Why You Shouldn’t Ask for Likes and Shares on Facebook

Many business owners see increased engagement and followers on social media as a sign that their marketing strategies are working. And while this is a great indicator you’re doing something right, you should also make sure you’re gaining the right kind of growth on social media.

You also don’t want to end up shooting yourself in the foot by asking for likes or shares on Facebook. Even though it may seem like a perfectly acceptable way to advocate for yourself and grow your following, it may end up backfiring.

Facebook Buries Posts Directly Asking for Engagement

The internet is full of useful information, but it’s also home to a lot of spam. Facebook is no exception to this, and since 2014, their algorithm includes measures to directly combat spammy posts. Any post directly asking for likes, comments, or shares will sink to the bottom of users’ feeds with almost no chance that anyone will see it. Not everyone is aware of this, and if you’ve used Facebook posts that ask for these types of engagement, you may have been left wondering why they got so few likes and shares.

Another reason to avoid directly asking for likes, shares, and comments is because it simply comes off spammy. Users will see these posts as either desperate or tacky and will feel off-put by the very inorganic language. This is partly why Facebook made this change to their algorithm in the first place. They want to keep their platform a place where users see the type of content they want to engage in, not a place where their users are constantly badgered for likes, shares, and comments.

Non-Spammy Ways to Get More Engagement

Of course, this doesn’t mean you should give up on trying to gain more engagement on Facebook. You can gain the attention and growth you want on Facebook by using subtle, but effective strategies. One of the main things to keep in mind is you can’t just say “comment below” or “give this post a like” in your Facebook posts. But you can find other ways to get users to engage by using more conversational language.

There aren’t many ways to indirectly ask for likes on a post, but using a phrase like “who agrees?” or “who’s excited?” on Facebook posts when they make sense in context can be interpreted to respond with a like. Other phrases like “Tell us…” or “We want to hear from you” are good ways to drive up engagement in the comments section. If you want users to share your post without getting a slap on the wrist from Facebook, phrases like “tell your friends” or “spread the word” can be very effective.

The main thing to keep in mind when trying to get more engagement is to keep your posts conversational and interesting. Ask open-ended questions that encourage people to leave comments, or offer prizes for people who provide the correct answer to a trivia question. If done correctly, you shouldn’t have to say “Leave a comment below,” it should be obvious to your followers and they should want to participate.

Don’t forget to respond to comments when you get them as well. Receiving a response or reaction to a comment makes the post more personal, and the follower will be even more likely to comment on your future posts.

When you provide content people naturally want to interact with and share, you can expect to see your engagement increase and your social media presence grow organically. Take yourself outside of your practice for a minute and think about information that would be useful for patients to see. Your content should be meaningful and purposeful before it is ever sales-driven. There’s a reason that certain Facebook posts go viral organically: they create a call to action or touch on a pain point in a way that is transparent.

Patients are coming to your practice for quality care that is safe and effective and that is enough to follow your Facebook page. However, what is keeping them there and why are they interacting with your posts? One way to keep your content fresh and relevant is to write about topics that are trending in the field, especially ones that are a “hot-button issue.” Find out what your competitors are posting about and think of ways you can make that same content brand new.

Unconventional Engagement Ideas

It is vital to create content that is on brand with your practice and speaks to your consumers honestly. This can be challenging to get a grip on and might take more than one try. Luckily, there are other ways that are more out-of-the-box to drive traffic to your Facebook page and thus encourage engagement from your following. We’ll never be able to beat the algorithm, so we might as well join it.

Cross-promoting with brands that make sense in the industry is a sure-fire way to generate more organic engagement on your posts. Find a product your office uses or would like to use and reach out to them regarding an unpaid partnership. The two of you can work together on plugging each other’s services or sharing posts. This tactic essentially has the potential to join your audiences, a “power in numbers” type of situation.

Cross promotion also works within your own omnichannel circuit. What you share on Twitter can be easily reposted to your Facebook. An Instagram post can automatically populate onto your feed. Your TikTok content can be reshared on Facebook. Using this technique links your audiences on each platform to one another as well as leads them to content they might like to interact with on another channel of yours.

If you feel like you’ve hit a content wall, check out social trends that you might have missed. A lot of marketing professionals are better understanding how their paid and unpaid efforts are working together and are acting on it. Engagement is so powerful in this aspect as you are able to directly see what your target market is saying, the good the bad and the ugly. It isn’t just a numbers game anymore, and consumers are looking for more from the accounts they follow. 

 

Need help creating an engaging social media plan for your practice? Contact Ortho Sales Engine today