Kim Walsh-Phillips: Increasing Facebook Engagement for a Higher ROI

Image courtesy of suphakit73/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

I’m obsessed with a high ROI on social media. Yet, today’s article is about engagement, not sales.

How does engagement help drive ROI?

The more people you have interacting with your posts, the more networks you will show up on, and Facebook will be more likely to show you to more people in your network without having to pay for it. In addition, the more your audience interacts with you, the more they will grow to like and trust you and be ready to buy when you are ready to sell.

That being said, how do you create more engagement?

Last year Facebook loosened its rules for running promotions directly on timelines. You can now ask your fans to “like” or “comment below” with incentives without facing risk of penalty from Facebook. I often use incentives for behavior modification with my kids (such as stay in bed for an entire night and you can pick out a prize from my secret prize stash…[which happens to be made up of the promotional items I get for speaking at conferences but since they love pens and notepads it’s a win/win for each of us]).

Some ways to use prizes effectively to drive engagement:

1. Run a weekly trivia contest and give a prize to one correct respondent. For example, if you are targeting lawyers, post “Who was the youngest justice ever appointed to the Supreme Court? Answer correctly for a chance to win (insert prize here of your book, a gift certificate to something, tickets to an event, etc.).
2. Ask for captions on a photo and give a prize to the one with the best idea or the one that got the most likes.
3. Choose a “fan of the week” each week and give a prize to someone who posts a photo or comment or showcase a private client.
4. Ask for feedback on something and offer a bonus to everyone who participates by giving a free report or coupon (masked as a gift certificate) away. I use this often in my blog and weekly emails by offering an incentive such as a chance to win the book my team and I are currently reading if you comment on our page.

Additional ways to increase engagement:

1. Ask Questions. The simple act of posing a question on social media is the quickest and simplest way to signal what you’re looking for. Being willing to ask for feedback and listen to what is and isn’t working not only helps your business grow, it builds loyalty.
2. Fill-in-the-blank Posts. To coincide with the release of the Hunger Games, JetBlue Airlines posted, “If your city could be any district, it would be _____” on its Facebook page. (Guess how many people responded.) This ties in JetBlue’s product with something else its audience is excited about, gets them engaged, and gets them thinking.
3. Share a Quote. Post an inspiring quote or saying as an image on your page to increase shares, likes and comments. A great free resource for image creation is www.picmonkey.com.
4. Behind-the-scenes Photos. Your profiles need pictures, but your audience isn’t interested in the standard glossy images from your ads. Give a humanizing and entertaining look into what happens in the factory or office. It will help your return customers get to know you and understand what goes on behind closed doors.

Follow a formula of attract, engage, and then sell and you will increase your ROI beyond most on Facebook.