As of February 4th 2013, Facebook has officially turned 9 years old. Started out as a way to connect Harvard students back in 2004, that network has now grown into a place where 1 out of 7 people in the world is on.
It is a network that youĀ shouldn'tĀ leave out. Facebook is the Big Daddy of social networks. But as much as you want to stand out in that continuously growing crowd of people, there are people out there who are always ahead of you when it come to Facebook engagement.
If youāre looking for an upper-hand or a way to boost your presence on FacebookĀ to help increase engagement, comments, shares and likes.Ā Here are a few tips.
1. Use photos to increase Facebook Edgerank
Here is a simple question, when youāre using Facebook, what attracts your attention? What gives you a good first impression?
For most, if not ALL, of the time the answer probably would have something to do with visuals. Having tested several different types of posts on my Facebook page I found that, despite ātext postsā having a further reach, photos are unrivalled when it comes to engagement with your fans.
Here is an example from Leneys, a women's apparel store.
You can see how they are able to utilize photos in their Facebook marketing to attract people to Like and Share their photos.
Ā 2. Share quotes with photosĀ
Quotes work! Why? Itās short, itās straight to the point and people from all walks of life can connect with them easily.
You donāt need to share only motivational quotes. You could share quotes from books, movies, blogs, videos and even tweets. Pair it with photos to get the best exposure for your quotes.
Image credit: icedsoul photography .:teymur madjderey
If you want to create one like the photo youāre seeing above, I recommend you use Pixlr, an online photo editor site that allows you to add, edit and enhance photos.
3. Launch aĀ Facebook contestĀ
A Facebook contest is not only a great way to gain new fans, but it also can help boost your Facebook presence as new fans on your page can help increase engagement and activity on your page.
Facebook contests can also be crafted to help you gain crucial information about your contestants ā especially their email addresses. Building a mailing list from your Facebook contest is a necessity and itās very simple if you have the right third-party app to help you craft your contest.
Facebook contest apps like Binkd comes with an email capture form that fans will need to fill up in order to participate in your contest. Getting their emails is very important as you will need re-engage with them in the future.
Ā 4.Ā Use promoted posts
If you have important news or posts that needs more attention than usual, I recommend you use promoted posts to increase your Facebook engagement metrics. With it youāll be able to reach much more people than you would normally do because of the boost in Facebookās EdgeRank in favor of the post you selected to promote.
In fact, promoted posts are a great way to re-engage with Facebook friends and fansĀ you'veĀ not engaged with in a while. Facebookās EdgeRank filters all the posts that your connections publish and ranks them according to its relevance with you before putting it up on your newsfeed.
So if you have not interacted with a certain person or page, that person/page will have a lower EdgeRank than your best friend whom you often engage with. When that happens, most likely you will not be able to see their new posts at all on your newsfeed.
This is where promoted posts come in and this is why it is so important that you use it for an especially important message. Even if it is just a simple post wishing everybody a Merry Christmas, you might want to consider using promoted posts just so that you could reach all of your fans and reminding them that you still care for them.
5. Name fan of the week
Remember! It is always about your! As a Facebook page owner or social media manager, itās your job to constantly find a way to make it about your fans. Arment Dietrich, Inc not only showcase people to follow on their blog for Follow Friday, they would name a Fan of the week on their Facebook page too.
6. Let people promote themselvesĀ
Kim Garst is an excellent example of someone who constantly engages with her fans. She was nominated as one of the top 10 Facebook pages in 2012 and I recommend that you check her page as youāll be able to pick up tons of ideas on how to engage with your fans from her.
Among the many interesting posts she has, one that definitely would help your engagement with your fans is her Fan Fridays. She urges her fans to post links to their Facebook pages on Fan Fridays and this helps business owners to gain exposure for their business and find new people to connect with. At first, people thought that this encourages spammers and the internet deemed it an unpopular move. However as more and more Fridays came along, people finally saw the value of a community coming together just to discuss and connect on a consistent basis every Friday. This further built her page and, in turn, helps build her fansā Facebook page.
7. CrowdsourceĀ
When it comes to social media, there are only a few who does it better than Gary Vaynerchuk. He is someone who can talk-the-talk and run circles around the talk ā all whilst tweeting and connecting with people. Gary is an extremely engaging personality on his social media accounts and he is genuinely a person that knows how businesses should use social media. People love him.
He even got his fans to help him decide on the next title of his book.
As youāll notice, you donāt have to be a huge brand to use some of these ideas to be successful. More often than not youāll find that the more engaging pages are the small business owners out there. Just remember to keep within the rules of Facebook and you can do well.
What do you think? Have any of you found success using other ideas? Comment in the section below.
I would love to hear and learn from your success with Facebook.
Excellent tips Aaron,
I’ll have to share this for #SoMeSa.
I need all the help I can get on Facebook. This page is a good start for me, thanks.
Have you found Facebook ads/promotionto be effective in terms of return on investment?
Hi Darnell,
I’m so glad you found the tips useful. For your question, yes, I have found ads/promotions o be effective in terms of ROI in the long run. I’ve used ads and promotions to grow my owns pages.
I believe most pages make the mistake of using ads/promotions to get people to be a fan of their page only to constantly promote their business which is the wrong way to go.
You have to constantly add value and turn them into raving fans. Hope that helps.
Great photo examples ! I will have to try those techniques.
Great!! Love to hear which worked for you best when you give them ago! all the best!
Thanks for the very useful tips Aaron, I like the first one most and will try the other steps. Lets see how it goes.
Hi Sarah,
That’s great! the good news is, Facebook recently updates their newsfeeds. Visuals will play a larger role then. Will work wonders for us.
Let me know what are your thoughts when you give others ago.
I can’t believe Facebook is almost a decade old and I am just discovering it in 2013. Call me old fashion but I never thought it could be used as an extension to your site and to build a following. Thanks for the post.
Its never too late to be a part of it. Judging by how many brands have already adapted the network, its definitely shouldn’t be missed especially if your customers are already there.
Never ever heard of arranging Facebook contests but I think they are actually an amazing thing…so…Gotta try..
Hi Saqib,
They sure are, I’ve ran several myself and i know how effective they are. One thing to make sure is to give away relevant gifts / prizes that fits your fans / demographic. That way you won’t attract people who won’t be interested to engage with your page in the future after the contest has ended.
Like the tips there Aaron! I must give the Facebook Fan of the week a try what a great idea!
Thanks Mark! so glad you found them useful.
You could manually name fans of the week or you use apps like booshaka to help you. I actually prefer the manual methods.
Cheers and good luck
Photo sharing is always a good way to get more like on FB !! And other tips are really interesting and I have to applyASAP!!
YES! with Facebook latest newsfeeds, it will definitely help boost engagement. All the best!
I never heard before the history of Facebook. and some useful information your give is really useful for me.
Thanks for share with me!!
My pleasure! I’m glad the little Facebook history introduction gave you some insights. All the best in your Facebook marketing.
Great write up!
I’ve been following some of above tips effectively.. š
I do update quotes daily on my blog fan page. Not only this I also share some quick tips, inspiration quotes.
I also announce fan of the week on page using a app. (Didn’t remembe the name)
I’m thinking to use sponsored post feature now.
Have not tried contest. Might give it a try soon.
Hi Ammar,
Thank you for sharing what you’re doing. You’re definitely on the right track. Short tips are definitely a great way to boost engagement. You could actually do a #101 short tips and post one everyday. That would definitely work too.
I believe the app you used previously was booshaka. Great app!
Do try contest! it will definitely boost engagement as well as email subscribers. We would love if you tried Binkd š
Awesome, I’ll give a try to contest. Lets see how much it converts š
Cheers!
Great to hear, look me up on twitter if you have any questions.
i exceeded my friends add, now i have 5000 friends and facebook not allow to add more, even i cant confirm the friends.. any ideas to remove the restriction…
Hi Nazia,
There is no way to remove this restriction as 5000 friends is Facebook’s limits. However they can still subscriber / follow you for updates though. Be sure to make sure you allow people to subscribe to you.
facebook is nothing new for people trying to enhance their social networking but it has also increased the popularity of many business firms by using the advertisings and the various features that promotes various products by blogs, posts etc. the way its use is told is really good.
Home theatre accessories
Spot on, I believe if they follow this step, they would be able to stand out from the crowd š
I usually do my blog post shares,quote shares on facebook.But never tried with contests,weekly fans.It would be great if these tactics work for me.
Thanks a lot.
Hi Vikram,
In the future you could definitely running a contest. You don’t need anything big as prizes, you could find sponsors and that would be a great. Feel free to use our contest app. Love to have you there.
For weekly fans, you could also name those who have taken the time to comment on your blog as fans of the week. Then let them know on other twitter and link them back to your page. Would definitely get additional likes š
Wonderful guide Aaron!
I have always thought of doing some Facebook contest. I think this is the right moment to get that done.
I’m off to checking binkd and thanks for mentioning š
Awesome, let me know if you need any help setting them up. Would love to help. Do make sure when your contest is up, you give it a boost by promoting it with some ads. Would definitely help the contest get likes for your page and more entries.
Thanks for sharing this Aaron!
I am trying to get more followers on my facebook page but so far it’s not going very good. I will try to implement some of your points – hope it will help!
Best regards
I’m so glad they helped. Feel free to implement them and if you have questions, look me up here or on twitter at @askaaronlee.
thx for the nice info,
i think, i’ll try “Name fan of the week”
i think it’s a great idea š
Good luck! Let me know how that plays out.
Good morning, Aaron,
Thank you for this information. Do you have links to successful Facebook contests for businesses and authors? I’m going to need these soon.
Hi Marcie,
I have for Facebook contest but don’t have one at the moment for authors, but I can definitely look it up.
Will send you more information via twitter when I find them.
hi Aaron Lee – These are some really awesome tips on how to increase your exposure and traffic from Facebook. I will definitely try several of these tips. Thanks for the awesome post. thank you
My pleasure, i’m so happy everyone found them useful. thank you for your comment.
All the best!
Aaron, Honestly sometimes I get disheartened with Facebook ā because I am very genuine and do a lot manually I too donāt much like automation. I sometimes get the feeling people are just spammed too much in Facebook so are used to ignoring things. However having read your post above, I realize that no matter how genuine and engaging I think I’ve been (or tried to be) there are more things I could be doing and I shouldn’t give up on Facebook.
I feel your passion and you know what, that is what will separate you with other pages. They can spam all they want but when people start to ignore those pages, then their page won’t appear in the newsfeeds in the future. Its a winning situation for us that puts the extra effort and go the extra mile. š
Great posting and great tips. This is worth reading and the tips can be applied to improve my presence in facebook. Thank you for sharing.
Good to hear Heru. It would definitely help improve your page, don’t forget to try other things out and spice things so that they don’t look all the same.
Those are really interesting tips, Aaron.
I do agree that sharing quotes will really improve the presence. Sharing others content also worked for me. I follow the 80/20 rule.
Thanks for the share.
I like that you’ve set a rule, sharing other peoples content definitely work. Its a great way to mix content up so they don’t the same all the time.
Awesome way to give others exposure too.
Hi Aaron,
Awesome tips you’ve shared here. One of the things I recently did when I shared my posts on Facebook is that I always posted a screenshot of the post along with the link.
This actually increased the number of shares and likes I usually got from posting on FB.
One other thing I would like to try is what you said in this post to share quotes on photos or maybe some typography photos with a message.
Thanks for the well laid out information.
Enjoy your weekend.Cheers.
~Philip
Hi Philip,
Thank you for sharing! I agree! using the method you method would definitely increase the reach compared to just sharing. We do that for our Facebook page on Binkd. Works like wonders!
I’m seeing more businesses doing that too.
When the new newsfeed is out it will definitely stand out more.
Thanks for the comment.
Awesome post thanks for sharing and keep it comin’ bro !
Thank you for your compliment and encouragement! Will definitely do!
Thanks for sharing! This is the great tips. I never try the post contest and photo like this.
Thank you Kimsea,
They are definitely different, that is why they work. You should definitely give them ago. Try different variations and see what works for your fans. Good luck!
Thanks for advice and responded to my comment.
Aaron,
This is a simple list of tips that any novice Facebook user can follow. They should see results rather quickly. I am a part of the viral content community and had to share this valuable content to others. Keep up the excellent work and keep the dream alive.
Many Blessings,
Stacie
Hi Stacie,
Thank you for your comment! Your group sounds amazing, I would love to hear more about your community and learn from you. Would definitely help me and many others who is eager to learn but not sure how.
Aaron
Love the post, Aaron. I have a personal FaceBook, but I keep putting off getting one for my business….but I am slowly being pulled into the ‘light’ a.k.a. Facebook. š
These are some great tips to use when I finally do set up my Facebook…can’t wait to try them out! š
~Dakota
Do try them Dakota!
They work wonders on profiles too, you should definitely try them on your profile to give boost on posts like your blog etc.
If you ever have any questions regarding Facebook pages, look me up on twitter.
Hi Aaron, always love your post with all these great ideas. One of the best ways to be more engaged on Facebook really is to use Photo. Thanks number 7, crowdsource, this is my first time seeing people using this, would love to apply this method to my fan page as well.
Thanks for Great Tips – Ferb
Thanks Ferb, thank you for your constant encouragement, comments and social shares.
Do try crowdsourcing, the works wonders and keeps community alive.
Great list of tips to boost the Facebook presence!!!
I think the contest thing works wonder. I have tried it once and it if so effective. And we all know how important the media marketing has become to establish one’s presence in virtual world.
Thanks for this share.
Hi Rashmi,
Contest definitely works, I’ve used it myself and I’ve seen how it can work. Love to hear more about your results and perhaps share in future posts.
You have some really great ideas to get more activity on your Facebook Fan Page. I like the give away ideas. I have seen a few sites use them on their blog and I think it is an excellent marketing technique that seems to work, they sure get my attention.
Thanks Larry, I’m sure when you put your spin on your own you’ll be able to attract attention of your fans just like how were able to attract yours.
Excellent tips Aaron . it is just awesome stuff i have ever read to Boost our Presence on Facebook social media. Thanx for sharing
Hi Karan, I’m so happy that you’re able to learn something new! thank you for the comment.
Your presence on Facebook will be accounted for in your blogging success š
I am really looking forward to build my email list with the Facebook contest thing!
Spot on! I believe you’ll be able to build your list with Facebook contest. I’ve personally done it and I see their potential.
Good luck!
Fantastic tips! Some very subtle but clever and I think with social media marketing you have to be very subtle and very clever.
I set up a Facebook business page for one of our clients a couple weeks ago and they seem to have got off to a good start now in terms of engaging their audience which is good to see.
Thank you Hadley, glad to hear everything is working well with your client, do try some methods to see if it helps boost their engagement rates.
Cheers!
Didnt know about binkd, its awesome, seems so professional! Untill now I used like-type constests. Check like button and win..
Nice Aaron thanx
You should definitely give Binkd a go, it will help boost your page with contest because it has features which ensures partipants need to like your page first before they can enter your contest. It helps to boost likes and engagement.
Thanks for the seven easy tips Aaron.
They all make sense…we just need to make them into habits to keep the conversation going.
Thanks Krystyna!
That was definitely my goal to make it simply and easily executed by everyone. I’ve personally tested them and I can asure that they work. š
Thanks Aron. I was really looking for some resource to build the strategy for my blog. Your post helped me giving some light into the faded darkness.
thank you so much for your compliment, I love how you put it! just made my day! all the best!
Really a very useful article on managing the facebook.I have never used the fan contest on my website facebook page which i would like to use in near future.Another good point you made was to use the photos…
You should, it will definitely help you give a boost for your page in terms of fans and engagement.
Thanks for the facebook promotion tips. I really needed them.
The way you put info on your blog is really commendable, and this made me write about your wonderful blog at wwwtechrazrcom/10-must-see-blogs-for-every-aspiring-blogger/. Do have a look. All the best!
Cool, will take a look.
Sure, let me take a look after this. Thanks for your comment.
Good post Aaron Lee!
I really new & googd thing I learned is this post is quotes sharing. Sometimes I have no idea to what to share on facebook or what to write up with photos. I think quotes is great idea and it will certainly work.
Thanks!
Same here mate. When there isn’t any news /content to post, we usually post quotes and it works š
Hi Aaron
I understand Everything, except Facebook EdgeRank. Will you explain me little more about facebook edgerank and what is the use of Edgerank
Edgerank is an algorithm developed by Facebook to determine what appears on your newsfeed.
The more engagement you have on your facebook page, the more likely your post will appear in you fans newfeeds.
Pictures and quotes say a lot in a small space. Picture certainly stir up the emotions. Great tips.
Thanks Jennifer! thank you for sharing your two cents š
Yup! it works like wonders š
It sure does. I’ve done it before and I’ve seen how others have done it. š
I really have bad experience with Facebook and social networks in general, i don’t think it is for everyone but as a blogger i have to.. so i will give it a try again maybe your tips will help, i like the funny pictures idea
Does anybody know if EdgeRank is related to the number of followers or is it more closely related to amount of engagement? Example: Follower A is a frequently engaged participant of your company, do your posts appear higher in their newsfeed based upon your “social footprint” (number of followers) or by your quality of engagement for Follower A? Follower B may have little engagement with your company, if your company has a large social footprint will your posts be weighted lower or higher in terms of EdgeRank?
Great Tips Aaron ! Will surely follow them to gain some reputation on Social Networking Sites like facebook ! Thanks !
For the post pictures with quotes thing, another way to engage your fans is to upload those images that ask questions like “6/2(1+2)=?” or “name a movie that doesn’t have the letter x” etc…. Also, I find the more obvious of stupid the question, the more comments you’ll get for the picture because people will try to prove the you are stupid but in reality, they’re just bringing you more traffic
“Also, I find the more obvious of stupid the question, the more comments youāll get for the picture because people will try to prove the you are stupid but in reality, theyāre just bringing you more traffic” – I find this one a very good idea…I will try it in future. Until now I din’t had any luck with contests.
My 2 cents about social, in general, and Facebook in particular. I run an accommodation business for many years..I was always on the social wagon…but I didn’t see too much ROI. Google remains the “ROI monster” – don’t get me wrong, I hate the monopoly of Google.
Even statistics shows that the actual revenue doesn’t come from social. It does influence it, but just a bit. Last numbers, I don’t remember the source, say that less than 25% of visitors of your Facebook will end up in a revenue for you. And, except us, guys trying to have our companies/bloggers with a high profile onto social, the most active users of Facebook are 18-35 years old and none/low income – statistics are saying it, not me. So, do the math…
But, of course that I will continue to be active and hyper-active on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google Plus, you name it.. that’s my fate!
This is amazing! Thank you so much, Aaron! I have now implemented Fan Fridays on my Facebook fan page. =)
Building presence on Facebook requires creativity and wit. Posting interesting and humorous updates captures the interest of people.
Thanks a lot for all the tips Aaron.
I like the idea of ‘Crowdsource’ because the main way of getting traffic is by building popularity through people around the world. Thanks once again, I look forward in implementing these on my site.
Rushikesh
Thanks for these tips. I have already been working on images for Pinterest purposes, and I need to think of them more for Facebook, too. Great ideas for networking with folks who already “like” a page on FB.
Loved the crowdsourcing idea in conjunction with facebook – it’s really cool to see how effectively some people are using facebook to generate publicity.
ps: point 5 in your post might need a small edit – word is missing here: “It is always about your!” š
Facebook presence is so important. I needed your tips so I don’t become stale on Facebook. Thanks for the tips.
great tips to become popular in facebook especially for page admins
Hey Aaron,
Nice post and I really enjoyed this post while reading and Yes, Facebook is best way to attracts more readers to our blog and also helps to promote it and all the points you mentioned above are really helps to do this,. Thanks for sharing these useful tips with us.
A great post indeed! Simply great tips! But a small mistake in the permalink of this blog post. It should be “presence” and not “presense” in the permalink (URL) š
Great post. Like the idea of quotes with pictures, we post quotes on FB all the time but not with the picture. The picture would draw more attention to the post I believe.
And your right, no one does it better than Gary V! He is great!
Thank you for sharing this!
I love Facebook for marketing my blog! There are two popular one’s for me to use and this platform is one of them. Once you can figure out how to get targeted fans, the rest is pretty easy. You’ve done a good job showing us how it’s possible!
thanks for sharing best ways to get facebook work for you when SEO effected by google panda and penguin