When I was just starting out as a marketer and was building one of my client’s local clothing business’ online presence, one thing that I overlooked is not utilizing engagement on Facebook. Sure, I would reply to customers’ inquiries via private message. But engaging with your customers by replying to their comments on my social media posts were a different thing that gathered better results for the brand.

My point here is, it’s not too late to build good engagement between you and your customers. A good amount of like, comments and shares, whether done organically or through a paid ad campaign, will progressively give your brand a boost that will fit Facebook’s algorithms.

Here are 3 proven ways to improve your engagement on Facebook:

Create relevant and quality social media content.

It’s a no-brainer fact: When you create content or advertise your brand on Facebook, don’t make it sound as if you’re trying to pitch something to your audience. Customers interact with brands because they can connect with them over a certain value. We are constantly looking for brands that can communicate their product’s value and resonate it along with our personal interests. That’s why it’s essential to create content that recognizes the customer’s needs and wants, that relates to what they’re feeling.

That being said, in order to create the kind of content that gets high amounts of like, comment and shares, you have to…

• Get to know who your audience is – You can further analyze your audience’s demographics through Facebook Insights, where it can provide you useful information that you can use to create more personalized connection with your target audience.
• Quality images, short and catchy captions. – You don’t need to hire a good photographer to do it for you, ’cause you have all you need in your pocket: smartphones. Take great photos, do product close-ups, focus on lifestyle-centric posts; those are things that target audience anticipate on a daily basis. Oh, and also make sure that your captions short and sweet enough to stop your readers from scrolling and appreciate your post.

Respond to your customers creatively.

It’s not enough to respond to your audience nonchalantly. Try to observe that some of the most recognized brands have great responses to their customers, whatever the comments may be. And that’s where brands succeed: when they are able to establish a good conversation that lets their audience see them in a good way.

Whether it’s a witty clap back statement, appreciating their remarks or even a simple thank you will boost your brand’s credibility to your audience, slowly building that anticipation on what you’re up to next.

Boost Facebook posts.

Boosting helps you get higher amount of engagement on some of your posts. But wait! Before boosting, here are some reminders:

• Make sure that your high-quality visuals match with your caption’s message.
• Your captions must at least be in 120 characters or less. The shorter it is, the bigger the chance your audience will read it.
• Make sure to create specific targeting. Don’t try to target broad locations or areas of interest in one campaign.
• If you want to create multiple campaigns of the same ad targeting different audience demographics, it’s best to A/B test these ads for about a week in order to determine which ad performs better.