Made You Smile Back is so excited to present this article about how to get crazy Facebook engagement organically.
As a professional blogger, one of the tenants of success and the ability to reach and capture a large audience (i.e., following), social media engagement is key for success. Made You Smile Back does this by having several social media connections.
Instagram: https://instagram.com/madeyousmileback
Twitter: https://twitter.com/madesmileback
Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/madeyousmileback
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/beth-elkassih-made-you-smile-back/
There’s no question that Facebook is a major social media connection that Made You Smile Back is involved with. In fact, not only does Made You Smile Back have a business page (https://facebook.com/madeyousmileback), we’ve also created a dynamic Facebook community group known as ‘Achieving Happiness’. (https://facebook.com/groups/achievinghappiness)
We All Have a Story to Tell
Among several recommendations in getting social media engagement, I discovered a ‘serendipity’ tip known as ‘storytime posts’.
Recently I had the pleasure of attending a Webinar by a successful online entrepreneur, Haley Gray of Women’s Entrepreneur Network. She was hosting a webinar about how to create and grow a Facebook Group and get high engagement from members who joined.
A ‘Serendipity Discovery
One of the tips she suggested was something known as ‘Storytime’. I had never heard of it, so I was willing to try. This is how it works:
- First, you start the ‘story’ by posting beginning words to initiate ‘member participation’. So, for example, I posted in my Facebook Group:
- So this story begins… “So today… and
- Then the next Facebook Member, Carment Kiser, continued with posting: ‘began early…’
- And with each new comment from another Facebook Member, the story continues… and as you can see in the photo, there were 94 comments to this story.
But wait, it gets better. One of my ‘raving fans’ of Made You Smile Back’s Facebook Group, ‘Achieving Happiness’, a Ms. Elizabeth Frederick, took it one step further…
Serendipitiously, she sent me this ‘video’. Yes you read correctly… she indeed sent me a video – complete with accompanying music of this very Facebook Storytime story…
Please please please, take a moment and watch. Is this not incredible? I was totally taken aback upon receiving this. I later learned that Elizabeth Frederick is an online entrepreneur as well. ) Be sure to check out her website below.)
The Results Are In…
Needless to say, the results of this ‘Storytime’ Facebook Group experiment paid off well. I had close to 98 comments or what is known as ‘engagements’ in less than 24 hours. And since posting this, I have since re-posted other ‘Story Time’ posts and they continue to be very popular within Made You Smile Back’s Facebook Group, Achieving Happiness.
It occurred to me that perhaps many of my readers of Made You Smile Back are indeed on Facebook. And I wonder how many of you are also online entrepreneurs yourselves? If so, then please keep reading as I will gladly share with you how you can get even crazier Facebook engagement… and organically!
How to Get Even More Crazy Facebook Engagement Organically
Let’s face it. Of all the social media one can belong to, Facebook is ‘King’. Why? Facebook has been a giant in the social media world since its creation, and millions of people around the world use it every day. And despite the recent past issues with Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, the company’s founder and CEO, is still ruling the social media world.
Per a recent article from SpinxDigital , they say it best:
“Facebook’s platform can do almost anything. It provides news, games, videos, sales and much more. Facebook has all of the features of many platforms other than search engines. Even despite multiple privacy and data scandals, Facebook has continued to grow each year. Facebook’s seemingly endless resources and capabilities have made it a powerful application that is likely not to go anywhere anytime soon.”
So while there may be many ways in which you can drive traffic to your website, it really is a ‘no brainer’ that Facebook must be a major resource in your social media toolbox. And when used properly, one can strategically use various techniques to deliver your message at the right time to the right person, or your target audience.
In the next section, I’m going to reveal my personal seven favorite action steps or strategies you too can learn in getting what I call, crazy Facebook engagement organically.
7 Action Steps Revealed for Increased Facebook Engagement Organically
Before these seven action tips are revealed, I want to make one thing crystal clear… I quote Brian Boland, Vice President of Advertising Technology for Facebook:
“Facebook wants to improve user engagement and only show people the most relevant content to increase engagement.”
Brian’s advice is encouragement to publish great content — content that teaches people something, entertains them, makes them think or, in some other way, adds value to their lives. This coincides nicely with Made You Smile Back’s intent and that has always been to provide thought-provoking content, to make people think… and definitely add value to your lives.
Let’s begin shall we?
Action Tip 1)
Determining the best time to post your content. If you’re an online entrepreneur, you must know your target audience. Are they located primarily in the USA? Can they be located all over the world? Or only certain target areas? Whatever the case may be, knowing the demographics of your audience, not just the timezone they live in, but rather, are they prone to be online ‘after-hours’ or during the most popular ‘daytime hours’? With this information in hand, you can experiment on ‘scheduling’ your posts accordingly.
Action Tip 2)
Learn to build engagement by simply asking your Facebook followers open-ended questions. You want to have your followers feed off one another, talk back to you, share and stay engaged. Just remember, people like to talk about themselves. Let them. Here’s an example: “What do you call that awesome moment when you tear open the wrapper of your favorite chocolate bar?” or “What is the most impressive thing you know how to do?”
Action Tip 3)
Yes, do ‘Storytime’ Facebook engagement. As discussed earlier above, your Facebook followers love to engage in a story… in which they can use both their imagination and creativity. You’ll be one of the lucky ones if your followers are of the type to ‘compete with one another’ and with each subsequent ‘storytime’ contribution, they try to outdo the previous comment. In fact, if done properly and it takes off, this type of Facebook engagement can go viral!
Action Tip 4)
Take advantage of your ‘blog’ and embed your Facebook posts regularly. Did you know that you can provide great visibility into the content of your blog? This is another great way to attract new Facebook members as well in improving your ‘reach’ and engagement.
Action Tip 5)
You must get in the habit of ‘commenting back’. A lot of entrepreneurs are not aware of this simple strategy but it is easy to do and very effective. You need to respond to as many comments as you can. Impossible you say due to time constraints, etc, right? Then minimally, time block at least one hour a day and spend time doing this. It pays back in dividends as Followers love to see their comments ‘acknowledged’ and this in turns, encourages them to ‘invite their like-minded fellow Facebook friends to join! One more thing… when I say respond, it doesn’t mean doing a simple ‘Like’ or ‘Love’, etc!
Action Tip 6)
Get in the habit of doing ‘Facebook Lives’! I have to give credit to both Jennie Wright (http://jenniewright.com/) and Haley Grey of Women’s Entrepreneur Network who got me hooked on this crazy, but incredibly effective action tip. Facebook Live gives more reach and engagement than all the above. Why? Because Facebook Live is designed to automatically boost engagement by encouraging followers to take notice because it is not only a video but a ‘live broadcast’ coming into their news feed.
And this in turn not only gets their interest but can easily turn into an immediate conversation. And one other serendipity benefit to Facebook Lives is that later, they are ‘evergreen’ and ‘watch parties’ can occur any day or time later to even engage more viewers, i.e., engagement.
Action Tip 7)
Authenticity and Transparency. Put yourself in your followers’ shoes. Do you like to be confronted with a ‘salesy’ type of content the majority of the time? Engagement is about getting trust and familiarity from your followers. To have them get to know you and yes, learn about your products and/or services but this is not the time to be blunt and ask them to ‘please click the link below and get my so-and-so!!!’
Instead, put yourself out there. Be your authentic, natural self and yes, by all means, be transparent. You can subtly comment and describe what you do and your business, but let them reach out to YOU! And they will… I promise you in time. Remember, don’t chase your clients. They will come to you when they’re ready.
In Summary…
The grand takeaway is this… you want more organic reach and engagement, right? So take advantage of all these crazy, albeit successful suggestions and get started in creating some dynamic Facebook posts!
Oh yes, and the most important thing to do… do a FACEBOOK LIVE!
Your turn… in the comments below, share your tips on how you gain engagement and traffic to your website or business.
This is the answer skfjf;klsjkflsj;lsfj;lsdjfsdljsdlkj;lsdfj;lfsdj;asdlkfj;sdjsdl;jfslkjdslkdsjl;sdj;lfsjl;sdf
Answer to second question.
