You know you need to improve Facebook engagement rate for your Facebook page to succeed on the social media giant.
As a digital marketing expert certified in social, I’m going to show you how to do it.
Why You Need To Improve Facebook Engagement Rates
If you want more exposure, more Facebook page likes, and more Facebook referral traffic, you need excellent Facebook engagement rates.
According to their official statement, Facebook’s Engagement Rate is the percentage of people who saw a post that liked, shared, clicked or commented on it.
You can view your Facebook engagement rate by going to Page > Insights > Posts > Engagement Rate.
And there are more effective ways to measure it too.
Facebook Engagement Rate Benchmarks for 2018
Facebook engagement rate benchmarks for 2018 vary by niche.
The average Facebook engagement rate across all industries is a shockingly low 0.16%. (which you can easily beat if you use the tips below to improve Facebook engagement rates)
Here are the Facebook engagement rate benchmarks by industry:
- Fashion: 0.1
- Food & Beverages: 0.24
- Health & Beauty: 0.1%
- Higher Ed: 0.19%
- Home Decor: 0.11%
- Hotels & Resorts: 0.21%
- Media: 0.08%
- Nonprofits: 0.17%
- Influencers: 0.24%
- Sports Teams: 0.19%
What Is Your Facebook Engagement Rate Right Now?To Increase Your Facebook Engagement Rate From
Is your Facebook engagement rate above the average for your industry?
If so, great, and you can improve it more with the tips below.
If not, no worries, we’ll get your sorted in this guide.
Here’s the deal:
When you look at your engagement rate you’ll most likely notice that some of your posts have high engagement rates and others low.
But what exactly separates a good engagement rate from a bad one?
What type of posts create good engagement rates?
And how can you improve your Facebook engagement rate and thereby improve the effectiveness of your page?
That’s what this list is all about.
I’m about to present a list of 61 tips you can use to increase Facebook engagement rate for your posts, regardless of industry.
The 61 Ways To Improve Facebook Engagement Rate
Also check these tips for writing Facebook business posts!
1: Improve Facebook engagement rates by involving your
You can get a good Facebook engagement rate just by involving your audience more.
Your fans want to be involved with your page, your business, and your posts. This is where what I call “3 dimensional” posts come into play.
Most posts are flat and 2D. They give information but ask nothing in return and ask for no interactivity.
3D posts ask the user to be an active part of what is happening.
Polls are a great example of this.The poll cannot succeed unless lots of people engage with it, so users feeling obliged to interact. They are an integral part of the experience, and also of the result, of the post.
Here’s a great guide to a successful poll.
2: Increase Facebook engagement rates with a unique idea
Create an original idea to make your blog, business, and Facebook page standout.
If people love the underlying theme and idea of your blog then they will actively get involved with your blog and will naturally want to engage with your Facebook posts.
One of the best examples of this is Spiritual Gangster.
Spiritual Gangster sells clothing for spiritualists (mostly yogis). They made spirituality hip and cool, which was fairly original at the time. The result is a strong brand image that results in high levels of Facebook engagement.
3: Keep you Facebook engagement rate high by keeping up with trends
Right now, videos are what is working on Facebook. But that could change at any moment. Keep up with the latest trends and make sure your pages always look current.
4: Earn a high Facebook engagement rate by showing some personality
We all love people with personality.
And we all love Facebook pages with personality too.
Personality makes you stand out. Decide on the right personality for your brand and then stick to it. Make that personality show in your posts, images, videos, and everything you put online.
This will increase Facebook engagement rates for your page quickly.
One great example of a Facebook page with personality is The Oatmeal.
Not only is their profile picture full of personality and craziness but every one of their posts is also packed full of fun, humour, and craziness. Take a look.
6: Make posts that cannot “succeed” without engagement:
Create a reason why a post must be seen by millions and a reason why your audience must share it.
The classic example of this is petitions.
Petitions are one of the most powerful social media tools. The reason is because the petition itself cannot success unless it is shared.
There’s a very clear reason for the individual to share or retweet the post: to get enough signatures on the petition. By making the post demand shares you motivate your audience to get involved. This will naturally increase Facebook engagement rates.
7: Increase Facebook engagement rates by asking your friends to do X because Y:
You’re hoping to get people to share your posts with their friends. One of the most logical ways of doing so is to ask them to share something specific with their friends for some specific benefit. For instance, “Share this post to ask your friends to recycle because we need to protect this beautiful world of ours”.
Tell people to do something and give them a reason why. It doesn’t even have to be a very good reason.
8: Avoid a low Facebook engagement rate with this tip
The cardinal sin of social sharing is to presume that just because something is good it will be shared.
We tend to think if this post is good enough people will share it. But that simply is not true.
People can read your post and love it but still not share it simply because it doesn’t occur to them that their friends might also like it or that there is any practical reason for sharing it. There’s no such thing as a good enough post. Shares and quality writing / producing are not the same thing.
9: Be human:
It can be tempting to try to make yourself look amazing online. Ultimately, such vainglory will only disconnect you from your audience. A more human approach can create a lasting bond between your readers and yourself.
This post from Dude Perfect shares a simple human trait. Look how many likes it got. Simple. But powerful.
10: Improve Facebook Engagement Rate By Being Funny
Humorous blogs take off, perhaps because it’s a lot easier to share something silly than something serious. I work as a games journalist and so have a lot of experience in that industry. From personal research it’s clear that gaming websites that incorporate humour earn backlinks and followers much faster than more technical and serious gaming sites. The same is true for the majority of other niches.
11: Improve Facebook engagement rate by living a good life:
You know how to make it easier to have interesting things to share? Doing interesting things, that’s how. Live an interesting life and you will always have stuff worth sharing.
Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, for instance, is constantly sharing his good times. Here’s a simple, fun post from Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. It’s a happy photo, and those lead to easy shares and likes.
Obviously we can’t all be The Rock, but we can all have good times and we can all share those good times on Facebook.
If you actually do amazing things in real life it’ll be much easier to share amazing things in virtual life (A.K.A Facebook).
12: Improve Facebook engagement rates by being a cool dude:
Cool dudes don’t just talk about themselves all the time. They respond to comments too. When you make the effort to respond to comments you create a two way communication that in turns creates a stronger relationship with your readers / audience.
13: Appeal to social people who will actually share your posts on Facebook
Not everyone feels comfortable sharing posts or making comments.
A lot of people are shy.
Others simply aren’t particularly social.
The most important demographic for social media networks is social people.
Find out what social people talk about and share, and then discuss those same things. That way you’re applying to people who actually share things. If you’re a natural introvert like me this might not come easily to you.
14: Improve Facebook engagement rates by posting to communities
On Facebook one of the easiest ways to start to get likes for a new page is to share it with groups and communities.
You can join groups freely and are able to share posts with their audience.
For instance, I’m part of the INFP group which caters for people of the INFP Myers-Briggs personality. By writing posts specifically for that group I can share the post with the group, get likes and shares, and use that group to grow my page.
When I was starting to market myself I shared my page on the INFP group. INFPs are known to be shy people with complex feelings, so I showed that side of myself and got some easy shares (also I actually am INFP so the individuals in this group are very relatable to me).
Be an active member of a group first, then ask them to get involved with your page.
15: Improve Facebook engagement rates with offers
Everyone loves a good sale, and friends also like to keep each other informed of good deals in the industries they like. Make use of our love of good deals by sharing them on Facebook. Your engagement rate will increase quickly.
16: Create events:
Events give your audience a reason to share. For instance, I’m part of the GTA’s Fighting Game Community.
We often run events for the community. Those events get shared by many members of the community, which increases exposure and leads to an increased audience.
Major League Gaming creates video game tournaments for gamers. Because they are an integral part of the community they are a huge talking point, so naturally they experience a healthy Facebook engagement rate.
17: Share posts on your personal profile occasionally:
Share your own posts on your personal profile occasionally.
18: Increase Facecbook engagement rates quickly by posting videos:
Videos are huge on Facebook. Create funny, entertaining, or educational (how to) videos for easy shares.
The Mind Unleashed is a very popular Facebook page that is about using the full power of the mind to become your true self (they also share lots of environmental posts). They use videos to increase their Facebook engagement rate.
19: Share other people’s posts:
You can create a good name for yourself by sharing posts from other people’s pages. Hopefully they’ll share one of your posts in exchange.
20: Post local news and events:
If your page involves a physical presence (e.g. your page is for a local store) post news and events about your area to engage your local audience.
Newspapers are the obvious example of this. Because people go to newspapers to learn about what’s happening in their area, newspapers become a crucial hub for social communication. Naturally this leads to some high levels of Facebook Engasgement.
21: Create unique content:
To make your posts and pages stand out on Facebook, post original content. Quotes and viral videos are great for getting some quick LIKEs, but to create a stronger relationship with your audience, give them something no one else does.
Here’s a unique post I created for TheDailyMeditation.com. It stands out among the crowd.
This 200 year old Buddhist monk is not dead.
Posted by The Daily Meditation on Saturday, August 15, 2015
Unique content stands out and is thereby more likely to generate user engagement.
22: Improve Facebook engagement rates by asking polarising questions
You remember the viral blue / gold dress? That post went viral largely because people like expressing their opinions and arguing. There’s just something about us humans that can’t help getting in an argument and that will fight to prove ourselves right even when we’re discussing something compeltely pointless.
With the dress post, half the audience saw the blue, the other half the gold, so there was a split audience that debated the dress. That argument led the dress to become one of the most viral piece of content ever.
Take advantage of man’s irrepressable need for debate. Create posts that will split the audience. Then use that split / argumentative dynamic to your advantage.
Split the audience and make them argue among themselves.
23: Ask questions that people actually want to answer:
Questions like “Where is the nicest place you’ve visited on holiday” or “What is the best candy you’ve ever eaten” are fun to answer. People want to answer those questions. That makes them an easy way to increase engagement rate.
Make it fun to answer your questions.
24: Improve Facebook engagement rates by being timely:
Sharing news as it happens, or commenting on current trends in your industry, shows that you are up to date, modern, and of the moment. This increases the chances of your audience engaging with your posts on Facebook.
Wiki Leaks is one of the most well known Facebook pages in the world. Their entire angle is being the first to break the news.
25 : Be of value:
Posting funny pictures and inspiring quotes is a good way to get some basic engagement. But if you really want people to care about your page and to engage on a deeper level (perhaps buying your product) aim to be truly valuable, sharing tips that make a difference and insight that matters.
How To Basic is a Facebook page and Youtube channel that specialises in providing quick and easy how-to guides to everyday situations. Here’s an example.
26: Visual content naturally increases your Facebook engagement rate:
As a natural born writer I personally am inclined to focus far more of my energy on words than on images. This however is not effective. Images are generally more powerful than words on social media networks, which is why comic-style pages do so well, where even the most wonderfully constructed prose struggle to gain shares.
27: Keep your Facebook engagement rate high by being consistent
You want to build a relationship with your audience. To do that your audience needs to know who you are. The only way they can get to know who you are is by seeing consistent posts from you in their feed. Use Facebook’s Post Schedule to schedule your posts ahead of time, that way you can have new content coming out even when you’re not able to work on your blog / page.
To get to know you people have to see you. Put yourself before those eyeballs.
28: The Best Time To Post On Facebook For Engagement Rate
Your audience is online at a specific time of day. For instance, if your blog is about night owls then obviously they’re going to be up at night. Use that to your advantage by posting when your audience is online.
Use Facebook Insights to determine precisely when to publish posts
When is your audience online? Post then.
29: Elicit sympathy:
People are drawn to other people, not to perfection or to robots. Be human in your posts. Share a problem you’ve gone through. Ask for help. You’ll find that your audience will want to get involved and help you out, and that will increase Facebook page engagement and strengthen your relationship with your audience.
Also use other sources of sympathy. Animal rights are one of the most powerful. We all remember the story of Cecil The Lion. We all felt outraged. We wanted to act. Many Facebook pages used that anger to create engagement.
30: Increase engagement rates on Facebook with contests:
People love contests. Set up a “best selfie” or “cutest cat” competition and watch as your audience suddenly floods you with images of themselves and their cats, creating a tidal wave of interactivity that leads your page to leap in popularity.
Wishpon recently held a contest that rewarded fans with a chance to win a year of Wishpond’s social suite.
Would you like something for nothing? So would everyone else.
31: Make your audience feel like the experts:
You love feeling like the expert in your field, right? Guess what. So do your audience members. Ask your audience for advice and watch as they gladly share their own insight and opinions.
You enjoy sharing your opinion. Let other people do the same through your page.
32: Call to action:
Sometimes the simplest things make the biggest difference. Simply ask your audience to like and share your post and watch as they like and share your post. But do not do this too often as it will soon irritate your fans.
This example could not possibly be any simpler, but it worked!
So let me try this myself. A-hmmmm… : Like my page on Facebook. No really. Do it now .
33: Facebook Ads:
Only a small fraction of your audience will actually see your post. If you feel your post is an especially important one, take advantage of Facebook ads.
If you have an important or powerful post to share take advantage of Facebook ads.
Sometimes it’s worth paying for the extra exposure.
34: Post more often (but not too often):
Your audience reacts to people and pages they feel a relationship to. It takes time to build that relationship. Or, more specifically, it takes many shared experiences to create a relationship. On Facebook your shared experiences are your posts. Post more often and your audience will feel a stronger connection to you and be more inclined to share your posts.
35: Increase Facebook engagement rates with attitude and personality:
People can sense your personality and your attitude from as little as 5 words.
For instance, let’s imagine that I want to tell you that my new book is out. I could say this straight-up with zero personality: “My new book is out”. You would likely respond by saying “so what?”
How about I say, “My baby book just released”. Ah. That’s better. It implies the book is something important, the word “Release” also gives more of a sense of action, and the “just” makes the post of the moment.
Make sure your words express the right character for your page.
36: If you wouldn’t put it on your personal profile don’t put it on your page:
It’s easy to hide behind your Facebook page and use it to post items you wouldn’t put on your personal profile. But remember, you’re asking your fans to share your posts on their personal wall. So, if you would not share a post on your personal page, don’t expect your audience to either.
Don’t use your page to say things you wouldn’t say in person. If you can’t post it to your friends don’t post it to your fans.
37: Change is the number one key to high engagement rates on Facebook:
People want to change stuff. Psychologically speaking, the ability to change something is a sign of power, so when you make your audience feel as though they can change something you also make them feel empowered. That’s partly why sites like change.org have taken off, because they create the feeling of being empowered.
38: Positivity:
Research shows that positive posts are far more likely to be shared than negative ones. People enjoy positivity and also want to be seen as positive people. Fill your page and posts with as much positivity as humanly possible.
Power Of Positivity is a very popular Facebook Page and blog that is all about positive living. They mostly share colourful quotes designed to make people feel happy. Those quotes get many thousands of shares.
39: Make them feel as though they’re connecting to someone / something:
The entire reason people are on Facebook is to be connected. So, logically, if you want to increase your Facebook engagement rate, make people feel as though they are connecting to something that they want to be connected to.
Shoryuken is a vital part of a very specific community: The fighting game community. Everyone in the fighting game community knows that Shoryuken holds it together. So if anyone wants to connect with the fighting game community, they go through Shoryuken. The result, naturally, is a good Facebook engagement rate.
Shoryuken mostly posts about upcoming events. They break the news about these events before anyone else, and they’re also the community leader. So any shares pertaining to those events are likely to go Shoryuken’s way.
40: Make them feel like a friend:
Facebook is about friends. When you make your audience feel like a friend they are more likely to get involved with your page.
Post humorous photos of yourself and personal stories. This will create a sense of friendship that is a powerful tool for your brand. Not to mention, it also makes for a much more positive scene.
A great example of this is Lad Bible.
Lad Bible is one of the fastest growing blogs of all time. They created their success by making everyone feel like one of their “Lads”. Make your fans your friends and they’ll help you succeed online.
41: Make your post say something positive about the person sharing it:
People want to be seen in a positive light. If you make your posts say something positive about the person sharing it, you’ll be far more likely to gain interaction.
For instance, one of the more popular posts I wrote recently was 20 ways to help someone you love with anxiety. By sharing this post my fans show that they are compassionate loving people. That makes them look good and thereby makes them more inclined to share the post with their friends.
Health Digest does this to great effect.
Anyone sharing a post from Health Digest will obviously look like a health conscious person just because of the name of the page. So the mere fact of sharing a Health Digest post says something positive about the fan.
This post makes the individual look extremely healthy because the physical health of the fruit smoothy is combined with “intelligence”.
42: Nostalgia will increase your Facebook engagement rate quickly:
According to my analytics and research, nostalgia is one of the best motivators for sharing.
People love seeing posts that remind them of their childhood or even of a few years back. This also gives them a reason to get back in contact with their old friends.
For instance, let’s say you share a post about the best games for Nintendo’s N64 games console (which was out in the late 90s). For instance you could say, “Goldeneye is still the more fun multiplayer FPS ever”. This post reminds your fans of the people they used to lpay the game, Goldeneye, with, and once they’re thinking of those people they’re likely to share the post with them.
43: Perform a content audit:
You’ve probably posted several hundred Facebook posts already. All the analytics from your previous posts are conveniently saved in the Facebook Page Insights tab. Go through your old posts and determine what worked and what didn’t. Then rinse and repeat with similar but updated content.
Your Facebook insights are full of priceless info.
44: Use numbers in posts:
Most posts consist of two things: images and words. When you include numbers into the proceedings you tend to standout by contrast. This is the same in the SERPs.
Number / list posts also make you feel ilke you’re getting more bang for your buck. That’s partly why I made this anumbers list (and at 61 entries you really are getting more bang from your buck!).
45: Increase Facebook engagement rate by being human :
Sounds stupid right. Of course you’re human. But in truth a lot of people hide their personage behind their page.
Be a real person and people will feel a much deeper connection to you. Your Facebook engagement rate will increase substantially as a result.
Star Trek legend George Tekai is the best example of this. He’s got far more Facebook fans than his fellow Star Trek actors. Why? Perhaps because he always shows his personality and goes out of his way to show this fans that he’s just like them, a regular person.
46: In your face:
Show your face, or someone’s face.
People are naturally programmed to identify faces first, so when you put a face in your post you quickly gain your audience’s attention, increasing the chances of engagement.
Yoga author Rachel Brathen makes sure to show photos of herself quite often. Not only do her fans engage more often because they recognise her face, but by showing photos of herself she makes her fans feel closer to her, strengthening her branding.
47: Show lifestyles:
Lifestyle imagery is a powerful way of evoking emotions. People fall in love with, get jealous of, getting angry by, feel compassionate for… people simply feel things when you show them a lifestyle. That’s the genius behind Elite Daily. What is your Facebook Page’s / Brand’s lifestyle? Show it.
48: Improve Facebook engagement rates by getting to the point:
There’s so much content on Facebook that the chances are your post will have only a few short seconds to impress someone and make them engage. By making your posts short and to the point you increase your chances of engagement.
Doesn’t get much simpler than that.
49: Make it quick for people to respond:
No one wants to invest a lot of time into a Facebook post. People just want to quickly click LIKE or leave a comment. Whatever response you’re looking for it should only take a couple of seconds. For instance, if you want people to comment, make it really quick and easy to comment. Don’t ask a question that requires too much thought. Ask something simple. For instance: “Describe this picture in one word”.
50: The response should be immediately obvious:
This is closely related to the previous point. People want to interact with your post very quickly. To let them do this make their response obvious.
The gold / blue dress is a great example of this. There’s only two choices: Gold or blue. It’s only going to take a second to respond, so most people will because, well, why not?
Make the response obvious. Tons of people will still give the wrong response but they will at least give a response , and that’s good for your Facebook engagement rate.
Do you like candy? Yes. … Thank you, you just engaged with my Facebook post. … Easy 🙂
51: Create image galleries for clicks:
Clicks count as engagements, and they’re one of the easiest types of engagement to get. Simply create a photo gallery of highly pleasing images. For instance, put 20 pictures of delectable food up. People will click through the images and your engagement rate will increase.
52: Reward people who do engage with your content on Facebook
:
Who is engaging with your page? What do they like? Give them more of it. Do they comment? Like the comment and reply to it. Don’t worry about those 20000 people who don’t engage with your page, worry about the people who do. Reward them for their engagements and they’ll be more inclined to engage again in the future.
53: An element of mystery:
You want to add a degree of mystery into your blog posts so people feel curious about your posts and want to click them.
54: Easy way to improve Facebook engagement rate: A or B?
Here’s a fantastic way in which you can do some product research while also increasing Facebook engagement. Ask your audience whether they prefer product A or product B.
It’s a simple question to answer and it’s also a relevant question that actually matters. People will answer the question. You’ll increase Facebook engagement rate, and you’ll get some important insight from your fans.
55: Hey, me too!
One of the main reasons why people LIKE posts is because they feel a sense of kinship with the person sharing the post. Or, to put it another way, they identify with the message of the post.
Posts that makes people stop and say, “Hey, me too!” are more likely to be shared. So, to increase your Facebook engagement rate, determine precisely how people feel about the things that matter to them, and then share posts that express those sentiments.
Kinship is the beginning of a life long Facebook relationship.
56: Have fun and be positive:
Most people online wish they weren’t online. They wish they were out having a blast. It’s easy to take advantage of that. How? Simple. Go outside and have a blast and show yourself having said blast. Then people will want to join in the fun.
57: Improve Facebook engagement rates by dumbing it down:
This is without doubt the part of Facebook that I personally struggle with the most. I (and I suspect other writers too) like to try and create intelligent and mentally stimulating posts. Big mistake. Dumb is king on Facebook.
That sounds ridiculous. But think about it. How many popular posts have you seen with absolutely terrible spelling and grammar? How many popular posts have you seen that are next to pointless? One of the most popular TUMBLR posts of all time just says “Cancer sucks”. That’s all.
Dumb it down. Stop trying to be intelligent. I hate having to write that. But it is a very unfortunate reality about social media. Online in the 21st Century, dumb sells.
58: Adversity
This point is very important. One of the most common factors of posts that perform well (at least in the industries I personally work in) is that they suggest some invisible point of adversity.
For instance, let’s say you want to post a positive message about opening your heart. If you simply say “Open your heart” you won’t get much of a response. Your post will likely be ignored. But you can change that by injecting a sense of adversity. For instance, try changing it to “Open your heart to adventure. Don’t let them hold you back “. Here you’ve created a point of adversity.
Having a point of adversity motivates people to act because there’s a sense of competition and a sense of overcoming something. Take a look at some highly popular quotes and you will notice the same trend.
Evil people don’t want you to share this post. Don’t listen to them. — Adversity. It motives people.
59: Elitism:
People like to share posts that make them look superior in some way. For instance, if you write a post saying “Science shows happy people share more Facebook posts” people will share the Facebook post. Why? Because they want to be in the superior group, the happy group, not the inferior group.
60: Say something positive about something negative
Have you ever tried sharing a post that puts a positive spin on something negative. For instance, have you tried sharing a post like “20 Reasons Why Overcoming Cancer Made Me A Stronger Person”?
Putting a positive spin on something that is usually negative does two things. Firstly it creates attention because you’re giving an alternative opinion. Secondly, it allows people to change the way other people see them. If you say, for instance, “People who talk to themselves aren’t crazy, they’re actually geniuses,” people who talk to themselves will share the post. They want to stop being thought of as crazy and start being thought of as geniuses, and that is what the post gives them.
61: Give them something specific to share with someone specific:
Ultimately you want people to share your posts. The best way to make that happen is to give them something specific to share with someone specific. For instance, a post that says “Why the best friends are the ones who are there during your bad times” gives your fans something specific to share (a compliment) with someone specific (the friends who were there for them).
This example from Tiny Buddha makes you think about specific people and makes you want to
