A lot of businesses build their Facebook Business Page and content calendar with no engagement plan in place… so how exactly do they expect to grow?
If you have a Facebook Virtual Assistant that can help you manage your Facebook Business Page and content calendar, we highly suggest that you invest time and training into Facebook Engagement too – which is exactly why we’ve put all of our tips into this guide.
Watch the video below or keep reading to learn more about the basics of Facebook Engagement, Facebook’s Algorithm and techniques for your Facebook Virtual Assistant to use to grow your page organically.
What is a good Engagement Rate?
Facebook engagement is any action that people take on your content whether that is liking, commenting or sharing. Based on the recent study from Databox, 40% of Facebook Business Pages consider 1.1 – 1.3% as a good Engagement Rate for their page. Although this varies by industry, this should provide you and your Facebook Virtual Assistant with a good baseline to keep in mind.
Average Facebook Business Page Engagement Rates by Databox
What your Facebook Virtual Assistant needs to know about the algorithm
In order for you to effectively work with your Facebook Virtual Assistant, you’ll both need to understand the fundamentals on how the Facebook Algorithm actually works. So here’s a top level summary of the key things you need to know:
1. Facebook prioritises content from friends and family
How many times have you seen content in your newsfeed from a Facebook Page that you don’t follow? Chances are, you’ve recently interacted with or visited someone’s Facebook profile and they’ve interacted with this post – so Facebook has decided to prioritise this content to your feed too.
This is why the organic content that your Facebook Virtual Assistant creates for you in your content calendar, must appeal and entice as many of your followers to interact with your page as possible. That way, this content will show up in the feeds of their friends and family to reach new audiences that may possibly be interested in what you have to offer too.
2. Facebook prioritises native and visual content
Facebook’s ultimate goal is to keep people on the platform for longer. Which means, if you’re asking your Facebook Virtual Assistant to share a video on your Facebook Page, instead of sharing the YouTube link that takes people off Facebook’s platform, your content will be prioritised if the video was uploaded directly into Facebook itself.
It’s important to also know that Facebook gives more weight to visual content such as videos and photos, over text posts. So ask your Facebook Virtual Assistant to focus on the visual content that will make those thumbs stop!
3. Facebook rewards responsivity and interactivity
Have you ever visited a Facebook Business Page with a “Very responsive to messages” badge?
Your Virtual Assistant needs to know that Facebook actively observes how much time it’s taken for them to respond to your Facebook Direct Messages. If your response time is lightning fast, you’ll be rewarded with a badge, a better reputation with Facebook’s Algorithm and possibly the attention of new leads.
In addition to Direct Messages, your Virtual Assistant needs to be as responsive as possible to every tag, mention, post and reviews that are left on your page.
4. Facebook analyses the decay of posts
And lastly, Facebook gives more weight to recent content. The older your posts are, the less likely it is to show up in news feeds organically. This is why it’s important to have a Virtual Assistant for Facebook help you create and schedule Facebook Content to keep your page regularly updated.
Looking for a Facebook Virtual Assistant?
Book a FREE Discovery Call with our Outsourcing Specialist Heidi today and we’ll start looking for an experienced and reliable Social Media Virtual Assistant that can fit seamlessly into your business based on your needs.
Engagement Techniques for your Facebook Virtual Assistant
Now that you’re on top of the basics of the algorithm, let’s get into the fun part! Here’s a rundown of our organic Facebook Engagement tips and tricks for your Facebook Virtual Assistant to help you grow your Facebook Business Page.
How a Facebook Virtual Assistant can grow your page organically
1. Connecting with your leads
Your website or social media pages should offer an opt-in method to collect a database of leads (and if it isn’t… well, you’ll need to get onto that ASAP!)
For example, at Outsourcing Angel, we often create new resources such as our ‘Types of Virtual Assistants and Tasks’ eBook which you can download for free, once you’ve completed an online form.
This form collects information such as: Name, Email and Company Name which allows a Facebook Virtual Assistant to search for these leads on social media and connect with them ‘as your page’ by:
- Liking their Facebook Business Page and Instagram Page
- Interacting with their content via Likes, Comments or Shares
As long as the interactions with these pages are genuine (avoid spam at all costs!) then it can build a fantastic relationship with the lead and in turn increase your Facebook Page’s reach and engagement too.
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Find and join Facebook Groups
Your Virtual Assistant for Facebook can conduct Industry Research to help you find Facebook Groups within your industry where your page is able to participate in discussions and add value as your business page.
The key things that your Facebook Virtual Assistant should look out for when conducting their research is:
- Location: Your Facebook Virtual Assistant can filter Facebook Groups in searches by location such in order to give you more qualified results.
- Posts per week: Your Facebook Virtual Assistant should also look for the groups that are active and post at least 1-2 posts per day. This number is visible in the Facebook Group search results:
- Members: The number of members in the Facebook Group isn’t as important as how active the Facebook Group is, but the more members in the Facebook Group, the more opportunities it can present for your Facebook Page.
- Private vs Public Groups: There are 2 types of Facebook Groups that your business page can join and the key difference between the two is:
- Public: Anyone on or off Facebook can see who’s in the group and what they post.
- Private: Only members can see who’s in the group and what they post.
It’s great to join a mix of both Public and Private Facebook Groups but your Facebook Virtual Assistant should focus on the Private Facebook Groups where members are likely to be more engaged.
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Engage with Facebook Groups
Once your Facebook Virtual Assistant has created a list of Facebook Groups that are relevant to your business, your Virtual Assistant will then need to:
- Request to join these Groups as your Facebook Business Page
- Read through Group policies and abide by those rules. For example, some Facebook Groups will not allow you to share promotional posts.
When your Facebook Business Page has been accepted as a Facebook Group member, here are the Facebook Engagement tasks that your Facebook Virtual Assistant can add to their daily task list:
- Post to groups as your page: Focus on participating in groups by giving genuine helpful advice, answering questions and sharing useful resources (instead of selling your business)
- Share your best performing posts: Start a conversation about one of your Facebook posts by sharing the best performing posts to Facebook Groups that would likely interact with the post
- Inject humour or personality in your posts and responses: Avoid being too formal or robotic. Even if your Virtual Assistant is posting on behalf of your Facebook Business Page, your brand needs to stand out with personality and flair!
4. Invite people to like your page
One of the first things you should do when you create a Facebook Business Page is to ask your Facebook Virtual Assistant to invite your friends to like your page too.
But the like invites don’t just stop there! If your Virtual Assistant notices someone that has recently engaged with your content and is not following your page, he/she should send them a Follow invitation too – the more, the merrier 😉
5. Add Messenger Greetings
If you’re not already utilising the automated messenger options that are available to Facebook Business Pages, it’s time to get on top of it ASAP!
Your Facebook Virtual Assistant is able to add an automated Messenger Greeting that appears when someone lands on your Facebook Business Page.
There is also an Instant Reply feature that allows your page to respond to all Direct Messages immediately and boost your page’s responsiveness.
All of these features are mentioned in our Facebook Business Page Checklist which you can download for your Virtual Assistant here.
Looking for a Facebook Virtual Assistant?
Book a FREE Discovery Call with our Outsourcing Specialist Heidi today and we’ll start looking for an experienced and reliable Social Media Virtual Assistant that can fit seamlessly into your business based on your needs.
6. Cross-promote with another Facebook Page
If you have an existing relationship with a Facebook Business Page with followers that match your target audience, it can be beneficial to arrange a cross-promotion so that you both can leverage from your audiences. Examples of this can include:
- Facebook Live Session: Go on Live together and stream it to your Facebook pages. Make sure leading up to the session that you’ve been promoting it.
- Watch Party: Host a watch party and discuss it at the same time
- Competition/Giveaway: Conduct a Facebook competition/giveaway where your followers have to follow or opt-in to win a prize from both pages
7. Post more interactive content
It might be time to review your Facebook Content Calendar to see how much of your content is really interactive. Your Facebook Virtual Assistant will be able to help you create the following interactive Facebook posts:
- Comparison content: Get your audience interacting with your page with comparison content that’s easy to answer e.g “Do you prefer X or Y?”
- Quizzes or questions: People love to be the first to solve a riddle, math equation or fun quizzes like “What is your personality type?”
Whatever you do, your content should remember that 6 in 10 people totally ignore brands that constantly push their product/service (Techcrunch article). So instead of promoting yourself all the time, you should follow the theme of “Edu-tainment” and build an interactive relationship with your audience instead.
8. Double down on what’s already working for you
It’s also important to look at your past results and double down on what is already working for you such as:
- Posting when your fans are online: Check your Insights by clicking on Insights > Posts and seeing when your fans are online and schedule the content at the peak time
Your Virtual Assistant should schedule your social media content during the hours when your fans are most active and online. It’s important to also try a mix of content at these times to see what works best!
- Reshare your most popular posts: If there are posts that performed really well a few months ago, don’t be afraid to ask your Facebook Virtual Assistant to share it again and then Pin it to the top of your Facebook page to boost the engagement.
9. Use underutilised Facebook functions
There are functions on Facebook that are underutilised by Business Pages, but this could potentially present an opportunity for your page to stand out from the crowd! These features include:
- Facebook Live: To use the Facebook Live function, your Facebook Virtual Assistant can help you create Facebook content to promote the session on Facebook and your other social media channels prior to the live session. Once you’re live, make sure you’re interacting and replying to all comments in your live session to further push your reach and engagement.
- Facebook Stories: Also remember to share Facebook Stories regularly just as often as you would update your Instagram Stories.
By using these underutilised functions, Facebook is likely to prioritise your page over other Facebook Business Pages that aren’t using these functions.
In summary, your Facebook Business Page must be more than a channel to dump your content. You also need to be extremely responsive to your audience as well as make time for Facebook Engagement to build your reach and followers. These are the types of tasks that a Facebook Virtual Assistant can help you with
Looking for a Facebook Virtual Assistant?
Book a FREE Discovery Call with our Outsourcing Specialist Heidi today and we’ll start looking for an experienced and reliable Social Media Virtual Assistant that can fit seamlessly into your business based on your needs.
