In short, Facebook allows you to promote your brand, communicate directly with your customers, personalize your company’s voice and stay relevant and top-of-mind with your target market. Increasingly, reaching your target audience on Facebook requires more than just creating a business page and posting regularly: you need to engage them.
According to a BuzzSumo and Buffer analysis of 43 million Facebook business page posts, engagement has dropped by over 50%. Changes to Facebook’s News Feed algorithm favor posts from friends and family over business pages have exacerbated the decline in engagement.
Likes, Comments, and Shares
Comments on your posts are the gold standard for increasing engagement on Facebook. Likes and shares show that people like your content enough to share it with others, but comments show real engagement.
If someone takes the time to leave a comment, it shows genuine interest in your content, which means Facebook will prioritize it in the News Feed.
For example, a post from a friend seeking advice, a friend seeking recommendations for a trip, or a news article or video prompting lots of discussion will be prioritized, according to Facebook News Feed Head Adam Moressi.
If you want more comments, Facebook advises against it. We will continue to degrade posts that use ‘engagement-bait’ to get people to comment, said Moressi.
Tips on how to get more Facebook comments without baiting
1. Use visuals
Except when a compelling story or a hot-button issue is involved, text-only posts rarely elicit reactions. According to a NewsWhip study tracking social media engagement, 86% of the most commented Facebook posts are videos and 14% are photos.
2. Seek genuine input
Authentic reasons for asking for comments, such as advice, recommendations, help, or tips, will not be penalized. It’s fine to ask customers for their best product usage tips or suggestions on how to improve your products or services.
3. Inquire
A question in a post is a great way to engage with your Facebook fans, but according to a HubSpot study, some questions work better than others. For example, posts with the words “should,” “would,” “which,” and “who” get the most comments, while posts with the words “why” and “how” get the least.
4. Post a photo and ask for captions
Pick a fun image and challenge your visitors to come up with the best caption.
5. Incite an emotional reaction
Likely causes strong emotional reactions in those who see them. Make your readers cry, laugh, or angry to increase engagement.
6. Write a business-related post
Fill-in-the-blank posts ask readers to complete a sentence. This not only encourages comments, but also gives you valuable information about your audience.
7. Create content that people want to talk about
Posts that are controversial, relate to current events, or are about a common topic tend to get the most comments. There’s always less volatile local news to post about, like favorite sports teams or regional events.