May 12, 2015

Posted By: Scotty Spielman

[caption id="attachment_228" align="aligncenter" width="507"]If you want to increase engagement, create posts that are mobile-friendly. If you want to increase engagement, create posts that are mobile-friendly.[/caption]

With ongoing changes to the Facebook algorithm resulting in fewer and fewer of your friends and fans seeing your content, it’s more important than ever to increase your own organic reach

Paying to boost ads is the way the market is going, but you don’t need to do that every day—or even every week. There are some tried-and-true types of posts that always generate more engagement and interaction than other.

Here are five of our favorites:

  1. Pictures. We live in a visual world and pictures, of course, are the ultimate visual medium. Photos are even more important as the market transitions to mobile devices—they show up even in the smaller screens most people are viewing their social media feeds from nowadays.  Graphics are easy to consume and pleasing—and don’t be afraid to mix it up and include some illustrations and video.
  2. Fill in the blanks. It may be difficult to tie these directly into your business, but the modern version of Mad Libs generally gain some attention. It’s okay to toss in a few ‘finish this sentence’ or ‘fill in the blank’ posts to help build a relationship with your audience. Just ask something simple: My favorite food is ______. It’s so cold out, my ______. Remember to try to keep it short.
  3. Questions are also good. How do you start conversations in real life? Generally by asking questions. The same works on social media. Keep it business related for the most part, but include some topical questions too. This week—and this month, for that matter—there are plenty of entertainment issues to talk about: Who do you think will win the Superbowl, and why? Will Marshawn Lynch ever answer a question? What was your favorite movie?
  4. Contest. Everybody loves a chance to win something. These are generally great posts to boost, because posts that offer something in return—or the chance to win something in return—aren’t viewed as intrusive. Our one tip here: keep the contest short. Seven days is generally a long time to wait for results in the world of social media.
  5. Inspirational quotes. If you don’t have anything to say or any specials brewing, track down a motivational quote. It doesn’t have to be original; there are sites like quotegarden.com that offer a slough of quotes all separated into categories so they can be topical, too. Combine them with a photo—and you’ve got gold.

These types of posts will generally help you increase your engagement, no matter how much your spend—or don’t spend—on advertising on social media. Have you tried any? What works for you?