We’ve all been there.
You post something to your Facebook business page, sure that people are going to be excited about it.
Then nothing. Crickets. It’s as if no one ever saw it, and if they did they ignored it.
No comments, maybe a single like from a sympathetic friend.
So let’s get out of this slump.
Here’s 5 tips for engaging your clients on Facebook (with awesome bonus info at the end!)
1. Don’t post too much or too little
According to Amy Portefield, the optimal number of times to be posting each day is between 2 and 5.
Less than that and Facebook thinks your page isn’t very active so doesn’t give it much weight on the wall, and more than that and your fans start to feel spammed.
Keep consistent to keep your fans interested.
Don’t post something, anything, just for the sake of posting – make sure that it either educates, entertains, or empowers your readers.
Confession: I’m horrible at posting regularly. I’m working on getting better. Don’t use me as an example.
2. Create posts that are easy to respond to
People surf Facebook quickly, browsing through their wall and pages with very little thought.
Make your posts quick and easy to respond to.
For example, let’s say you are a wedding photographer who wants to engage your wedding clients by asking about how they got engaged.
Instead of asking “Tell me the story of how you got engaged” which requires them to stop and write out a long response, ask them “What one word best describes your engagement?” It’s an easy answer, not requiring much time, and you’re more likely to see responses.
I tried this recently with this question and got a lot of responses right away (which helps to make it show up in the news feed for people more as well).
3. Use photos as much as possible!
People are drawn into images, and Facebook gives more weight to images than most other types of content (such as links).
So instead of simply linking to your blog post using the link feature and letting the little preview thumbnail show up, upload a photo on your wall and link to the post in the description.
Notice how much bigger the photo on your wall is? Yeah, pretty sweet. People will give it more notice and it’ll be more apt to show up in the news feed for your fans as well.
4. Do not “post and run”
Don’t put up a post and then immediately leave Facebook.
Give it a few minutes, respond to any responses (using first names, which is a great way to make it feel personal) and stick around.
If you’re not there to engage, your readers won’t stay either.
Responding right away can start discussions that make the post more interesting.
5. Show them what YOU want them to see first
What is the purpose of your Facebook page?
If you have a number of beautiful albums on your page that you want to showcase, set your photos tab to be the first thing they see instead of your wall.
It’ll be more effective than simply letting them see whatever random thing happens to be on your wall (or from noticing that your last post there was a few months ago…)
To do this go to “Edit Info” then “Manage Permissions” and set the “Default Landing Tab” to whatever tab you want them to see first.
Or maybe you want to tell them other information about yourself. I’d highly suggest creating a custom Facebook welcome tab that all new people see first when coming to your site that tells them to like your page and any other information you’d like them to know.
This is on my to-do list and am scheduling it in as part of my Marketing Bootcamp that I’ll be doing soon.
The easiest way to do this is to pay for an outside service like lujure.com, but personally I think that’s rather expensive. It’s a good way to go if you don’t want to do the coding yourself, however.
Here’s a list of some tutorials from around the web that can help you create one for free if you are willing to dabble in some code.
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Facebook Tab Manager for WordPress (Create Facebook Tabs within WordPress)
How to Build a Facebook Landing Page
How to Create a Facebook Reveal Page
7 Simple Strategies to Profit From Facebook Marketing
This week Amy Porterfield is offering a FREE webinar at noon and 9pm EST each day called “7 Simple Strategies to Profit From Facebook Marketing” that I highly suggest checking out.
I’ve heard her stuff in the past and have been highly impressed with how practical it is.
If you really want to dig in and make Facebook marketing a priority, you can join me in the Facebook Influence program that I recently signed up for that she is offering as well.
It goes deeply into how to market using Facebook and helps create a roadmap for you to follow to turn fans into clients.
For full disclosure, I’m an affiliate for the product, but I paid for my own membership and thought many of you would find it super helpful as well. And I’d love to have some of you along for the ride if you want to join me.
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