Facebook, with its extensive social network, is always an appealing hub where every business desires to be present. Since more businesses continue to flood Facebook with content, the rivalry is getting fiercer day by day. It may appear tough to reign supreme and maintain a high status on Facebook. There is, however, a way to broaden your reach and gain more traction on your Facebook posts. It all depends on your Facebook engagement. By boosting engagement on your content, you may reach a larger audience organically and build your customer base. In this article, you’ll learn how to increase your Facebook engagement rate, driving your business forward.

1. What is Facebook engagement rate?

2. Why is Facebook engagement rate important?

3. 5 Strategies to increase Facebook engagement rate

1. What is Facebook engagement rate?

Facebook engagement rate often determines the effectiveness of your posts and how much you are connecting with your audiences. It simply refers to the action people take on your page or your content. In Facebook, engagement metrics are dependent on the amount of interaction people have with your posts, including the number of likes, comments, shares, and clicks your posts receive. These metrics, in general, show how effective your Facebook marketing campaigns and overall strategy are. Increased Facebook engagement rate indicates that there is more interaction and contacts between your brand and the public. Ultimately, it’s the holy grail that every business strives towards.

2. Why is Facebook engagement rate important?

Being the largest social media platform with over 2.7 billion monthly active users, reaching out to the vast audience base on Facebook can definitely take your business to new heights. So, what's the best means to expand the reach? In a highly competitive playing field like Facebook, increasing engagement rate is the key to achieving your intended reach.

Users can interact with contents or postings on Facebook in a variety of ways. The platform values engagement and considers it to be one of the prime metrics dictating the reach of your content. Facebook’s algorithm constantly monitors user interactions with your posts and adjust your organic reach accordingly. Your brand’s content and ad will be prioritized, and will appear in every possible placement available on Facebook, maximizing your reach. Of course, it’s needless to pardon that the more people who see your content, the more likely they are to be aware of it and respond to it. You might get the visibility, clicks, conversions, or even sales you desire. Hence, putting effort into increasing your Facebook engagement rate is a thing that cannot be missed.

3. 5 Strategies to increase Facebook engagement rate

1. Find the most engaging time to post on Facebook

Content crush is truly on Facebook. Facebook’s News Feeds are constantly bombarded with fresh content. Even the most fantastic content is useless if you share it when your audience is asleep and wakes up with your post being lost at the bottom of their News Feeds. Thus, knowing when your audience is active is crucial to comprehend when to post. Your content will be able to get in front of them, and they’ll be more likely to respond and engage.

Numerous studies have attempted to find a definite best time to post on Facebook. It is revealed that the best time to post on Facebook is between 1pm to 3pm on weekends, accompanied with 32% higher Facebook engagement rate. Yet, pinpointing a uniform "optimal" moment that will suit everyone on the platform is extremely hard. Your optimum time to post will be determined by your time zone, industry, and target audience. Set up a new scheduling time to accommodate your audience. And you'll make the most of it.

Source: KISSmetrics

Thanks to Facebook Insights, you can now acquire information like Facebook reach and engagement rate figures about people connected to your page or post in general. Check it on a regular basis. It gives you with tailored information on the peak days and the optimal time to post to get the most Facebook views and engagement. You should also use a decent social management tool to help you understand your audience's activity trends or pattern. By posting when your prospects are most likely to be on Facebook, the chances of your content being seen by them rise. Accordingly, you’ll have a leg up on Facebook engagement rate that propels your business forward.

2. Go live on Facebook to increase engagement rate

Undoubtedly, live streams are thriving by leap and bounds across different social media platforms. People consumed over 2 billion hours of Facebook live videos last year. Livestream video alters the way people interact with contents and offers a medium for marketers and viewers to congregate.

Facebook live turns to be one of the most direct ways to connect with your audience. It’s as close to having a face-to-face dialogue as we can get, especially during pandemics real-life interaction is severely limited. The ability for your audience to interact and communicate with your business in real time adds authenticity to your content while also increase trust and intimacy. Aside from this, you may use it to send out time-sensitive information like updates, product launches, and demonstrations, as well as discuss breaking news. Users can respond and give feedback in a timely manner, while also learn more about your brand.

Facebook live generally spur greater engagement rates compared to ordinary videos.

In fact, Facebook live generates 6 times more interactions and 10 times more comments than ordinary videos. The opportunity to share, comment on, and watch videos as part of a dynamic Facebook live experience definitely appeals to a large number of people. It is discovered that interaction increases as the video lasts longer. The nature of being highly interactive helps to garner a lot more attention, boosting Facebook engagement rate.

According to Social Insider, live videos that last over an hour increase average engagement rate from 0.26% to 0.46%.

3. Leverage user-generated content (UGC) on Facebook to increase engagement rate

Many brands made the mistake of putting themselves in the spotlight when it comes to content. Their posts are crammed with elements displaying their brand’s qualities and product details. However, as soon as your content becomes repetitious, your audience will tune out, accompanied with waning interest in your stale content. So, it’s time to embrace user-generated content to stimulate your audience’s Facebook engagement.

Organic posts are always winning the edge due to their authenticity and resonance. Facebook recently reported that UGC featuring a brand drove 6.9X higher engagement than brand-generated content, outperforming those well-crafted Facebook ads. You may wonder why? One word: credibility. People have long thought that word-of-mouth recommendations are the most credible form of advertising, with UGC being genuine and engaging. By identifying and showcasing the most intriguing UGC, your content gains more brownie points.

People trust people, not brands that boast about product’s quality. They describe their experience and demonstrate the product as it is, unadorned. When audience trust your content, they tend to share it with others, broadening your reach and engagement. A case in point is Toyota, used UGC to launch their annual “Feeling the Street” campaign on Facebook. Over six weeks, the campaign earned over 1.2 million collective likes, comments, and shares. In comparison to the previous year, they achieved a 440% increase in Facebook engagement. UGC, with its distinguishing properties, undoubtedly is a cost-efficient and impactful way to boost your Facebook engagement rate.

Toyota – ‘Feeling the Street’ campaign

4. Ask questions to prompt engagements on Facebook

Everyone enjoys giving their two cents in discussions. It might be obvious that people comment when they have something to say. Nothing beats initiating a two-way conversation with the audience to establish relationships. And one of the simplest way to achieve this is to ask questions. So, incorporate a question in your content or ads to offer audiences an avenue to share their thoughts and spark interactions.

A well worded, interesting and relevant question can swiftly gain a lot of responses and feedback from Facebook, which goes beyond generating more “likes” and engagements. Pose a question that elicits strong opinions and invites people to weigh in the comments. It serves as a natural segue for people to engage by leaving their thoughts behind.

Why are feedback and comments so significant? They represent a large proportion of Facebook engagement and send a strong, positive signal to Facebook algorithm that your content is worth sharing. Content that gets people talking in the comments section, in particular, will experience a significant increase in organic reach and engagement, as more comments always indicate a higher Facebook engagement rate. According to data, question posts receive 100% more comments than conventional text-based posts. Furthermore, it is observed that comments can actually lead to 4X more clicks than likes. With algorithms favoring interaction, posts with greater Facebook engagement rates reach more people naturally, benefiting your business.

5. Create vertical videos on Facebook

If content is king, video is its favourite medium. Having visually appealing content is essential to standing out in increasingly crowded News Feeds. Marketers have more creative leeway when it comes to showcasing a brand's personality and connecting emotionally with an audience using videos. Knowing how to create scroll-stopping, engaging video ads or contents add wings to marketer’s competitiveness. The average engagement rate on Facebook video posts is 6.09%. which greatly surpass other content types on Facebook.

Video posts record a higher Facebook engagement rate then other content types on Facebook.

Knowing that video content takes precedence. Now it’s time to figure out which video content formats are the most alluring. Owing to the mobile market’s dominance, vertical video consumption on mobile is at all time high. Recent years, social platforms have became increasingly vertical video-centric. To feed the demand, marketers are recommended to concentrate on developing more vertical video content.

Vertical video appears to be recognized by viewers who prefer to watch their daily dose of social media on mobile displays. For Facebook videos, choosing a 4:5 aspect ratio may be the best option. Vertical videos are discovered to attract almost 4 times more Facebook engagement than square videos, as well as 13.8X more visibility. Moreover, vertical videos with up to 10 word description increase engagement rates by 0.15%. We live in a world where most people watch videos on their phones mere inches from their faces, and typically in vertical rather than landscape mode. They’re craving a more immersive and full-screen experience to consume content at all times. It ensures a wider reach and versatility, enticing people to watch the video, and thus, improving engagement rate.

Facebook Engagement Rate Summary

Content, being the backbone of social media, has been swamping the News Feed of Facebook. Every day, countless number of posts are created on the platform. Within a second, it was sunk to the bottom of the Feed. It’s definitely crucial to devote time and effort into investigating your social media strategies to stop your audience in their tracks, encouraging them to engage with you. Are you still looking for ways to establish valuable connections with your audience? In AsiaPac, we have a team of seasoned social media specialists who offer you with tailored digital solutions, maximizing your social media performance. Click here to advance your strategies now!

About AsiaPac Net Media

With an extensive digital marketing experience of serving more than 2,500 clients across Asia in sectors such as ecommerce, finance, gaming, travel, retail, beauty, FMCG, education, health products etc., AsiaPac’s expert team is highly recognized for the excellence in providing performance-driven services to businesses across Asia, and global corporates targeting Asia markets. If you’d like to learn more about AsiaPac and the work we’ve done, visit our Cases page. For more information on AsiaPac/ AdTech and our services, please contact us at info@asiapac.com.hk/ info@adtechinno.com.