Facebook Marketing Archives

Facebook Marketing: The Impact of Graph Search [INFOGRAPHIC]

February 8, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Facebook marketing is seeing some major changes with the introduction of the Graph Search feature.

Not long ago, Facebook announced that it would soon be introducing the Graph Search functionality to the social network. This meant quite a few changes to the world of Facebook marketing, and we noted a few of those changes in a recent blog post about Facebook’s Graph Search. But while we all might understand that the advent of Graph Search will mean a changed landscape with regards to Facebook marketing, we might not necessarily understand why.

This wonderful infographic that we pulled from our Pinterest page does a great job of breaking down and really detailing exactly how Facebook marketing (and digital marketing, in general) stands to change as a result of Graph Search. So, while we all know that there will be a change, now we can understand exactly how and why. With that, we will be able to better execute Facebook marketing strategies, taking into account Graph Search and all that it brings to the table with regards to our marketing efforts.

Have you had a chance to use Graph Search yet? How do you feel this feature will impact your Facebook marketing strategies? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Fun Facts and Stats

January 28, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Social media is constantly evolving and at shockingly high rates; these numbers prove that.

Over the course of the last few years, social media has made its way into virtually every aspect of our lives. As such, in this short period of time we have seen some unprecedented numbers when it comes to social media. Below are a few fun facts and figures as they relate to social media as a whole and by network.

Social Media

Roughly one third of bloggers are mothers.
There are more devices connected to the Internet than there are people on Earth.
40% of people spend more time socializing on social networks than they do face-to-face.
AllTwitter reports that every minute of the day:
- 100,000 tweets are sent.
- Over 680,000 pieces of content are shared on Facebook.
- 2 million queries are made on Google.
- 3,600 photos are shared on Instagram.
- Over $270,000 is spent online by consumers.
22.5% of time spent online is spent on social media networks.
70% of adults on social networks shop online.
53% of adults on social networks follow a brand.
57% of marketers say they have acquired a customer as a result of blogging.
44% of marketers say they have acquired a customer from Twitter.
The use of social media has increased more than 350% since June 2006.
65% of traffic on Pinterest is from the United States.
Blogs increase web traffic by 55% for companies.
35% of the comments on brand Facebook Pages are compliments.
Over half of all mobile searches lead to a purchase.
90% of mobile searches lead to some sort of action.

Facebook

Facebook users combined spend over 10.5 billion minutres on the social media network every day.
Only half of all Facebook users have over 100 friends.
People spend over twice as much time on Facebook as they do on Google every month.
AllFacebook reports that in an analysis of over 60 Facebook marketing campaigns, 49 percent reported a return on investment of more than five times, while 70 percent had a return on investment greater than three times.
Less than 0.5% of Facebook users engage with the brands they are fans of in a given week.
20% of Facebook have made a purchase as a result of an ad or post they saw on the social network.
Half of all smartphones are connecting to Facebook every hour of every day.

Twitter

There are over half a billion registered accounts on Twitter but only 140 million active users.
15% of adults user Twitter.
29% of the Twitter user base is between the ages of 18-29, the largest demographic on the network.
Users aged 30-49 represent 14% of people on Twitter and 50-64, 9%.
The average number of followers for any Twitter user is 27.
A quarter of all Twitter accounts have no followers.
40% of Twitter accounts have never sent a tweet.
79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend a brand they follow.
67% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from a brand they follow.
57% of businesses that use social media use Twitter.

LinkedIn

61% of LinkedIn users use the social media network as their primary professional networking site.
81% of LinkedIn users belong to at least one group.
82% of users are aware of ads available on LinkedIn.
60% of users on LinkedIn have clicked on an ad feature on the site.
90% of surveyed LinkedIn users find the site to be helpful.
61% of LinkedIn users are registered for the free version of the network.

Mobile

10% of Internet usage worldwide is now done via mobile smartphones.
Roughly one quarter of the world’s 4 billion mobile devices are smartphones.
Nearly 8% of web traffic in the United States is mobile traffic.
29% of mobile users are willing to scan mobile codes (i.e. QR codes) to receive specials and promotions.
39% of consumers who leave a store without making a purchase are influenced by mobile.
91% of mobile access to the web is done for social networking purposes.
Over one third of Facebook users and half of Twitter users access the social networks via their mobile devices.
QR code scans increased 300% year over year from 2010 to 2011.
73% of smartphone users access social networks using mobile apps at least once per day.
One in ten dollars spent on e-commerce in the United States is done on mobile devices.
87% of the world’s population subscribes to a mobile device.

Social Media for Business

27% of small and 34% of medium businesses are using social media for business (expected to reach over 75% in the next three years).
MarketingMag reports that 25% of SMBs have no strategy and only 28% of small and 24% of medium businesses measure their ROI of social media activity.
83% of socially savvy consumers have walked away from a purchase in the past year after a negative customer service experience – compared with 49% of everyone else.
Of businesses using social media, 80% are using it to monitor and extract data related to competitors.
Only 44% of customer questions on twitter are answered within 24 hours.
56% of customer tweets to companies are being ignored – that’s much too high!
55% of consumers share their purchases socially on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and other social sites.
59% of Pinterest users have purchased an item they saw on the site.
33% of Facebook users have purcahsed an item they saw on their news feed or a friend’s wall.
79% of Pinterest users are more likely to purchase items they’ve seen on Pinterest.
64% of Facebook users have clicked on a Facebook ad.
87% of the Fortune 100 now use social media – with Twitter being the most popular social media network.
75% of the Fortune 100 are on Facebook.
50% of Fortune 100 companies have a Google+ account.
25% of Fortune 100 companies have a Pinterest account.
Facebook is the number one social marketing tool for brands at 83%.
On average companies respond to only 30% of social media fans’ feedback.
40% of young workers rate access to social media at work above receiving a higher salary!
Over 50% of workers aged over 50 use social media every day at work.
94% of corporates use social media and 85% say it’s given their business more exposure.
74% of brand marketers saw an increase in website traffic after investing just 6 hours per week on social media.
65% of corporate marketers use social media to gain market intelligence.
70% of brands ignore complaints on Twitter.
83% of people who complained on Twitter loved the response from those companies that did make the effort.
Only 26% of businesses regularly include a call to action in their tweets.
42% of marketers believe Facebook is critical or important to their business.
Social media has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than outbound marketing.
80% of US social network users prefer to connect to brands through Facebook.
Facebook is responsible for 86% of social referrals, Pinterest 11% and Twitter 3%.
Over 25% of Twitter users would consider contacting a business via the platform.
39% of companies do not track their social media responses at all, and 55% ignore all customer feedback on Twitter and Facebook, largely because they have no process in place to respond.

That’s a ton of information! Social media is growing more and more important to business every year. We are still at a stage where entry barriers are low and the benefits of using social media for your business are notable and impressive. The proof is in the numbers! Which of these statistics did you find to be the most impressive? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Facebook Marketing: What You Need to Know About Graph Search

January 18, 2013/by Corey Padveen

Facebook marketing took a major leap forward with the introduction of Graph Search. So how does this impact your Facebook marketing strategies?

Facebook marketing has become relatively standardized in the past few years with the exception of a few minor changes. Apart from the introduction of Timeline and the subsequent modifications to the EdgeRank algorithm, businesses have not had to make many major changes to their Facebook marketing strategies. Well, it looks like that might be changing. A couple of days ago, Facebook publicly introduced their newest feature: Graph Search.

Facebook’s Graph Search does quite a bit in terms of pushing forward the Facebook marketing platform – both internally and externally. To date, Facebook’s search components have been uninspired at best. The limits of Facebook search reached no further than looking up friends and businesses. What Graph Search does is it gives new life to the dying search features Facebook has been struggling to keep up with. Essentially, this seems to be a first step in Facebook’s quest to catch up to Google in the world of online domination, and it means a lot of change to strategy for Facebook marketing professionals.

Some months ago, Google+ introduced Communities. We posted an article about Google+ Communities and noted how they were far superior to anything Facebook was doing in terms of promoting business on a social level. Graph Search appears to be a pseudo response to Communities (and Google in general), and below are a few key points marketers should take away when it comes to Facebook marketing with Graph Search.

1. Facebook Marketing Becomes More Local

The ‘Like’ count on Facebook has always been a focal point for businesses. After all, the higher your ‘Like’ count, the more perceived credibility your business has to the Facebook audience. Well, what Graph Search does is it makes your ‘Like’ count much more important, and introduces an entirely new element to it.

One criticism local businesses often have when it comes to social media marketing is that, because they are local, they do not stand to benefit from a social media program. While there is plenty of evidence to the contrary, Graph Search adds another argument that even the most skeptical of local businesses cannot ignore. Using Graph Search, Facebook users can now search for specific businesses that friends like in a given area. For example, someone can search for “Restaurants my friends like in Los Angeles” and see results of restaurants that their friends have liked in that particular area. So the quality of your ‘Likes’ now matters far more than it did before. While there is no shortage of services that businesses can use to buy additional ‘Likes’, they will have little to no impact on results generated through Graph Search. The screenshot below is an example of this.

Promoting your business to a local audience becomes all the more important with the Graph Search capabilities. This is an element that should be taken heavily into account when Graph Search goes live and marketers are putting together Facebook marketing strategies.

2. Engage with Your Audience

We stress engagement so often, that it almost sounds like a broken record. But in the end, engagement is what will drive a successful social media marketing campaign. In addition to boosting your EdgeRank score, engaging with your audience will also improve your Graph Search results. By maintaining an active Facebook page and engaging with your fans, you stand to reap a whole set of new benefits from EdgeRank. Recommendations and conversations are the cornerstones of Facebook success, and your ability to get found using Graph Search will only increase when you are engaging with your audience – local or otherwise.

3. Prepare to Invest More in Your Facebook Marketing

Like Google AdWords or other paid search campaigns, Facebook’s Graph Search will require somewhat more of a commitment to your social media marketing budget. Garnering local ‘Likes’ will cost a bit more than conventional Facebook marketing, but the benefits will be much greater. It is no secret that Facebook has been looking for a means to increase their revenues from businesses, and this new tool seems to be one of the ways they intend to do it.

Simply building a page and hoping for the best will generate few quality results. As we have noted in the past, an effective social media marketing campaign requires commitments of both time and resources. Graph Search will mean both of these. Building and executing campaigns to effectively drive local traffic to your page will not happen overnight, but if it is done properly, it can certainly mean added benefits from Graph Search.

Visit the Graph Search page and find out more about what this tool has to offer. Let us know what you think by telling us in the comments below or on Twitter!

5 Tips to Optimize Interaction in Your Social Media Marketing

December 27, 2012/by Corey Padveen

What are some ways you can optimize your interaction to maximize your social media marketing efforts?

Social media marketing is about one thing: being social. It is one thing to have a Facebook page, a Twitter or YouTube account or any other social profile, but if you are not engaging, you are not reaping the benefits that social can offer. Perhaps what is most important is to realize that your social media strategies and social interactions should not be confined to the individual social networks alone – you need to incorporate your social media strategies into your web strategy.

Below are a few helpful pointers that you can use to optimize your social interactions and get the most out of your social media marketing strategies.

1. Incorporate Social Media Into Your Site

It may sound intuitive, but you would be surprised to find how few brands incorporate their social media into their websites. If you are looking to optimize interaction with leads and clients, your social media marketing efforts must go beyond social networks themselves. By simply incorporating social media into your website, you are extending the ability to interact with your brand beyond social networks themselves, and opening up a whole new realm of possibilities when it comes to lead engagement.

2. Don’t Forget the Little(r) Guy

Everyone knows about the Big 4: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn. But there is a ton of potential when it comes to smaller, or less frequently used social networks like Google+ and Pinterest. With the growth Pinterest has seen in the last year, it won’t be long before it is added to the Big 4 to make it the Big 5, but until that happens, it is still one of the most overlooked social media networks despite the tremendous potential it holds when it comes to growing your brand.

A little while back, we posted an article about the benefits of Google+ to your business. With the added benefit of being integrated with both YouTube and search giant Google, Google+ offers certain benefits to SEO that other social media networks do not. So remember, as your social media marketing grows, don’t forget the little guys.

3. Focus On Your Blog

HubSpot conducted a study some time ago and put together a few impressive marketing statistics that should not go unnoticed. One of their key findings was that companies that blog get 55% more web traffic than companies that don’t. Take a survey of every brand in the world, and we bet that increasing exposure by 55% is something every one of them would agree they want to do. Now, operating a blog with consistent and engaging content being published is not the easiest thing to do. It takes a time and resource commitment, but the numbers show that it is one of the most effective ways to increase your audience and get them engaged with your brand on-site.

4. Reward Your Fans

People like being rewarded for their efforts. By rewarding fans for their engagement, you prompt a much higher interaction rate with your brand than if you simply wait for engagement to increase organically. There are a few ways of doing this, like caption contests, promotions on different social networks, and there are even plugins with different CMS tools that allow you to reward fans for high levels of engagement. One example of this is Achievements for BuddyPress offered on WordPress. This is a simple app modeled after the concept of achievements and rewards available in video games. It is as simple as fans engaging with a brand and receiving badges and awards for high engagement rates. And putting this campaign together is as simple as installing the plugin.

5. Any Press is Good Press – Especially if it is Good Press

Review sites are a great way to get found. Reviews are taken into account heavily by search engines, and the more positive they are the better. This last tip is a bit of a two-fold pointer. Social media is a great way to conduct customer service. It is a public forum, and if done right, people will want to work with your brand is they see you are professional, courteous and helpful when it comes to helping your customers in real time on social media. If you can do this, encourage your audience to post reviews on sites like Yelp!. Again, these are very helpful when it comes to getting found, and the more positive they are they more authority your brand has.

Can you think of any other ways brands can optimize their engagement using social media? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Marketing Trends in 2013 [INFOGRAPHIC]

December 20, 2012/by Corey Padveen

Where should you be focusing your social media marketing efforts in the new year?

Social media marketing evolves constantly with trends in social media. Knowing what social networks and what media are working well is essential to success when it comes to social media marketing. This infographic does a great job of detailing how social media is trending and where we can see it going in 2013. Have a look below and let us know, is this where you expected to see social media marketing trending in the coming year? Why or why not? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Optimizing Facebook Social Media Strategies for SEO

December 19, 2012/by Corey Padveen

Social media strategies are crucial to the performance of your search rankings, so how can optimize Facebook for SEO?

Back in November, we posted an article on the importance of social media when it comes to SEO. With the ever changing rankings criteria at Google and other search engines, there is no question that your social media strategies will prove to be all the more important in 2013 when it comes to getting found. But while you may know that social signals are important to your search rankings, you may not know how to optimize Facebook in order to ensure that search engines pick up your social networks. Below are a few helpful tips to help you optimize your social media strategies in order to increase your search rankings in 2013 and get found by potential customers on Facebook.

There is no shortage of tips out there with suggestions on how to optimize a Facebook fan page for SEO, but there are really only a few main areas of focus one should look to when it comes to optimizing a Facebook page so as not to waste time on unproductive tweaks. Below are three tips that are sure to increase your exposure to search engines from your Facebook page, and should be key components to your social media strategies when it somes to Facebook optimization.

1. Obtain a Vanity URL

Once a fan page reaches 25 ‘Likes’ , it is eligible for a vanity URL. What is a vanity URL? Well, when you first created your Facebook page, you might have noticed that the page title was something like, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Your-Company-Name/1234567890. Considering the weight put on URLs by search engines, a title like the one provided by Facebook is doing little to benefit your exposure. Once your page has reached the coveted 25 ‘Like’ mark, visit https://www.facebook.com/username, select the page you wish to provide a custom URL for, and type in your new URL. This will give your Facebook a much cleaner URL that search engines will recognize.

Now for the worst case scenario: your company name is somehow taken. This is unlikely, but the more generic your company name, the higher the likelihood. Not to worry – if this happens, then choose a URL that describes your company. This will also benefit your search rankings due to the keywords registered in the URL. So, if your company name is John’s Store, and you see that …/Johns-Store is taken, then choose something like …/Johns-Car-Parts-Store.

2. Keywords Are Important…In Certain Areas

Posting regularly on Facebook might garner attention from other Facebook users, but regular posts might not necessarily mean more attention from search engines. Unlike a website with thousands of indexed pages, search engines do not index Facebook posts the same way. So, while you might have one of the most active accounts on Facebook in terms of regular posting, it does not necessarily mean that search engines can find you.

There are a few areas on Facebook, however, that search engines categorize the same way they would a web page. Your page title is registered as both your SEO Title and an H1 Tag. Your page’s description in the About or Company section registers as the Meta Description. These are two areas on the page that are extremely important for SEO, and what you include should be well thought out.

Once these areas are optimized it is important to optimize the beginnings of your posts. The first 18 characters of a Facebook post register with search engines as meta descriptions for those posts. So, if, for example, your company’s focus is web design, the first words of your posts should focus on the web design keywords you wish to focus on.

3. Backlinks Are Still Key to SEO

Don’t leave your posts to wither away on Facebook alone, build links back to your posts. These serve as backlinks to your page, and the more backlinks you have, the greater authority your Facebook page is given by search engines. Despite the growing force of social signals in SEO, links are still the most relevant criteria, and Facebook is one of the easiest ways to build a network of backlinks to your page by sharing posts across the web.

Helpful Tip: This is also a great way to build exposure and increase search rankings for your website. Include links to your site in your posts and encourage the sharing of those links. Shared links are recognized by search engines as backlinks to your site, and will help increase both the exposure and the authority of your site much faster than conventional link building.

You social media strategies are proving ever more important to getting found. Facebook can be a phenomenal resource for increasing your exposure, and optimizing your Facebook fan page for SEO should not go overlooked by any brand.

Social Media Marketing in 2013: The Essentials

December 18, 2012/by Corey Padveen

What does your social media marketing strategy need to have in 2013 in order for it to be successful?

Social media marketing has, once again, proven to be a crucial tool for a brand’s growth in 2012. The marketing medium has made tremendous strides over the course of the year, and it is sure to grow even larger in the next. As we approach the new year, we thought it might be helpful to take a look at some of the most important items to address with regards to your social media marketing strategy for 2013 in order to see your success grow, too.

1. Set Your Goals and Your Road Map for Achieving Them

As with any venture, social media marketing requires a strategy in order for it to be successful. The concept of “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” is one that no longer applies in the conventional sense. (RIM, the makers of BlackBerry are a perfect example of this.) The contemporary version of this theory falls more in line with, “if it’s working, figure out a way to get the most out of it” – and that is exactly where your goals should focus if that’s the case. Below are a few pointers to consider when devising your social media marketing strategy for the new year:

Who is the audience you are looking to target with your social media?
How effective was your social media marketing in 2012?
What aspects work, and where does your social media marketing need improvement?
Are you studying the right data when it comes to analysis of your program?

These pointers follow a general theme, and that brings us to our next point.

2. Before Anything, Evaluate Your Social Media Marketing in 2012

As the pointers above may suggest, evaluating the performance of your social media marketing in 2012 is going to be crucial to the success of your strategy in 2013. Where did you benefit? Where did your stretegy fall short? What were your goals for 2012? Did you achieve them? Why or why not? These questions all need to be answered before devising a strategy for your social media marketing in the coming year. And there are quite a few ways you can go about doing this.

The first aspect you need to look at are your goals in 2012. Using some of the insights tools available both in social media networks (e.g. Facebook insights) and external tools, you can see where you reached your goals and where you need improvement. Then evaluate each social network individually to see what strategies you employed that were either a success or a bust. Build off of these in order to get the most out of your social media marketing in 2013. Trim the fat where it is necessary and devote those resources to areas that saw success in order to maximize the efficiency of your strategy. Social media marketing is not about quantity necessarily, but about quality. Don’t forget, despite what some people might suggest, social media is not free, and if you are draining resources into something that is not benefitting your brand, you are losing considerably more than you might think.

3. Take SEO Into Consideration in Your Evaluation

SEO has long been a cornerstone of web marketing. And social media plays an integral part in your SEO efforts. In a post last month, we noted why social signals are an ever-growing part of the Google algorithm. It stands to reason that social signals will continue to factor into SEO in a significant way in the coming year, so evaluating your SEO strategy and aligning it with your social media strategy will prove to be crucial in finding success.

Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Google+ directly impact your search rankings, so look to your keywords to find out how you can capitalize on this reality. Shares and retweets with links work the same way as a backlink, but they make the link-building process infinitely simpler. So use your Google Analytics Webmaster Tools to find your best keywords, and optimize accordingly.

4. Make Sure Your Entire Team Believes in Your Social Media Strategy

What is the biggest hinderance to the success of a social media marketing strategy? Skepticism. For marketing divisions and firms alike, hesitation by management to accept social media as a crucial avenue to a brand’s success has proven time and again to be biggest hurdle when it comes to reaching al of your goals when it comes to social media marketing. So before moving forward, take the steps necessary to ensure that everyone, from the highest level executive to the mailroom clerk believes in the strategy, and you will be able to move forward faster than ever before.

Can you think of other points that will be crucial to the success of your social media marketing strategy in 2013? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Strategies: Integrated Social Media Marketing

December 17, 2012/by Corey Padveen

Social media strategies must consist of a multi-platform integration aspect in order to be successful.

What does this mean exactly? Well, let’s look at an example. Say you have a Facebook page, accounts on Google+ and YouTube and a Twitter handle. Now, it’s a given that there will be some crossover among fans and followers on these different social networks, but realistically you will have a wide audience as a result of the different demographics on multiple social networks. The graphs below detail exactly how different social networks’ demographics are broken down:

As a result of this age and gender distribution, it is appropriate to have social media strategies in place that take into account your different audience, but you must also be sure that your social media strategies reach all of these audiences by integrating these social media strategies into every one of your networks. How can you go about doing this? Let’s take a video, for example. Say you are a real estate agent and you have put together an instructional video on staging your home before it goes on the market. These kinds of videos tend to gain a lot of attraction, and will help you build credibility in your field. What is important is showcasing this expertise on every one of your social networks.

On Facebook, short, noticeable posts garner the most exposure, so posting a short introductory line with the video uploaded directly into the social network might work seeing as how links tend to have the lowest click-through rates on Facebook. But this post should contain a link to your YouTube channel, which in turn will allow you to integrate your Google+ page. Dom Carr of Google recently posted about the newest feature on YouTube that allows users to simply upload a video to both YouTube and Google+ by simply checking a box. As for Twitter, a link to your YouTube channel showcasing the video would be best along with a short description of where the link is going. (Remember, people hesitate to click on links that are not clearly defined.)

By integrating your social networks, an umbrella is created for your social media strategies. While it is important that every one of your social networks has its own, clearly defined strategy in place, there should be an overarching plan in place that encompasses every one of your social networks. Social media marketing is a category unto itself in your marketing strategy, and you should have clearly defined goals and a clear roadmap to success for all your social media, not just the individual channels themselves.

How have you configured your social media strategies to integrate all of your platforms? Tell us in the comments below or on Twitter!

Social Media Marketing: 4 Ways to Improve Your Facebook Engagement

December 13, 2012/by Corey Padveen

When it comes to social media marketing, engagement is crucial, and Facebook is one of the best avenues to get the most out of it.

Despite the fact that Facebook is apt for social media marketing and a key source for customer engagement, several companies are not approaching the social network in the right way when it comes to business. Below is a set of 4 tips you can use in your social media marketing strategies to improve your Facebook engagement and get the most out of the social network for your business or brand.

1. KISS: Keep It Short and Simple

People, particularly experts in a given field, feel as though Facebook is the perfect place to showcase their talent and boast about their services over a competitor’s. While Facebook is a great place to capitalize on watchful eyes, it is the wrong place to bore potential leads to tears with long, drawn-out posts explaining what you do and how you do it. This is a step best left to the lead nurturing phase of a relationship, and it is the wrong way to approach social media marketing. In fact, a recent study shows that the optimal number of characters for an engaging Facebook post is 80. By keeping your posts short, to the point and full of engaging content (Point 3) people will feel more compelled to engage with your brand and find out more about you. While you may be able to write paragraph after paragraph of self-touting information, Facebook users are not looking for that. So, to sum up, keep it simple!

2. Nobody ‘Likes’ a Showoff

That holds true for both the real world and the world of social media marketing. Social media is about being social, and one of the least social things a brand can do is post content that is purely self-promotional. (This holds true for parties as well, by the way.) LinkedIn is a network designed around the concept of promoting services and expertise, and Facebook is not. Like we mentioned above, engagement arises out of commonalities, not from promotional posts. Share information, ask questions, and get visitors to your page interested in carrying on a conversation.

3. Engagement Only Happens if People are Encouraged to Enagage

We noted above that you’ll need to post updates with engaging content. Now you may find yourself, asking, “Well, how can I have engaging content that is short and simple?” There are two answers to that question that have proven effective and easy to use: questions and pictures. Images and questions prompting an answer have the highest engagement rates of any for of content on Facebook. By asking short questions or prompting a comment like, “Provide a caption for this image!” people are seeing far more engagement than they do with other types of posts.

4. Do Your Research

Those first three tips are a cakewalk. They’re easy to follow, easy to employ and do not require much more work than simply following the given steps. This last tip is a little bit trickier. If you want to capitalize on views, shares, comments and other engaging aspects offered on Facebook, you’ll need to do you research to find out when your optimal times to post might be. Luckily, Facebook Insights offers tons of great information that can help, but you will have to find it, study it and adjust your Facebook strategy accordingly.

If you follow these four steps you are sure to see quite a bit of improvement when it comes to your Facebook engagement. Can you think of any other helpful tips that will add to you engagement levels? Tell us in the comments below or on Facebook or Twitter!

How Are Small (and Some Large) Businesses Using Social Media [INFOGRAPHIC]

December 10, 2012/by Corey Padveen

How exactly are businesses implementing their social media strategies?

In a recent blog post, we showed you where small businesses were spending when it came to social media, but how exactly are they using it? The infographic below does a fairly good job of showing you exactly how small businesses are using social media, and how it is paying off.