Facebook Engagement: Everything You NEED to Know in 2024
If there is one platform that can help you grow your business/online influence - it’s Facebook. I have grown accounts on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook and do you know what platform is the most valuable to me in 2024? Facebook. Despite what so many other influencers rely on (usually IG or TikTok) I went my own way and threw my efforts into Facebook. It’s is a money making machine if used correctly.
Best of all, gaining Facebook Page engagement in 2024 is easier than the vast majority of people think. It isn’t video heavy (yet), doesn’t have nearly the photo recognition you are prone to on Instagram, and truly allows you to create an online community that will communicate and grow with you. Growing your Facebook page isn’t quick, or simple, but there is an easy, must follow process that could help any influencer or small business succeed on the platform. I’m going to share that entire process with you.
Below I go through the simple tactics on how I grew my platform to 73,000 followers, reach more than 9 million people a year, and generate hundreds of thousands of comments as an online fishing influencer.
WHY FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT MATTERS IN 2024
2024 might seem like the year of TikTok videos and Instagram Reels, but Facebook still reigns king on the conversion scale. So why is one of the oldest platforms still the most beneficial? Well it’s simple, it’s because the Facebook algorithm is HEAVILY based upon building and engaging in a community, which is very different to the image recognition and video aspects experienced on many of the other popular platforms. If you can build a community that can engage with your followers, your opportunities are endless. This means Facebook requires less time and energy compared to its counterparts, while allowing for the biggest diversity of return for growing business. From organic reach, cheap ads, to Facebook groups - this platform is more important than ever.
Below I break down 10 ways you can drastically increase your Facebook page engagement this year.
INCREASE FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT BY FINDING A NICHE (& STICKING WITH IT)
When it comes to Facebook engagement, pick a niche and stick with it. Even if you want to mention different topics, keep an aspect of your niche in a post.
The first and most important initial step is finding a niche. Brand your page to fit your niche, add the correct categories/information, and start posting content that falls within that niche. Keywords are important initially to help the Facebook algorithm to know who to show your content too.
Having a niche is the ONLY way to find your “target audience” and engage with them. So many people waste time by having broad topics, changing their niche, etc.. when reality is they need to know these things before they throw content into the platform. It’s the only way the algorithm knows who to show your content to.
For example, I post fishing pictures, and Facebook has decided that my fishing content is engaging so it continues to show it to people who like to fish. People react to this content, which continues to improve engagement, and my content is then shown to more and more people. However, if I started posted cooking content on that page, people would stop engaging with it and Facebook wouldn’t know who to show it to anymore. It would be like starting over. My engagement would drop and my page would become nearly obsolete.
That’s why the number one take-home point is determine your niche, brand your page, and keep your content within that niche.
I also recommend you checkout my article on Facebook Engagement right here to learn more.
2. POST VALUE-BASED, ENGAGING CONTENT ON YOUR FACEBOOK PAGE
Always provide value to improve your Facebook engagement.
STOP posting just to post. In the beginning, it’s very important to provide some sort of value, whether it be in the form of education or entertainment. In a nutshell, value based content means developing content that doesn’t serve you but serves the audience.
For example, in my niche, a way I provide value is to share fishing tactics, locations, and presentations. In the screenshot above I posted about water temperatures, what my graph looked like, and which lure I used - in hopes of helping someone else find and catch fish too. Whatever your niche is, find ways to serve the people you intend to interact with.
Of course, personal stories can go a long ways if directed well, but many times simply sharing your day to day life is not going to provide enough value to keep an audience engaged, nor will it provide the level of trust you need to upsell a product or service in the future. Instead focus on value - education or entertainment - as way to convince your audience to react and return.
3. USE ENGAGEMENT THREADS
If you want people to start interacting with you, then it’s important that you start to ask them to. To grow your Facebook engagement, one of the best things you can do is start participation threads. This means asking individuals to answer a question, share a photo, or drop a comment below. Conversation is key, so the better you can make your post, and ask the questions, the better your response will be. Just remember to respond to every single comment, as I elaborate on more below.
4. RESPOND TO EVERY SINGLE COMMENT
Responding to comments increases Facebook engagement by inviting users
How do you expect to build engagement without engaging with the people who engage with you? You don’t. When you put out a post, it’s a MUST to engage with each and every person who responds. Not only does it entice the user to come back and respond to your response, but it also invites them back to engage with your future posts.
This constant back and forth dialogue creates a sense of community and trust. Continuously doing this adds up overtime. The number one mistake I see people making is that they DON’T engage with their audience and wonder why their audience isn’t growing. Take time to respond to every single comment. Even go back in time and respond to old comments you may have missed, this will entice people to check out your reply to them, bringing them back to your page and increasing your overall engagement metrics.
5. POST CONSISTENT CONTENT
Timing does matter for Facebook engagement.
Did I mention that I am a Facebook media partner? That means that I get to meet with a Facebook expert on-demand. During this process Facebook shares their most recommended guidelines. In these meetings (and to my surprise), I learned timing does matter a whole lot more than I thought. They pushed heavily for posting similar times and similar days to keep audience engagement consistent. The reason this is SO important is because your audience is going to be coming back to check for your updates on the topics they are interested in. You want to capture this audience response as much as possible.
Consistency in content, messaging, AND when you post is going to be key in growing engagement.
6. LIMIT OUTLINKS
Just like with any platform, limiting how much you link out is KEY. What is linking out? Sharing a blog, video, product or any link to your page that will drive people away from Facebook. This is a huge NO in Facebook’s eyes. Facebook makes money by allowing people on their platform, not by pushing them off of it. Is there a time and place to do it? Sure! However, keep it limited to certain content - and purpose - before wrecking your chance at truly phenomenal organic reach.
In general, it’s recommended to have 10 organic posts before you have 1 link out post. This isn’t some hard standard, but it is a guideline to keep you from pushing your account to the ground by freely advertising on it too much.
7. WATCH WHAT YOU SAY (THE WRONG WORDS WILL KILL YOUR FACEBOOK ENGAGEMENT)
By posting high quality content, managing my link usage, and being careful of words I was able to reach over 3.7 MILLION people organically in December.
Next let’s talk about how words can wreck your engagement. It’s not just about linking out, but saying you are linking out that will catch the algorithm’s attention and can throttle your content. Phrases such as “link in description”, “new video just dropped on YouTube”, or “we are running a sale” will definitely throttle not only your post engagement but your page engagement overall when used enough. Enough poor performing posts simply means Facebook is going to continue to hide your content, and your page, from people. Be mindful of what you say, how you say it, when you post organically on Facebook.
8. USE FACEBOOK GROUPS
Facebook groups are underrated. Facebook groups are another great way to grow your Facebook page and your Facebook page engagement. The key to doing this with long term success is to make sure you join groups as your page and not as your personal profile. You also need to make sure the groups are within your niche. Everything you do should be done as your page from now (as long as it’s in niche). Sure you can share your page and posts to the group, but often times this will be throttled - unless sit’s exceptionally engaging. Instead focus on posting quality content into the groups as your page - building up your overall engagement in the algorithm while pushing people to your page.
9. USE YOUR PAGE FOR EVERYTHING
When I interact, I use my Facebook page for EVERYTHING. My personal account is Nicole Stone - I no longer use that UNLESS I’m interacting with my family. Otherwise everything is tied to my Facebook Page: Nicole Stone Outdoors. This allows me to interact, gain followers, and increase my ranking in the Facebook algorithm. I highly recommend doing this. Interact as your Facebook Page in relevant groups (as mentioned previously) on relevant pages, and even when responding to relevant events. Have an account in your niche you love to follow? Then be sure to interact as yourself to gain followers and recognition from their fans as well. Then everyone wins.
10. CONSISTENCY IS KEY - DON’T GIVE UP
My final advice is to not get discouraged. Spend the time growing your account, creating valuable content, and responding to the audience you do have. The biggest mistake I see aspiring businesses/influencers make is by giving up when things don’t go as planned. This is silly and a mistake! It will take SO MUCH time to do it right. Just don’t give up. No engagement after awhile? Then have someone check your content and give feedback. Facebook, done right, is a long term investment in your audience, brand, and online community. Stay committed, take notes, and be in it for the long game.
Most importantly, make sure you are following the advice above to make the most of your time writing and creating content.
