Social media has shifted the paradigm of modern brand marketing. While Instagram and TikTok are very popular with brands, Facebook is their favorite platform for marketing.
With a user base of 2.9 billion active users, brands can reach a much wider audience here than on other platforms.
But to build a brand on Facebook, brands need consistent growth in engagement. Starting a Facebook page for your brand is easy. But if you can’t drive organic reach and engagement, it will not do much for your business.
The very base of Facebook’s popularity is also the reason it’s hard to stand out here. The platform’s popularity makes it imperative for brands to measure their engagement constantly. This way, they know where to improve for a better Facebook presence.
In today’s article, we will discuss the importance of Facebook engagement rate, how to measure it, and the best ways to maximize it.
First, let’s start with the most basic question.
What is Facebook engagement rate?
Facebook engagement rate is the method that calculates how people interact with your content. Post engagement means the number of times that people clicked, reacted, commented, and shared your posts.It is the quantifiable representation of people’s interest in your content.
Why does your Facebook engagement rate matter?
From better customer acquisition to social proof, Facebook marketing can help you immensely. Here are a few reasons you should prioritize Facebook engagement in your marketing strategy:
1. Social proof
Human beings rely on social experience to make choices, even when opting for a new brand. Most customers do their own research to verify a brand’s credibility. That’s why marketers use social proof to build reliability in the social space.
Facebook engagement is not just about quantifiable measures. Posting entertaining and informative content and increasing engagement enhance your brand loyalty.
2. Cost effective
Traditional advertising costs a fortune. But in the current landscape, social media marketing is way more effective with much lower investment.
Usually, companies run ads on billboards, TV, and in newspapers, which don’t always reach modern consumers.
Focusing on Facebook engagement and ads allow you to reach a targeted group of people. People liking, reacting, and leaving comments on your posts drive organic traffic. You can get excellent business outcomes with a much smaller budget.
3. Marketing reach
Higher Facebook engagement means better reach on social media. It turns your effort into better marketing reach to a wider set of audience.
The Facebook algorithm favors posts that get more attention. Thus, with more likes, comments, and shares, your profile gets better exposure and is visible to more people.
Facebook engagement heightens the potential of your posts going viral. The more people see your content, the more they get to know about your products and services. Focusing on engagement also allows you to improve your content strategy. It makes your posts more accommodating to customer needs.
Your viewers will tag their friends in the comments when they find something relatable from your postings. All this adds up to an enhanced marketing reach for your business.
4. Brand awareness
Customers can only buy from your business when they have enough information about it. So, brand awareness is crucial for a successful social media marketing strategy.
A higher engagement rate on Facebook pushes your posts to a wider set of audience. Your content familiarizes them with the solutions you are providing. Better engagement makes you stand out and makes your audience interested in your brand. It helps you stand out and build a positive image on Facebook.
The average Facebook engagement rate varies across industries as well. According to reports, influencers drive about 0.19%, while higher education has a 0.14% engagement rate on Facebook. Some other average engagement rates across industries are:
- Hotels and Resorts: 0.14%
- Nonprofits: 0.13%
- Health and Beauty: 0.03%
- Alcohol: 0.13%
- Financial Services: 0.07%
- Food and Beverage: 0.05%
- Retail: 0.06%
- Media: 0.05%
- Tech and Software: 0.02%
- Fashion: 0.04%
- Home Decor: 0.07%
Now that you are aware of why a good Facebook engagement rate matters, let’s look at what a good engagement rate on Facebook looks like.
What is a good Facebook engagement rate?
There is no particular engagement rate that’s considered ‘good’ across industries. Several factors may affect the benchmark. It varies on what your niche is, the products and services you offer, and how competitive the market is.
According to marketing expert Michael Leander,
- Above 1% engagement rate is great
- 0.5% to 0.99% is average
- Below 0.5% engagement rate is problematic
The next step in the process is to understand how to calculate your Facebook engagement rate.
How to calculate Facebook engagement rate?
To calculate your brand’s Facebook engagement rate, you need to calculate the average value of reactions, comments, and shares received on the posts published in the selected time period.
You can use the following two methods to measure Facebook engagement:
1. Engagement rate per post by fans
Here, you calculate the rate by dividing the total engagement (reactions, comments, and shares) by the number of posts the page published. Then you need to divide the result by the number of fans and multiply it by 100.
Formula: {(reactions + comments + shares)/posts} ÷ number of fans * 100
2. Engagement rate per post by reach
For a more in-depth insight, engagement rate per post by reach is a reliable method. Here, you calculate the rate by dividing the total engagement (reactions, comments, and shares) by the number of posts the page published. Then you need to divide the result by the reach and multiply it by 100.
Formula: {(reactions + comments + shares)/posts} ÷ reach * 100
Now that you know how to estimate your Facebook engagement rate, here’s what you can do to increase it.
7 Tips to increase Facebook engagement rate
No matter how good your products and services are, all your efforts will render useless if your brand does not reach enough people. Facebook is the best platform to build brand awareness. But it needs proactive and methodical measures directed at enhancing engagement.
Here are some tips you can use to uplift it.
1. Get to know your audience
The key to increasing your Facebook engagement is to run targeted content. People interact with posts that they can resonate with.
For that, you need to create an ideal audience persona. Knowing your viewers is crucial to creating an effective social media marketing strategy. It would help you create content that positively influences your target market.
When you create a firm foundation based on audience research, you can make your brand image relevant and valuable to your audience.
The best way to understand what your audience expects from you is to ask them directly. Many businesses conduct polls on their stories or through Facebook posting.
As we can see in the above screenshot, Appy Pie conducted a poll to understand their audience preference. You can also post video polls for better participation.
Facebook polls might attract a wide range of users to participate. It gives you real-time insights and eventually helps build a community that is interested in your business.
You can also use Facebook analytics to understand the audience’s psychographics and factors to influence their purchase.
2. Be consistent
Only high-quality content will not bring you desired results. For that, you need to be consistent with your posting. However, it doesn’t mean you need to overwhelm your viewers with a daily plethora of content.
After you have a grip on audience research, you need to settle on a frequency that brings you the best engagement.
To streamline the process, create content for the week and then schedule them in advance. With Keyhole’s Publishing feature, you can schedule unlimited posts and find your best time to post, optimal post length, top posts, etc.
If you are consistent, you paint an image of a reliable brand. So, even if visitors don’t convert the first or second time, eventually, they will get interested and become leads.
3. Create fan-centric content
Many businesses place themselves in a box with social media marketing. The content you are producing is not about you. It is for the audience. So, build a profile that revolves around your fans.
While your posts need to align with your business, it gets boring if that’s all it talks about. Your audience is evolving, and your content must accommodate that for you to stay relevant on Facebook.
In the above screenshot, we can see how Lonely Planet tapped into audience interest. The brand asked viewers about their experience to increase participation.
To increase engagement, you need to tap into your audience’s preferences. While doing so, you must also ensure it does not get repetitive. Curate content that’s solution-oriented but also fun.
4. Participate in trends
Top brands on social media never miss an opportunity to drive engagement through trends. Current topics of interest are the best tools you can use to participate in online conversations and make your brand relatable.
Here we can see that Lego participated in the 10 years challenge and posted the above content to drive engagement.
However, hopping on every trend bandwagon will hamper the relatability of your brand. For example, if you are an IT brand, it would make sense for you to post about World Pancake Day.
You need to identify trends that remain consistent with your brand.
Another tricky part here is figuring out what lifecycle stage the trend is currently at. Make sure you participate while the topic is still relevant, preferably right before it gains traction. With an efficient social media tool, you can track all trends your competitors are leveraging from.
5. Use high-quality photos and videos
Posting high-quality photos and videos can increase your engagement multifold. Top brands on Facebook like Chanel never post haphazard content of poor quality.
Your Facebook profile is the representation of your brand in the space. The quality of your visual content helps you create a positive brand image.
Make sure you don’t just rely on stock photos. Take a proactive effort to create your own photos. This would make your brand’s personality shine through.
6. Use Facebook backgrounds
Leverage the background and templates Facebook provides you. The Facebook algorithm loves Facebook products. Use their backgrounds from time to time.
The system would pick your content frequently and show it to a wide range of people. The best part is these posts would not seem salesy and ensure a better audience response.
7. Conduct live sessions
Another way to increase engagement is to conduct live sessions at regular intervals. It gives your audience a chance to communicate with you directly. You can also record their response in real-time and answer any queries they may have. Even more, you could choose a zoom plan and host a Q&A night for your audience.
Your video content will appear at the top of your followers’ Facebook news feeds once you go live. Facebook followers love interactive activities. It would pique their interest to know more about their brand. They will interact with your posts more, and your Facebook engagement rate will increase.
Improve your Facebook engagement rate with Keyhole
No matter what you do to create a brand presence on Facebook, without a proper engagement strategy, it will fall flat.
The greatest roadblock in gaining more engagement here is the Facebook algorithm. Beating it will take more than just curating quality content.
To increase visibility and engagement, your strategy has to be methodical. It involves several factors, like trend jacking, post frequency, audience research, etc.
Handling all that manually will not reap you the best benefits. Here, you need to equip your social media marketing strategy with a proper analytics tool.
Besides its best-in-class analytics, Keyhole also offers social listening capabilities. You can stay up-to-date on what your audience is interested in and ensure the best Facebook engagement rate.
With Keyhole, you can learn from your competitors and up your social media marketing in no time.
Related Articles:
10 Proven Strategies To Increase Engagement On Facebook In 2024
How to Track & Analyze Competitors on Facebook
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Facebook show an engagement rate?
Facebook shows its users their engagement rate to an extent. Go to the posts page and scroll down to the ‘All Posts Published’ section. You will see the Facebook Engagement Rate next to each post in the engagement column.
How can I increase my Facebook engagement rate?
Here's how you can increase your Facebook engagement rate:
1. Start by gathering data on your target audience on the platform
2. Create solution-oriented content
3. Construct catchy captions and use hashtags
4. Participate in audience conversations and trending topics
5. Encourage customers to reach out to you on Facebook
6. Ensure consistency in your posts and posting schedules
How do I increase my engagement rate on Facebook?
Here’ some tips to increase your engagement rate on Facebook:
1. Do paid ads for more reach
2. Upload stories
3. Post videos
4. Use images and GIFs with text
5. Post on trending topics
6. Engage with your audience