3 Tips for Better Engagement on Facebook

by Andrew Hanelly on April 14, 2011

facebook engagement tips

It’s hard enough getting someone to flirt with you on Facebook.

But getting engaged? Almost out of the question, especially if you step out of this corny metaphor and into the real-world challenge faced by most organizations: getting more engagement out of people on Facebook.

Thankfully, the people over at BuddyMedia did some statistical analysis recently and came up with 4 ways to get better engagement on Facebook.

Their findings?

1. People are in to the whole brevity thing

Keep it short and sweet. People are 27% more likely to engage with posts that were 80 characters long or shorter. To put it in perspective, this underlined sentence is about the perfect length.

Think of Facebook posts as an appetizer to your main course – which is the content on your website or in your magazine. You want to give them enough to whet their appetite but not too much that they turn away from the plate.

They’ve got an appetite for something bite-sized, so serve them something they can digest.

2. Contrary to popular belief, Facebook users are more active outside of work hours

I know, I know: you’re reading this at work. Maybe you even came here through a link on Facebook. But the truth is, most of the engagement occurs outside of work hours.

True, we may lurk on Facebook during our 9-5 (heh, 9-5!), but maybe the fact that we leave a paper trail (ok, digital trail) of activity stops people from actually engaging during the day.

Posting outside of work hours (early in the morning, late at night, and on Sundays) can actually garner more activity than when people are killing time working. In fact, the BuddyMedia survey found that people are 20% more likely to engage with Facebook content outside of normal working hours.

3. People like it when you ask them questions

You know what people like the best about questions? The fact that you want them to answer them. People love to talk about themselves. They love to chime in with their opinions. And they appreciate it when you take the time to ask them what they think.

But they’re also shy. And if you don’t give them an invite on a proverbial silver platter, they probably won’t muster up the courage to opine freely.

A question is an invitation to interact, and people are more likely to take you up on interacting if you let them know explicitly that you’re looking for it. In fact, people are 15% more likely to engage with a Facebook post that asks them a question.

So, what are you waiting for?

Short questions you can ask somebody outside of work are most likely to get a response.

It works at happy hour. It works on Facebook.

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Andrew Hanelly

Written by: Andrew Hanelly

Andrew is VP of Digital Experience at TMG and for one semester in college, was a sociology major. Follow him on Twitter and Google+.

  • http://purpoz.blogspot.com/ Kimber

    Some good 1s here, i’d also add that not posting too many updates will definitely lead to more activity on the 1s you do post.

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Thanks for the comment, Kimber. I think you’re right that if you flood people will updates you’re likely to have them hide your posts or “unlike” you altogether. Great addition!

  • http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/livefamilylife Daca

    Really interesting article. I must say, I didn’t know this.

  • http://www.mindsharenet.com Jeff Kryger

    What if Facebook IS your work? Another nice article Andrew

    • http://www.twitter.com/hanelly Andrew Hanelly

      Then you’ve got a great job :)

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