Editor’s Note: This was originally posted in October 2012 and has been completely revamped to reflect the changing tactics any small business especially in tourism, hospitality and wine can use to increase engagement on Facebook organically.
Read on!
We all know that organic reach is down.
So, how well each Facebook post does and how wide it spreads depends a lot on one magical little word…
Engagement.
Liking, commenting and sharing – this is where the gold’s at!
Remember, to help drive organic reach, you have two goals:
- Encourage more people to interact with your posts
- Encourage each person to interact with you more often
Get your Fanbase excited
Do you sometimes hit a brick wall when it comes to figuring out what to post?
Those four little words ~ “What’s on your mind?” are so powerful and really can strike fear when your unprepared.
So, we’ve got 15 quick & easy Facebook post ideas to save you plenty of angst and time, and get your fans interacting with your page
1. What do you think about…?
A great way to generate feedback and discussions is to ask your fanbase questions. It can be about your business area, industry or just general thought provoking (aka comment-inducing) questions.
Maybe you can bring in a stat that’s relevant e.g. “Did you know that xx% of people do xx, is this you?” (When in doubt, Google’s a great source of numbers!) Or you could post a photo that involves an either or a choice – which do you prefer? What inspires you the most?
If you’re after a Friday funny, then maybe it could be ‘Would you rather be stuck in an elevator with xx or xx?”
2. Fill in the blank
Everyone loves to put in their two cents, particularly when it’s as easy as ending a sentence for you. Again, it can be to do with your business or time-sensitive “This weekend I’d love to be…”, “All I want for Christmas is…”
You can be as fun and creative as you like!
3. Win a prize
Who doesn’t love a competition? Particularly one that makes it easy to win a great prize. And if it’s enticing enough, people will want to share.
Of course, if you need help organizing your next Facebook comp, then give us a shout, we’re experts on them!
4. Make them laugh
Whether it’s a quote, photo or video – humour connects.
Funny photos often get plenty of share action and it’s also been said that they’re 80% more likely to be ‘liked’ because of the entertainment factor! Just remember to stay relevant to your business and industry, or at the very least bring some value to your follower’s day – you don’t want people to ‘Unlike’ you because you keep posting irrelevant content.
5. STOP Press!
Got something new and exciting happening? Use your Facebook page to announce new products, staff, special sales, industry news, trends, etc.
If your page is a timely source of company news it will keep them coming back for more.
6. Start a challenge
Whether it’s over 7 days, 30 days or whatever you like, start up a challenge on your page and each day post a tip that’s going to help your followers reach the goal.
7. It’s time to celebrate!
People love celebrating, so share your milestones with them. It could be about the page itself (eg when you hit 1000 fans), or an award, business win or even a personal win.
Get creative with it! And don’t forget, you can also tie in a way to thank everyone or celebrate with them.
8. Use Facebook as a market research tool
You’ve got all of these followers who already love your business, so why not get them involved even more!
See what products or services your fans would like from you, what topics they’d like to learn about etc etc. Just make sure you can follow through!
9. Let your customers do the work for you
Often your customers are a great source of Facebook fodder. Share their testimonials or the stories and experiences they’ve had with your business.
Or if you’ve got a photo of a customer using your product or service, that’s great too – visual is always good on Facebook especially within Tourism, Hospitality, Food and Wine – all highly visual industries.
Answer their burning questions – keep a note of what are some of the common queries you receive again and again.
Repost their content – eg if you’re a food business and someone has shared a recipe with you, repost that asking ‘What are you planning to make for dinner tonight? Here’s a great idea from…”
10. A word from the experts…
Post a weekly tip using your own company’s expertise, or an industry expert – this can be text, links or videos.
Give your customers a helping hand and build your credibility at the same time with a ‘how-to’ video on something your company rocks at – put it up one YouTube and link to it. Post a podcast or an interview with an expert – whether that’s you, one of your staff members or someone in your industry.
11. Hold a live discussion
Here’s an idea that not many businesses use – rather than just posting and running away, stay right where you are and hold a discussion.
Or get a “guest” to speaks from their own personal profile, whether it’s an expert in the field or a local celeb.
The key is that whoever is leading the discussion needs to be active and respond quickly to comments and questions from your fans.
It might also be a good idea to post about it in advance to create some hype.
12. Read all about it
Already write a blog? Then don’t forget to be social and share it!
Sharing the link is a great way to create engagement on your Facebook page. But it will also help you drive more traffic to your website, and help you build your customer base and sales.
13. Link to other parts of your marketing arsenal
Do you have an online newsletter? Do you have a Facebook tab to subscribe to it? Remind people that it’s there!
Or link to other Facebook tabs, social networking, your website, etc.
14. Plan to succeed
We’ve said it before & we’ll say it again…a great way to avoid wasting time on Social Media and have less grey hairs – plan, plan, plan!
Create a simple spreadsheet that has a list of ideas of what to post and when and you’ll make it a whole lot easier on yourself because you’re not starting from scratch every single time.
15. Ask questions
And don’t forget to track your success
Finally, what’s the easiest way to know what you can post that will engage your fans the most?
Keep track of what’s worked before so you can do it again!
Last tips:
Don’t forget the 80/20 rule
The golden rule with Facebook is that 80% of the time you want to add value to your visitors with non-business content and then promote your wares 20% of the time.
Remember to talk back!
Always acknowledge or respond to any comments and be sure to thank them as well. Spending that bit of time engaging in the conversation really does go a long way.
We love feedback, so if you enjoyed this post please let us know with a comment below.
Until next time…..
