Many businesses struggle on how to increase Facebook engagement so we decided to provide a simple guide.

Facebook can be used as a major tool in your content marketing campaigns. It’s a casual yet efficient way of interacting with users, keeping them up to date with what your brand is doing.

At its worst, it can push customers away, irritating them by spamming sales pitches, or even just uninteresting content.

We’ve put together a list of our top 5 tips on Facebook engagement.

1. Get to know repeat posters

There’s always going to be one or two who want to have their say on everything under the sun. Get to know these people. They’ll foster further discussion, ensure that your appeals for comments do not go unheeded, and will become your most loyal supporters if treated well. They may be annoying sometimes, but if you lose them you’ll feel their absence.

2. Ensure your posts foster productive Facebook engagement

One of the most vital techniques at keeping your following, and one of the most difficult to get right. Facebook lends itself to trollers, irate ignoramuses, and relatives just trying to be supportive. So, a post asking for people’s experiences with Toyotas, might end up being a starting point for an argument about a Japanese conspiracy against the West, with your racist uncle piping in at how proud he is that you’re fighting off the enemy.

To keep it focused:

• ask focused questions
• moderate the responses
• subtly interject to turn the discussion back to the topic

3. Hold contests and giveaways

I’ve said it before. Contests are easy to run and hugely successful. Followers will have an increased desire to own your product, and you’ll instill your winners with an amiable loyalty. This is one of the easiest ways to increase Facebook engagement as it fosters comments,likes and shares.

4. Post interesting content

Obvious? Maybe, but it’s easy to trip up in this area. The content you’re trying to “sell” to your followers might be a little dry, and perhaps necessarily so. If you’re selling life insurance, your client base could well expect serious, boring details. But remember that there’s a divide between your product and what you decide to post. In between providing the necessary info, post content from related businesses and blogs, or even from your own blog you’ve created to accompany the content.

5. Put effort into creating a likeable persona

Persona is one of those buzzwords that you’ll hear a lot when keeping up with content marketing strategy. It’s one of the fundamentals, and if you do it right, you’ve paved the way to a successful campaign.

Simply put, your persona is the voice behind your marketing campaign. It’s how you choose to engage followers, how you relate to them, and how you expect them to relate to you. It’s therefore vital that the persona you develop is suited to your target demographic. For this you’ll need to go beyond simply trying to sound like them. A middle aged man trying to sound like a teen may come across as a middle aged man trying to sound like a teen. Select the appropriate writer, and give him/her the time and resources to work on this basic technique.

Those are some of our favourite Facebook engagement tips. What is working for your business? What other advice do you have from your own experience? Let us know in the comments.