How do I drive engagement on Facebook but still post relevant content?

Let's start by having you think of the business pages you interact with on a regular basis. What kind of status updates do you like? What kind of status updates do you share? What makes you want to interact with their page?

Some answers you may have come up with are funny pictures, funny status updates, cool facts, and maybe a really great sale announcement. Your answer would most likely not be, "man, I really love when businesses post about themselves all the time".

So, we have already learned something just by taking a look at our own habits! This is a frustrating point to learn, however, because we all want our Facebook business page to make our company shine above the rest. We want all current and potential customers to really care about everything in our businesses  We want them to share our status updates and get all of their friends to share it as well.

So. How do we drive engagement while pushing our company at the same time? Well, it has to do a lot with the content you put out there and how you position it to be most effective for your business. I've come up with three easy tips for posts that drive engagement and promote your business at the same time!

1) Post a funny picture that relates to your business. An example of this would be posting a picture for a sign company like this:

Then, make the caption relate back to your business!.

"Are you effectively getting your message across to your customers? Let us help you with a new sign! www.insertwebsitehere.com". 

Your caption will travel with the photo and each person that shares it because it is funny will share a sales pitch too!

2) Always ask questions in your status updates. This is a very simple and easy way to drive engagement with your customers. An example of this would be posting a statement like, "Our next First Friday event is coming up next week! Will we see you out and about for the festivities?". This kind of status lets people know about your event but also instantly engages them in the post and really invites people to communicate with you.

3) Provide fun facts and then spin them to fit your message. An effective way to get likes and shares is to use status updates with fun facts that most people will not know. To make them relate back to your business, add a simple sentence at the end that directly mentions your company or mentions a product that you sell. An example of this is, "One barrel of wine equals 20 cases, or 240 bottles. That equals approximately 1,200 glasses of Burgdorf wine!". Here we gave the customer a neat, widely unknown fact but mentioned the company name to make it a more effective post.

I use these tactics all the time on pages I manage and they are generally quite effective. Once you figure out what works, keep using the same techniques. If your customer is enjoying what you post and regularly liking or sharing statuses, it will quickly increase your visibility and your overall reach on Facebook!

What posts do you find create the most engagement with your company page? Please share!

Until next time-
~Melissa

"Already companies that speak in the language of the pitch, the horse-and-pony show, are no longer speaking to anyone" ~The Cluetrain Manifesto

My Blue Networking Shoes

Yes I do own blue networking shoes and I do wear them. Often. And here's why!

A few months ago I purchased a pair of blue mary jane Merrell shoes from a local shoe store. I purchased them simply to have an option besides arch-less flats and high heals. I would wear them every once and awhile but was worried about them matching my outfits, so I tended to stray away from wearing them.

I was in a sales position at the time and was attending several networking each week. My feet were becoming tired and my arches began to hurt; I started wearing my blue Merrell's more and more.

It turned out to be a huge advantage for me and helped me excel at networking events! Many people would come up to me and introduce themselves, "Hey, we met last time, I remember your blue shoes!", "Blue shoes, huh?", or "I've never seen anyone wear blue shoes to a networking event before...".

So what is my point? No, I do not expect all of you to run out and purchase a pair of blue Merrells to improve your networking skills. I do, however, want you to think of something that makes you stand out from all the rest. Whether it's a piece of statement jewelry, a catch introduction phrase, a cool business card, or a sweet name tag, you must find a way to be remembered. The average networking event I attend has between 10 and 100 attendees.

As a general networking tip, don't be afraid to get your feet wet, you never know who you are going to meet and what they have to offer. And whether you wear statement shoes or not, you still have to actually talk to people to be remembered! This is difficult for many people I know. My best advice is to be yourself and relax at these events. People ask me often how I know so many people. It simply comes down to not being afraid to introduce myself and hand out my business card. The worst thing that can happen is that it is awkward and you had them your business card and walk away!

This will not be the last blog about networking tips you'll see as networking is a large part of marketing. If you have any networking topics or tips you would like me to blog about, please comment below!

For now, blue shoe power.

~Melissa