Are you not getting the level of social media engagement that you’d like to see?

You’ve gone through the trouble of create a Facebook business page (if not, read this: How to Create a Facebook Business Page). You’re trying to post to it regularly, but to what end?

Perhaps you’ve been told to post twice/day to increase social media engagement. That’s a hard standard to keep up. Is it really necessary? Should you be focusing on more likes? Engagements? Or clicks through to your web page?

It’s hard to get people to engage with your Facebook posts.

We’re all inundated on our news feeds, we have limited time, and some people are wary of engaging on the Internet. If you’re posting on Instagram (read here: Use Instagram), you may be having better luck. Your audience is likely younger and more accustomed to social media engagement.

You may have been told to pay to boost your posts to reach a broader audience. This is good advice if your goal is to increase brand awareness.

Traditional advertisers have always focused more on brand awareness than on social media engagement.

The more you see something advertised, the more likely you are to remember it when you need it. But think about it – when you see an interesting advertisement, do you go and follow that brand? Do you comment on it? Do you buy right away?

Chances are that you don’t. Social media engagement is good, because it increases your reach, but it’s hard to achieve. Organic reach (which means unpaid distribution) on Facebook has gotten abysmally low.

You should think of your social media as a marketing and advertising expense with the goal of increasing brand awareness.

If you have the budget, hire someone to post content regularly. Boost a post once/week to increase your reach and brand awareness.

Engagement is also useful for testing your content. Keep track of which content gets more engagement. Re-use some of your best content and boost it.

Social media marketing is a long-term strategy. So don’t get hung up on likes or engagements. You’re in this for the long haul.

Tips on boosting a post:

• Boost a post that has an interesting visual. This could be a link. Be sure that the visual doesn’t have too much text on it.
• Experiment with budget. Start small, monitor reach and engagement.
• Consider a “sharing contest”. Encourage your followers to share for a chance at a prize.

Wondering about Facebook Ads vs. boosting? Read this: Here’s a Quick Guide to Driving Social Engagement.

Here’s some more advice: 6 Things Business Owners Need to Understand.

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