Facebook engagement is not a simple process. It can take a lot of time and effort to figure out what works. I get a lot of questions/ complaints from health practitioners about how they are not getting any clients from posting on Facebook. And if you are in the same boat it’s because you aren’t doing it right. Pretty much that’s as simple as I can make it.
How do I make my Facebook posts count?
Well first of all we need to look at a few things.
Facebook likers counts for a lot.
How many likers do you have? In a lot of cases when people say to me their page isn’t yielding results it’s because they are posting like a mad thing but they only have 25 people who have liked their page. This means only 25 people will receive your posts. Most likely a large portion of them are going to be friends.
So in this case we really need to consider how to attract more people to our Facebook page. Now let’s be clear this is not an excuse to ‘like’ a whole bunch of pages and request that they do the same. Personally I find this approach bad mannered and short sighted. Getting someone to like your page for the sake of it doesn’t necessarily get results particularly if they are not really interested in your page and you are showing you are only interested in yourself.
You ideally want people who are more likely to engage with you by liking, commenting or even better sharing your Facebook posts. This is when the real magic happens. I find connecting with pages in your community that have great content is a way to do this. Share their posts and tag them. This builds a connection with people doing great things and they see you are a resource to their business and therefore more likely to support you as well.
Is your Facebook content being seen?
Just because you have a bazillion Facebook likers doesn’t necessarily mean they are all seeing your posts. Facebook have changed the way newsfeeds work meaning that if people don’t respond to your posts or select that they want to receive your posts in their newsfeed, notifications or to a list when they like you then you might drop off their radar. To resolve this issue I suggest watching this video. You might also like to post it on your page and encourage people to watch it that way they can adjust their settings to prioritise your posts in their newsfeed.
If you want people or businesses to stay connected with you then it’s all about making sure they engage regularly with your posts. The more they engage the more your posts show up.
Is your Facebook content engaging?
Are your Facebook posts getting people engaged? As I just mentioned before posting like a mad thing does nothing if people aren’t engaging with your posts. Because this means they are not interested in what you are saying. The best way to understand what is working and what is not is to have a look at your Facebook page insights. This tells you what posts people are responding to and what ones they aren’t. This is a fantastic feature as now you can adjust the way you post to be more attractive to others. When you are more attractive to others you stay in the front of their mind. When this happens they are more likely to consider contacting you when they need some health care advice. This is basic marketing. It’s all about memory and the best way for people to remember you is for them to keep on seeing you. Check out this video to get a gist of Facebook insights.
A simple rule of thumb is:
- 1/3 posts that are images with quotes, preferably your own images with your own quotes and your own branding. Check out healthinomics for a simple cost effective way to do this.
- 1/3 or posts related to your services ie conditions you treat etc. Try not to post specials, discounts or vacant times too frequently as people will lose interest.
- 1/ 3 posts on topics that your likers may be interested that is not directly related to your service. For instance you might be a massage therapist and you post articles on great gluten free recipes or time management tips. The more useful your posts are the better.
How do I maximise my Facebook post engagement?
- Keep posts short, easy-to-read – Easy to read posts get more engagement whereas long winded ones just cause people to scroll past.
- Eye catching images – posts that catch the eye make your viewers stop for a second look and far more likely to get them to engage. Obviously these images need to be appropriate to your target market. This is not the place to put risqué images just so we are completely clear.
- Ask questions – Creating thoughtful or fun questions is likely to inform you more about your audiences needs and/ or encourage engagement will bring greater exposure to your page and increase the posts visibility on other news feeds.
- Create shareable posts – this means your posts end up connecting with a far wider audience than just your page likers. The more people connect with those posts the more likely they are to like or follow your page.
- Embed Facebook posts on your website – this provides another medium of exposure of your posts and can encourage visitors to your site to connect with your Facebook page.
- Boosting Facebook posts – will cost you money but you can target your audience very specifically. For instance if you want to connect with elite athletes you can target people who are interested in particular athlete magazines, pages and have a defined budget as well. You can also boost posts to people who already like your page, their friends or people that have similar interests.
- Facebook live – gives you the opportunity to engage with clients or potential clients in real time and Facebook live videos get 6 x the traction of other videos. Facebook likes it when you play with their toys.
How often should I post on Facebook?
Finally you might not be posting enough. If you post one article, comment etc per month then it is going to be hard for you to get any real response. And posting 10 posts all within a minute isn’t really going to work in your favour either. Spread your posts out so your likers are more likely to see them when they get onto Facebook. For instance let’s say someone has liked your page. They also might have 200 friends and have liked another 200 pages. This means whatever everyone else is posting goes onto that one persons newsfeed. If you post something at 9am say but they don’t look at their Facebook newsfeed until 6pm your post will likely be at the bottom of all the other posts and they may not ever get to it. However if you post at 9am, 12pm and 5pm then you increase your chances of getting seen. For a great way to be able to do this without having to spend all day on Facebook check out this video tip. There are lots of social media management platforms and this is just one.
And don’t forget social media can be a time vortex. Check out our social media management tips article to make sure you stay sane in the process.
As always with marketing it does take time and a consistent effort. It also requires you to step out of the mindset of ‘what’s in it for me’ and start thinking about how you can help others, people and practitioners. This is particularly true with social media. If you are constantly trying to get something people will spot it from a mile and you will lose their interest and their support.
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