8 Simple Tactics for Driving Brand Engagement on Facebook

Advertising on Facebook is more than just getting clicks and gaining “likes.” In fact, one of Facebook’s greatest strengths is the way it allows marketers to influence potential customers and engage existing ones. Marin Software’s new white paper, “The Marketers’ Guide to Driving ROI from Facebook Advertising,” presents best practices on how to create a positive user experience for customers who come into contact with your brand on Facebook.

Let’s take a moment to walk through a typical user journey on Facebook: a user sees your ad, clicks “like,” and then navigates to your Facebook brand page. In this example, your brand has acquired a Facebook fan. However, acquiring a new fan alone may not present clear long-term value to your brand, unless the user is given a compelling reason to return and re-engage.

Most Facebook users prefer not to be directed away from Facebook to an e-commerce site after interacting with your brand; so consider tactics to engage users and reward them for it.

Engagement Tactics:

• Encourage users to visit your page regularly by posting occasional fan-only promotions and vouchers, early sales, prize drawings, and competitions.
• Send messages and status updates about forthcoming sales, new products, and events.
• Take advantage of Facebook apps to have more control over the user experience and to reap the benefits of more detailed user information.
• Consider making your apps available through Apple or Google Play in addition to Facebook.
• Facebook users like to be in-the-know! Tell them what new things your brand is up to and where you’ve been. Share pictures and videos to make your page more compelling.
• Run ads that encourage users to share their experiences. These types of ads get great click-through rates and increase engagement with your brand.
• Encourage conversation and dialogue on your Facebook page.
• Create content that users will want to “share” with their friends on Facebook to reach a wider audience.

Let’s consider our own Marin Software Facebook page as an example of these tactics in use. First, we make sure to post regularly so our followers will see something new each time they visit our page. Second, we try to post industry trends, best practices, and other content that followers will find valuable. Third, we like to share pictures from our events and tradeshows so that people know where we are and what we’ve been up to. And if we have an upcoming contest or webinar, we make sure to post that as well. These are just a few ways to encourage engagement and create a meaningful user experience.

Next Week: Stay tuned for more Facebook best practices in our weekly blog series! Next week we’ll discuss how to successfully track online and offline Facebook conversions. Click here to download our latest Facebook white paper “The Marketers’ Guide to Driving ROI from Facebook Advertising.”