorithm has automated systems in place that detect and randomly flag content it deems to be “rage bait” or “click bait.”
In this post, we share tips on how to receive more engagement from Facebook.
Increasing Facebook engagement explained
What do we mean when we say “increasing Facebook engagement?”
Engagements represent interactions users can make with Facebook posts. They include likes, reactions, comments, saves, shares and replies.
Facebook, as a social media platform, depends on user input to determine which posts to boost in the platform’s algorithm. The more interactions a post receives, the more attention it’ll receive from the algorithm.
This is why it’s so important for marketers to increase Facebook engagement.
And when we recommend that you do, we’re also recommending you to increase your engagement rate on Facebook overall.
How to calculate Facebook engagement rate
To calculate your engagement rate on Facebook, you need to know the following figures:
- Number of content interactions you received during a specified time period
- Number of views you received
- Number of followers you had
You can find this information by navigating to the Insights section of the dashboard for your Facebook page or by opening the Insights section in Meta Business Suite.
The Insights section of the Facebook dashboard only has data from the last 28 days. If you want to calculate from a wider range of data, open Facebook Insights in Meta Business Suite instead.
You should calculate your engagement rate by views and follower count.
Calculating by views allows you to see what percentage of Facebook users who viewed your content interacted with it.
Calculating by followers allows you to see what percentage of your following actually interacts with your content on Facebook.
Here are the formulas for each:
- engagement rate = ( content interactions / views ) x 100
- engagement rate = ( content interactions / followers ) x 100
Note: You can save some time and use one of these social analytics tools instead.
How to do the math
- Enter the number of content interactions you had into a calculator.
- Hit the divide button.
- Enter the number of views you had.
- Hit equals.
- Hit the multiply button.
- Enter 100.
- Hit equals. This is your engagement rate.
It’s the same for Formula 2. All you need to do is replace “number of views” in Step 3 with “number of followers.”
You can also replace the figure in Step 3 with “reach” to determine what percentage of users your content was recommended to actually interacted with your content.
The best ways to increase engagement on Facebook
The most effective ways to increase Facebook engagement is by being more consistent with the quality of your content, the types of content you post and how often you post.
You should also post more content that meets your audience’s wants and needs.
This increases your odds of getting noticed by your target audience since you’ll be filling their feeds with posts that appeal to their personalities and offer solutions to problems they’re facing.
1. Increase Facebook engagement by getting to know your target audience
It’s not enough to simply pick a niche these days. You also need to find your niche within your niche.
The best way to do this is to find your target audience, which may be represented by the demographics within your niche. This is who your content should be aimed at.
You can either pick your target audience or see if a specific audience has found your content on Facebook.
If you’ve been active on Facebook for at least a few months, you may have enough data to determine what sort of content performs better than others.
For example, if you’re in the guitar niche and your acoustic guitar content performs better than your electric guitar content, you’ll have a much easier time finding success on Facebook if you focus on creating acoustic content.
In short, knowing who you’re creating content for will help you plan and create content more confidently.
2. Find the best time to post on Facebook
Studies suggest that the best times to post on Facebook are from 7AM to 3PM Monday through Thursday and 5PM to 1AM Friday through Sunday.
However, these studies are based on data from millions of posts, so they’re more of a broad suggestion than a hard and true recommendation.
You’re better off analyzing your own audience to see when they’re active on Facebook.
SocialBee is a great tool to use for this purpose. It’s a social media scheduling tool that includes analytics for various social media platforms, including Facebook analytics.
It allows you to see when your audience is most active so you can schedule posts for when they’re actually using Facebook.
3. Become consistent with your posting schedule
No matter what schedule you decide to go with for Facebook, make sure you’re consistent with it.
So, if you decide to post on Tuesdays and Thursdays for a few weeks, make sure you stick with that posting schedule going forward.
You should also be consistent with the volume of posts you publish. Don’t publish seven posts one week and then only two the next.
Determine how many posts you want to publish each week and how often you want to publish them, then stick with that posting schedule.
Studies recommend publishing one to four Facebook posts and three Facebook reels per week to maximize success.
If you decide to use a social media scheduling tool, like SocialBee, to manage your publishing schedule, consider using its cross-posting features to upload your post to other social media platforms at the same time.
Even if you don’t actively create content for those platforms, you should still publish something to each one to expand your reach.
4. Improve the quality of your content
Have you ever compared your content to content that performs well on Facebook?
Is your audio clear? Is your camera quality decent? Do you speak in an engaging tone? This doesn’t necessarily mean a loud or hyperactive tone.
Are your images shot well and accurately depict what you want to show your audience? Do your graphics use modern web design styles while also being easy to read?
Finally, when it comes down to it, is your content useful or entertaining or could it be improved?
Correct faults in your content, or come up with an entirely new approach if need be.
Note: Just remember that sometimes content quality will be improved with practice. The more content you create, the more you’ll learn and the better your content will be in time. Don’t expect perfection on day one and don’t let that deter you from creating. Get started and keep going.
5. Be more consistent with the type of content you post
Social media algorithms do a pretty good job of recognizing content. They’re able to recommend content that’s similar to content you’ve viewed and liked in the past.
This is why it’s best for you to be consistent enough with your posting schedule well enough that you post the same type of content regularly.
That way, if a Facebook user likes one post you published, they’ll start seeing your other posts in their Facebook news feed.
It’s much easier to appease the Facebook algorithm if you post consistently.
6. Become more active on Facebook
If you’re unsure about what to post on Facebook or if your content is compelling enough for a Facebook audience, spend time on the platform.
Browse your feed, reels, Facebook groups and more to see what type of content gets recommended to you, how that content performs and how that content is presented.
Start by following influencers and brands in your niche and interact with their posts. This will teach the algorithm about the topics you’re interested in.
It’ll also help keep you up to date with new trends and changing Facebook norms.
Posting content that relates to trends is a simple way to keep your content relevant overall.
7. Post more video content
In our post on leading Facebook statistics, we learned that 8 billion views are generated from Facebook each and everyday and that Facebook users spend 50% of their time on the platform watching videos.
This means video content should be an important component in your marketing strategy.
A simple way to create more video content is by recording your day-to-day life, specifically the parts that involve your niche.
You never know when something interesting or exciting might happen.
You can also record yourself completing a project step by step and post it as a tutorial.
A lot of influencers also find success by simply talking to the camera about their daily lives or a topic related to their respective niches. Covering hot or controversial topics is a great way to drive engagement.
Finally, consider creating funny and relatable skits for your niche. Reference common problems and inside jokes only your audience would understand.
This is another reason why simply spending time browsing Facebook is so useful. It lets you see what type of video content gets posted to the platform as well as how that content is presented.
You can also view your competitors’ content as research.
8. Get more creative with image content
You only have a second to catch a Facebook user’s attention before they scroll onto the next post.
This is why you should try to make your image content as compelling as it can be.
If you’re trying to capture a moment that’s not a live action shot, take multiple shots with different camera settings and filters and from different angles. This will give you multiple options to choose from when you finally upload the image to social media.
Remember that not every social media user reads the captions you include with your posts. As such, when you want to use images to teach your audience about something, try to add as much information to your image as you can.
Use a carousel post if you need to, and don’t forget about graphic design tools like Visme and Canva, which have thousands of Facebook templates you can use to make social media graphics on the fly.
9. Turn your best content into Facebook posts
If you have a blog and other social media profiles outside of Facebook, consider repurposing some of your content into Facebook posts.
If your blog readers liked a particular blog post, chances are your Facebook audience would enjoy having it summarized in a carousel post.
Similarly, if a specific YouTube video you published received a lot of views, it would probably receive even more if you broke it down into a few clips and uploaded them as Facebook reels.
You don’t necessarily need to post original content to each platform you’re active on. You can simply create a central piece of content for one platform, then optimize it for others.
10. Post fewer link posts
Managing a blog, YouTube channel, multiple social media channels, and maybe even a podcast, Patreon and Twitch channel is incredibly difficult.
That’s why the job role “social media manager” is now a must for most companies these days.
Because of this difficulty, many small companies and bloggers save on time by simply sharing their latest articles on Facebook with link posts.
This is when you share a link in your Facebook post, write a small caption that summarizes what the web page for that link is about and include an image from that web page.
It’s how many companies who primarily post blog, YouTube and podcast content run their social media strategies.
Unfortunately, it’s a poor social media strategy that does little to boost engagement.
The problem with this strategy is that you view platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram as places for you to promote your blog, YouTube or podcast content when you should view them as additional places for you to build an online presence for your brand.
So, instead of simply having your Facebook marketing strategy be all about publishing link posts, try to repurpose the content you’re promoting into individual Facebook posts instead.
11. Be more candid on Facebook
Consumers are more likely to buy products from brands they trust.
So, whether you’re an influencer trying to make it on social media or a company using social media as a marketing strategy, your best bet to increase engagement on Facebook is by being a little more personal on the platform.
Include your own opinions on posts, and include more of yourself!
Share your work setup, projects you’re working on, a tour of your office, difficulties you’re facing and any other moments that allow you to bring more of a personality to your Facebook page.
12. Include other people in your content
This ties into the last tip about being more personal with your Facebook content.
When you include other people in your content, such as friends, loved ones, colleagues and even strangers, you’re able to create content that’s more lively and unpredictable.
The joy, sadness, excitement and fear you experience with others will be infectious even across the screen, and you’ll unlock a Facebook engagement strategy that’s fairly simple to implement on a regular basis.
13. Share exciting moments with your audience
I’m repeating myself here, but it’s such an important tip, so I wanted to give it its own section.
When you record other content or even when you’re going about your day, you likely experience unexpected moments. Some may be funny. Some may be outrageous. Some may be heartbreaking. Some may even be a little bit scary.
If the moment excites you, chances are it’ll excite your audience as well.
So, be sure to capture videos and pictures of the moment with any type of camera you have handy so you can share it with your audience.
Even if you aren’t able to actually capture the moment, you can post a “story time” using whatever story-time social media trend is popular at the moment.
Again, this is why making yourself more familiar with social media is so important.
14. Go against the norm with your content
Meta may not be a fan of click bait or rage bait, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be a little unpredictable with your content.
Just be careful with how you present this type of content so your videos don’t get flagged by the algorithm.
If you have an opinion about something in your niche that’s a little unorthodox, share it on social media.
You can also do this with methods and products you use differently.
You don’t need to be aggressively divisive. Just share something that’s different or unique enough for your audience to take notice.
15. Share your own struggles, and ask questions
These days, when we run into problems while doing anything, we open our phones and look for solutions on Google, Reddit, social media and even ChatGPT.
If you have an audience, share your issue with them as well, and ask for help.
This is a guaranteed way to increase engagement and find a solution to your problem.
16. Host giveaways
Giveaways are a fantastic way to drive engagement, reward your followers for engaging and even find new brands to work with.
This is because a lot of influencers ask brands to provide products to give away.
Use a self-hosted giveaway app like SweepWidget to boost Facebook page engagement by requiring contestants to visit and like your page.
Note: SweepWidget allows you to run a contest on your site and set specific actions as ways to enter your giveaway. In addition to Facebook specific actions, you can use this to boost your following/engagement on plenty of other platforms. And you can use it to get more email subscribers.
17. Share quick updates with stories
Facebook Stories works in the same way Instagram Stories works.
Stories are temporary pieces of content you upload to your page that disappear after 24 hours.
This makes them a fantastic way to share quick updates throughout the day with your audience, especially if you’re attending an event, working on a project or going on an adventure.
18. Host Facebook lives regularly
A lot of social media users like watching livestreams while doing other things. Some simply like hanging out with other livestream viewers in the chat.
Consider hosting Facebook lives on a regular basis to grow your audience and boost engagement.
You can even post Facebook live videos once the stream ends.
19. Engage with influencers
If you’re having trouble growing your own audience, borrow someone else’s.
Make content with influencers in your niche no matter how small they are. You can boost engagement for both of your Facebook pages by creating content together.
If you can’t find influencers to work with, use another influencer’s content in your own by reacting to their content, expanding on a topic they mentioned or answering a question they have.
20. Respond to comments and DMs
If you want your audience to engage with you, you need to engage with them.
So, respond to their comments and answer any direct messages (DMs) they send you.
Be courteous, but don’t be afraid to get a little sassy with users who are sassy with you. You’ll truly boost engagement if you push back against haters a little.
Use a social media management app to make managing your social media inbox much easier.
21. Create Facebook groups
If you’re already trying to build a community through your Facebook page, it may seem silly to try to build another in a Facebook group.
However, Facebook groups offer a great way to gather a chunk of your target market and engage with them in a non-markety way by sharing your problems and solutions with one another.
You can even create and join Facebook groups as pages these days.
22. Inspire user-generated content
User-generated content (UGC) is content that individual social media users publish on their own about a particular product or brand.
Every Instagram post featuring a drink from Starbucks is an example of UGC.
You can inspire your audience to create UGC about your brand by asking them to share something on social media, such as their own work setups, their own projects or them using your product.
23. Use Facebook insights to optimize your content
Facebook Insights has data that shows you the number of times your videos were played for at least three seconds and at least one second.
The difference between one second and three seconds is long on social media, especially for reels.
If you have a lot more data entries for the one-second metric than you do the three-second metric, chances are your videos aren’t compelling enough to keep viewers from scrolling past them altogether.
Optimize your video content, then refer back to these metrics to see if you’ve made any improvements.
Final thoughts
Engagement drives social media algorithms like what is used by Facebook.
The more engagement you get, the more engagement you’ll get. It’s a snowball effect.
So, take the advice above and use it to put a solid strategy into place that is tailored specifically to Facebook.
Sources: Statista
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