How To Increase Facebook Engagement: 25 Proven Growth Strategies

While Facebook marketing is no longer what it used to be a couple of years back in terms of engagement, this social media channel still remains a major priority for most influential brands.

That is why keeping an eye on your Facebook analytics is key. And that’s where our playbook on one of one of the most important Facebook metrics  - engagement - comes to the rescue.

In this guide, we’ll share 25 tried-and-tested strategies (along with examples) to help you create content that reaches and engages people. Let’s get your Facebook engagement rates up!

Table of Contents

What is Facebook engagement?
25 tips to increase engagement on Facebook
#1 Have a diversified content calendar
#2 Ask questions
#3 Use high-quuality visuals
#4 Share native content
#5 Analyze your most popular posts
#6 Reply to comments and messages
#7 Add a CTA to every post
#8 Use Facebook Stories
#9 Go live
#10 Incorporate UGC
#11 Utilize Facebook groups
#12 Boost some of your content
#13 Optimize your posting time and post consistently
#14 Get verified
#15 Avoid engagement bait
#16 Repurpose popular content
#17 Build an employee advocacy program
#18 Run contests and giveaways
#19 Keep updated with Facebook’s algorithm changes
#20 Join trending conversations
#21 Partner with influencers
#22 Run a competitor analysis to get content inspiration
#23 Crosspost popular content, but with a twist
#24 Create more zero-click Facebook posts
#25 Test and measure everything

What is Facebook engagement?

Engagement is a critical metric for assessing the effectiveness of content and the overall health of a Facebook page.

Here’s a breakdown of what includes Facebook engagement:

1. Likes: Users can show their appreciation for a post by clicking the "Like" button. This is a basic form of engagement.
2. Comments: When users leave comments on a post, they are engaging in conversation and sharing their thoughts, which can foster community interaction.
3. Shares: Sharing a post to their own timeline or in a group allows users to spread content to their friends and followers, amplifying reach and visibility.
4. Reactions: Beyond just likes, Facebook offers various reactions (like, love, haha, wow, sad, angry) that allow users to express a range of emotions toward a post.
5. Clicks: Any interaction that involves clicking on a link, image, or video in a post counts as engagement. This is especially important for driving traffic to websites or landing pages.
6. Saves: Users can save posts to revisit later, indicating that the content resonated with them.
7. Event Responses: Engagement can also include RSVP responses to events created on Facebook, showing interest or intent to attend.

Engagement is important because it signals how well your content resonates with your audience.

Higher engagement rates typically indicate a more active and interested audience, which can lead to increased visibility through Facebook's algorithm, helping your content reach more people.

Ultimately, understanding and improving Facebook engagement is key to building a strong community and achieving marketing goals on the platform.

25 Tips to increase engagement on Facebook

There isn’t one sure-shot way to increase engagement on Facebook. You need to employ different strategies and social media best practices to see what works for your brand.

Here are 25 tips on how to get more engagement on Facebook.

#1 Have a diversified content calendar

According to our Facebook benchmarks study, albums represent the content format that generates the highest engagement on this platform. However, a YoY analysis also reveals that Reels represent the only format that is on an ascending engagement path.

Ultimately, videos and Reels also drive the highest number of shares for larger profiles. This is no surprise, given that videos have taken over social media, as they are a more engaging, interactive type of content compared to others.

Here are some tips to help you boost engagement with Reels.

• Opt for vertical videos (also known as portrait videos). This is better suited for mobile orientation, considering that a large majority of Facebook users access the platform via mobile devices.
• Mix different types of videos. For example, instead of sticking to plain product feature videos, include Q&As, interviews, step-by-step tutorials, and behind-the-scenes fun videos. Here’s how Canva posts a tutorial video that users can easily learn from.

• Include captions in your video. 75% of people watch videos on mute, so this will help people engage with your content even on mute. Semrush does this often.

• Focus on shorter videos. Our data suggests videos shorter than 30 seconds get the most engagement.

Overall, the data emphasizes that diversity is of the essence since each type has unique benefits, and specific audience segments may respond more to one style over others.

#2 Ask questions

Are you looking for ways to get more people to comment on your content? A simple way is to ask a question. Here are some ideas to get started.

• How do you [perform a task/action]?
• What made you [do/follow something]?
• What’s your favorite [fill here]?
• What would you recommend/suggest [fill here]?
• What’s your go-to [product/tool/strategy] for [achieving a goal]?
• What would you like to learn more about in [specific field]?
• How has [brand/product] made a difference for you?

You can even ask your audience what content they like best and then prioritize that in your social media calendar.

The team can take this one step further by interacting with the comments. They can even direct people to certain activities or videos in their app.

TIP: Instead of simply posting your question, we recommend asking questions with a background as a status post to drive more comments and engagement.

Here’s an example from our page.

#3 Use high-quality visuals

Posts with images on social media receive 150% more engagement than those without visuals. The problem is just adding visuals won’t grab attention. Everyone is doing the same.

You need to stand out with quality visuals. For example, Canva uses an attention-grabbing color palette that resonates with Autumn and inspires users.

Even if you do not have a fancy camera, you can use these tips to create high-quality images:

• Learn how to use natural lighting to capture incredible images
• Master composition techniques like the rule of thirds and leading lines
• Play with different angles and perspectives
• Experiment with filters and effectsEdit using tools like Remini, Adobe Photoshop, and Snapseed to boost quality

#4 Share native content

Facebook’s algorithm favors native content (content directly posted on the platform) over external links. This means you’ll have a higher chance of appearing in your audience’s news feeds and boosting engagement on your posts.

This is especially true for videos. To get good engagement on Facebook, instead of cross-posting videos or sharing external links that take users to YouTube, upload the video directly to Facebook.

#5 Analyze your most popular posts

Some of your videos are going viral. Do you want to leave that chance to random luck? Or do you wish to replicate this virality and get more eyes on your content?

A simple way to do that is by analyzing your posts. Once you have a good number of posts on your page, use Facebook insights to get a basic idea of page views, video views, post engagement, clicks, etc.

You can even find out if the posts getting the most engagement have something in common - for example, tutorial posts getting the highest likes.

Use Socialinsider to get more in-depth insights. For example, here’s how I checked the most popular posts on Canva’s Facebook page.

I could even check individual insights for each post to dig deeper.

Using these insights, I was able to identify which content pillars and types are getting the best engagement.

Let’s take a loot at this AI content pillar analysis below.

#6 Reply to comments and messages

One of the best practices to increase Facebook page engagement preached all over the internet is to engage with your community.

If someone makes an effort to leave a comment on your post, acknowledge it. Nobody likes being ignored. Schedule time every day or at least every week to respond to comments, direct messages (DMs), and posts you’re mentioned in.

By replying to comments, you signal to Facebook’s algorithm that your post has engagement, which can further boost its reach.

Also, maintain a specific tone and language while commenting. If you’re trying to portray yourself as a fun and cheerful brand, use positive language, wit, and emojis in your comments.

#7 Add a CTA to every post

CTA (Call-to-Action) is a prompt for users to take specific actions such as liking, commenting, or clicking on a specific link.

Here’s how Salesforce encourages its audience to register for their upcoming expert-led sessions via a simple CTA.

Here are some tips for creating CTAs.

• Use concise language and be clear. For example, “Purchase Now,” “Learn More,” or “Sign Up.”
• If your goal is to increase comments, ask simple and relevant questions.
• Offer deals and discounts to encourage users to take quick action. For example, “15% off on the first five orders.”
• Tailor CTAs for mobile users. Ensure the CTA is easy to tap and the landing page it leads to is mobile-friendly.
• Don’t overcomplicate it. Test different CTAs and find the ones that translate into more engagement.

#8 Use Facebook Stories

Like Instagram stories, Facebook stories disappear in 24 hours and appear at the top of your feed. Because of its short-term visibility, you do not have to put in too much effort to get stories right.

Many brands even choose to reshare Instagram stories on Facebook.

Below are some ideas on what you can share as Facebook stories.

• Share behind-the-scenes content. It could be a glimpse of how the product is made or a day in the life of your team.
• Post product tutorials or tips. For example, “Here’s how to use our beauty products to create your Halloween look.”
• Use polls, quizzes, and question stickers. This is a fun way to get their feedback, take a vote, or let followers ask you questions.
• Add swipe-up links or put updates as stories to encourage specific actions like visiting the product page or checking out your recent Facebook reel.

#9 Go live

Facebook Live videos drive 3X more engagement and 10X more comments than traditional videos.

This is because when brands go live, the video shoots right at the top of your audience’s feed. Followers who regularly interact with your page also get a notification when you go live. This creates a FOMO (fear of missing out) in their minds—if they do not view the live right now, they will miss some super cool content. This translates into higher views and engagement.

Facebook now also provides a way to keep your live broadcast video on your business page so you can keep promoting it.

For example, Mailchimp regularly hosts expert sessions on Facebook Live, which the audience can later view on their page.

When going live, follow these strategies for more engagement:

• Announce the Facebook Live in advance and create hype around the event
• Bring industry experts to talk about relevant topics
• Focus on “What’s in it for the audience” and lead with that offer
• Interact with the audience by responding to their questions in comments

#10 Incorporate UGC

Are you short on time but still want to post content your audience will love? Or is your content becoming repetitive and dull? User-generated content (UGC) could be your savior.

It is a great way for your audience to learn about the brand from happy customers. And customers also love it when you share their content as yours. A perfect win-win!

The best part? UGC earns a 28% higher engagement rate than branded content on social networks.

Some examples of UGC you can share are customer reviews or testimonials, photos or videos of your customers using the product, and case studies.

Pro-tip: If you’re posting customer stories or case studies, try to give an emotional touch to the UGC.

#11 Utilize Facebook groups

Users want to engage with brands that have an active presence. This translates to having a consistently active social profile. But the best brands don’t stop there. They invest in branded communities.

These communities create an inclusive environment for their audience, start discussions, get UGC, gather valuable insights, and direct more people to engage with their Facebook content.

At Socialinsider, we have our own community on Facebook, where our audience interacts with each other, discusses social media strategies and new updates, and connects with other industry professionals.

#12 Boost some of your content

Who doesn’t love organic reach? But there’s no harm in post-boosting when you can increase your engagement efforts and results. Here are three types of posts you can boost:

• Posts that are already popular. Facebook’s algorithm loves showing posts that get a good engagement, and thus, this content will get even better results when boosted.
• Posts that you know can get better engagement with a push.
• Specific campaign or event-related posts that need promotion.

Some best practices to make your boosted content get more engagement are:

• Create a custom audience so your post reaches relevant audience demographics.
• Have concise text and appealing imagery/videos.
• Restrict the time period as engagement drops if you run boosted posts for over a week.
• Facebook boosts require a lot of trial and error. So keep tracking results and optimizing your content-boosting strategy according to the results.

#13 Optimize your posting time and post consistently

You can’t post several times a month and think, “Why am I not getting results?” Getting your Facebook engagement high is an ongoing task. You need to keep posting consistently. That consistency could look like 2 posts a day for some brands. While for others, it might be 4 times a week.

Even then, you need to nail down the right posting time for your brand. The best approach is to fix a time when your followers are online. Facebook itself suggests the same: “Go to your Insights and see when your audience is most active. Your audience may be in a different time zone. If you have a lot of Page fans in a different country, make sure you post when they're awake and active.”

#14 Get Verified

A verification badge shows users that your page is authentic and officially represents your organization. It reassures them that they are not engaging with imposters or fake pages.

Another advantage of getting verified is you rank higher in Facebook search results, making it easier for users to engage with your page.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to apply for verification:

• Go to the verification request form;
• Upload necessary documents as per your country guidelines;
• Select category and country;
• Add up to five articles, social accounts, and other links that show your brand is of public interest;
• Submit the form.

You can wait for a few days and if your request is rejected, Facebook allows you to re-apply.

#15 Avoid engagement bait

Facebook defines engagement bait as a tactic that artificially boosts post engagement by asking people to perform specific actions on a post. It puts engagement bait into five different categories:

• React baiting: Asking people to react to posts (like, love, care, haha, sad, angry, and wow).
• Comment baiting: Asking people to comment with specific answers, like, yes, no, emojis, etc.
• Share baiting: Asking people to share the post.
• Tag baiting: Asking people to tag others.
• Vote baiting: Asking people to vote using reactions, comments, or any other means.

Facebook also mentions that they would demote pages that repeatedly use these tactics to get engagement.

That said, it’s fine to ask a genuine question or ask your followers for opinions or feedback. You will only get affected if you ask for comments that indicate no real thought or consideration.

#16 Repurpose Popular Content

Why limit the results of a successful content piece by restricting it to one platform? It could be a highly engaging blog post, webinar, Instagram post, or TikTok.

For example, Trello regularly shares snippets of their top-performing articles on Facebook. Here’s how they show a sneak peek with a video on “Confluence and Trello integration” and then direct users to the blog on the same topic.

This helps your team as you don’t have to reinvent the wheel with every post you share on Facebook.

Here are some more ideas:

• Create short videos or animations from webinars or your video library on the website.
• Convert customer testimonials into story or carousel posts.
• Repurpose white papers and statistical studies as visual data points.
• Transform insights from reports and studies into polls, surveys, and Q&A sessions.

Pro-tip: Track your top-performing content using Socialinsider. With this tool, you can easily see the top posts by engagement across platforms. And then you can go repurpose that content for Facebook.

#17 Build an employee advocacy program

You don’t have to do all the heavy lifting yourself. Why not turn to your employees and ask them to share your content through their personal accounts?

An employee advocacy program helps amplify social media reach and engagement. For example, KPMG Sweden had 1500 dedicated employees who participated in the launch of their employee advocacy program.

They ensured employees had the latest industry news, trends, and content they needed to position themselves as industry experts. The focus was on the quality of conversation and content employees shared on social media compared to the number of posts. The result? Employee-generated content reached 1.63M people within KPMG’s target audience. It also resulted in 1.74K shares and 12.9K unique clicks.

Pro-tip: Communicate the benefits of this program to your employees. For example, show them how they can build a personal brand by adding their own insights and experience to the post. Connect it to how this helps expand their network and position themselves as thought leaders.

#18 Run contests and giveaways

Who doesn’t like winning something? Contests and giveaways are a fun way to get your audience involved and boost Facebook engagement.

For example, Canva runs a lot of design contests to create buzz and get people to use their platform. This way, they increase engagement and user adoption. Here’s an example.

Before you host a contest/giveaway, familiarize yourself with Facebook’s guidelines so you adhere to their requirements.

Here are some tips to help you create an effective Facebook contest:

• Set simple and clear rules. The easier the steps, the more the participation.
• Use eye-catching visuals to grab attention.
• Encourage creativity. For example, Starbucks holds design-your-own-cup contests, like the “White Cup contest,” which attracts many participants.
• Choose an appealing and relevant prize. The prize should be valuable enough to encourage participation but should also relate to your products or services to attract potential customers.
• Promote across channels and funnel the traffic to your Facebook page.

#19 Keep updated with Facebook’s algorithm changes

What if you keep creating Facebook reels when the algorithm has started to demote it? You could keep thinking of a thousand reasons you’re going wrong with the content when the reason is something else altogether.

That’s why tracking Facebook algorithm changes is crucial.

Here are three ways to do that:

• Follow Facebook’s official channels – Facebook’s newsroom (official updates, algorithm changes, and policy changes) and Facebook business blog (updates to tools, ad policies, and targeting capabilities)
• Join Facebook groups and communities for marketers. You can either join general groups or industry-specific groups.
• Follow social media marketing blogs like Socialinsider and news sites.You can even use social media tools like ours to track engagement and key Facebook metrics. The moment you start seeing a dip, investigate further to see if it’s the content or some changes in the algorithm.

#20 Join trending conversations

Are you looking for an easy way to boost engagement? Just tailor your Facebook content to ongoing trends, discussions, and memes. Since these topics are already popular, you can easily jump on the bandwagon and boost engagement.

Other than covering relevant events in your industry, you can also create content around holidays. For example, if you’re a beauty brand, you can come up with makeup looks for Halloween using your products. You can even repost tutorials of customers or UGC creators creating their own looks.

Pro tip: Facebook releases a trends report each year to inform users of ongoing trends, customer perceptions, and values. Skim through it to create content on the most relevant topics.

#21. Partner with influencers

Piggybacking on influencers is a great way to reach a wider audience and boost overall page engagement. You might think, “But wouldn’t it be very costly?” If you’re thinking of influencers like Kylie Jenner and Selena Gomez, sure.

But brands find collaborations with micro (10-100k followers) and nano creators (1-10K followers) equally or even more engaging.

To find relevant influencers for your industry, you can utilize tools like influencers.club, which has data on creators for every niche. You can input your filters and get a shortlist of creators with contact details to reach out to.

Once your list is ready, you can conduct outreach, finalize the collaboration details, set guidelines for content, and track results.

One company that has been successful with influencer marketing is HelloFresh, a meal kit and food subscription company. It collaborates with influencers to share reviews and personal stories of how HelloFresh makes their lives easier.

#22 Run a competitor analysis to get content inspiration

Analyzing your competitors’ content can give you valuable information. It can show you the kind of posts that resonate the most with a similar audience, content pillars the brand prioritizes, and best-performing tactics you can replicate.

Note that this isn’t about copying their content; it’s about using their strategies as inspiration to create something different.

Let’s take an example. Suppose you have an email marketing platform. You notice your competitor getting a lot of engagement on content around email marketing tips. Instead of following a similar route, showcase real-life examples or case studies and provide tips on replicating that success.

Instead of manually running a competitor analysis, which takes time, use Socialinsider. It provides information on your competitor’s top posts, engagement distribution, and a comparison report.

#23 Crosspost popular content, but with a twist

Cross-posting involves posting similar content across social media channels. It saves time and resources, and you can successfully drive traffic to your Facebook page.

As we already talked about before, avoid posting the exact same message across platforms. You don’t want to be the person who shares the same joke at every party. People would end up tuning you out or, worse, avoiding you.

Instead, modify the image according to Facebook’s size guidelines. Ask a question in the caption. Understand the character limit and tweak your captions. Remove hashtags that are not relevant to Facebook. Check if clickable links work.

Once you run a basic check, post the content and use tools to track if the same type of content is resonating with your Facebook audience as well.

#24 Create more zero-click Facebook posts

At the end of the day, Facebook, or any other social platform, is trying to keep you glued to it. So they tend to favor posts without links.

That’s why zero-click posts on Facebook get the highest engagement. It refers to content that provides valuable information to users without requiring them to leave the platform they are on.

Amanda Natividad, VP of Marketing at SparkToro, coined this term and said:

“We need to recognize that the platforms are pushing users away from clicks, which means we can no longer depend on earning that click. We need to optimize for impressions and make it as easy as possible for readers/consumers to convert in order to push our marketing forward. That means we need to spoon-feed them reasons to choose us, search for us, and hell, quickly find that link in bio. It doesn’t mean “never link,” it means we need to think bigger and more strategically than just dropping links in our social media posts.”

It’s no wonder our data shows 70.2% of Facebook posts being zero-click content.

#25 Test and measure everything

The Facebook engagement post ideas shared in this guide can only get you so far. To unlock real growth for your Facebook account, you need to be tracking your progress and adjusting your strategy along the way.

For example, you may see other businesses getting more engagement with Facebook reels. However, your audience may love high-quality images better.

One way to get insights like these is by using native insights available in Facebook page dashboard. It can show you overall Facebook page growth, follower growth, reach, page views & previews, post insights, and audience insights.

If you want to dig deeper, we recommend starting with Socialinsider’s free trial. You can identify top-performing content, run a competitive analysis, and get detailed analytical reports to guide your Facebook engagement strategy.

Final thoughts

Facebook engagement matters. But, at the end of the day, it’s not just about getting likes and comments on your posts. It’s about creating an effective Facebook marketing strategy that impacts your bottom-line metrics. Be it generating leads or increasing sales.

By keeping your audience at the center, you can tailor content that attracts the right people to your Facebook page. Then it’s more about how you interact with them, nudge them to act on your CTAs, and keep them coming back for more.

Looking to adopt a tool to get you all the insights on how to build a solid Facebook engagement strategy? Get started with a free trial of Socialinsider.

FAQs on how to increase Facebook engagement

How to grow a Facebook page?

To grow a Facebook page, post high-quality, engaging content regularly, focusing on visuals, polls, and videos. Encourage followers to share posts and leverage Facebook Live and Stories for real-time engagement. You can even collaborate with influencers and interact actively with followers by responding to comments and messages to build community loyalty. Keep optimizing your strategy by tracking your growth with social media tools like Socialinsider.