Those of you who have read our report Facebook Challenges: Does Engagement Drive Income? will know that by maximising your group engagement you are maximising the likelihood of increased income. (If you haven’t read it you can download it here).
As if more income wasn’t reason enough to invest in improving group engagement, there’s also a host of other added benefits. Benefits include; broadening your reach, improving community feel/participant experience and helping develop more meaningful relationships with supporters.
When it comes to engagement Social AF thinks about two key things, content and moderation techniques. Here are some of our top tips on how to drive Facebook challenge engagement.
We know how fast-paced and overwhelming it can feel when you’re launching and running a Facebook challenge. There are so many elements to think about, but it’s important not to overlook activity in the group. One thing that helps when it comes to content, is to plan a guide to work to in advance of the start of your challenge. We create a plan in advance for each challenge and work with our partners weekly to tweak it to maximise impact.
If you want to keep the conversation going, you’re going to need to lead the way. You will need to post daily to maintain momentum.
We recommend having a 60/40 ratio of fun engagement to the more informative and fundraising-focused posts. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking all of your engagement posts need to be focused on your cause or the challenge. Some of the best engagement we’ve seen is when we’ve asked “What breed is your dog?”.
A great way to make sure your posts are seen is to ask a short question and utilise a coloured background so it stands out. We find using these types of posts has much better reach compared to things like videos.
Pro tip: Coloured backgrounds only allow a certain amount of characters before they disappear. Mobile apps give you a higher character limit compared to a desktop!
A call to action gives participants a reason to engage with your post, so it is essential to include this in every single one of your posts. This can be in the form of participants supplying their answers to your question, sharing photos, GIFs or responding with emojis.
We’re super big on supporter care at Social AF and we will bang on about this a lot!
The Social Media model is massively built around instant gratification. Think of all of those likes and comments influencers get! And, no matter how much you may protest, it always does feel good when you get a quick reaction or comment to a post you have shared. Our challenge participants are no different. Let your participants know you’re paying attention and care about what they have to say.
By responding you’ll also be building up comments on your post, enabling it to appear in more participants’ newsfeeds (thus increasing the likelihood they visit your group).
You’ve thought of some great content, you’ve got some nice replies, and the likes are rolling in. Don’t stop there! Ask follow-up questions to answers to show participants you’re paying attention and interested in them. Keep driving the engagement up.
One of the key aspects of our moderation service is that we provide a timely response. We work from 9 am until 9 pm every day, and within that, we adhere to strict limits to ensure no post waits more than 3 hours for a reply. Ensure you have a plan in place to monitor the group for the duration of the challenge and you’re able to give your supporters the response they deserve.
Social media platforms were designed to help people connect, communicate informally, and develop relationships with people of similar interests. You’ve got a real opportunity on Facebook to create some meaningful relationships with supporters who are genuinely interested in your charity. Don’t waste it with copy and paste stock answers.
If you’d like to talk to us about your Facebook challenge engagement and moderation needs please do get in touch. We’re always up for a virtual cuppa and a chat!
