5 Easy Tips to Get More Likes, Comments, and Shares on Facebook | Travel Research Online

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5 Easy Tips to Get More Likes, Comments, and Shares on Facebook

“I have a Facebook page, but I can’t get anyone to like or comment on anything!” is something I hear often from travel professionals. They know that social media can help build their business, but they can’t quite seem to get things moving on their page. I can relate. I spent YEARS with a Facebook page that might as well have had crickets chirping in the background. Fast forward to today, and we have an active and engaged community of over 22,000 fans on our page and Facebook drives a lot of traffic (and bookings) for the agency.

Social media takes work. You have to build it and consistently maintain it. You have to post good, quality content regularly. So how do you get those fans of yours engaged with your content? Here are 5 easy strategies you can use on to get people interacting on your Facebook page:

1) Keep it short and sweet!

Facebook doesn’t limit the number of characters you can use in a post near as much as Twitter does, but maybe it should! Think about how people often use Facebook: they are checking it on their phones quickly while they wait in line or looking at it while they eat lunch.

They are already busy and quite frankly, their attention span isn’t that long! They aren’t likely to read long, drawn out posts – ESPECIALLY when it comes from a business! Facebook’s own research has shown that posts under 250 characters in length get more engagement than longer posts.

This doesn’t mean you should NEVER share a longer status update. In fact, when you are keeping most of your posts short and sweet, it makes those longer posts with more details and information stand out more.

2) Use more videos.

Video is big right now in all sorts of marketing, and Facebook is no exception. They’ve put a good bit of effort into creating a video platform that works well right within Facebook, and even gives you a way to use it to drive traffic to your web site. They are definitely giving YouTube some competition!

Right now video posts on Facebook are getting more exposure and more engagement than any other type of post. If you want to reach more fans on Facebook, post more videos! You don’t need any fancy equipment, just use your phone or the web cam on your computer. Press record, smile, and pretend you are sitting across from your favorite client. Talk like you would if they were sitting right in front of you. You may just be amazed at the results! Click here for a video visibility challenge I posted on Facebook earlier this year.

3) Ask questions.

Asking a question is a great way to encourage engagement! People understand that when you ask them a question, they are supposed to give you an answer, so it encourages comments without you having to say “comment below if…” It helps that most people love to talk about themselves!

The key here is to ask short, easy to answer questions. Now isn’t the time to pull out those qualifying questions like “tell me about your favorite vacation to date?” No, ask things they can answer quickly (remember, they are quite likely on their phone and don’t have a ton of time!).

Some of my favorites to use on our page are “Would you rather…” “What is the one thing you must pack for every vacation?” Questions that start with things like “Should I (or you/first time guests etc.)…” “Would you…” “What do you recommend for…” “What’s your favorite…” and of course, “If you won an all expense paid trip for your family to anywhere in the world, where would you be headed?”

5) Stop selling!

Sure, people love a great travel bargain, but if every post is asking for a sale, you won’t get much engagement. In fact, you may start losing fans if they feel you are just using the page to sell, sell, sell. Stop putting the focus on making a sale and start focusing on building a relationship with your fans!

This is really important so I’ll say it again: stop putting the focus on making a sale and start focusing on building a relationship with your fans! I promise if you build the relationship, the sales will come. It won’t be instant, it takes around 6-9 months for most agents to start to see sales coming from their page on a regular basis, but they DO start coming if you focus on being friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable.

6) Post more often.

Yes, I said it. POST MORE OFTEN! I always hear: “But I don’t want to BOTHER my fans by posting too much.” Here’s the deal: only about 10-15% of your fans are going to see any given post, and they are only going to see it if they are on around the time you post. People who are on Facebook mainly in the evenings are not going to see what you post in the morning, and vice versa. Even if they are on ALL DAY, the likelihood that they will see all of your posts is pretty darn slim.

Keep in mind, if they don’t see a post from you, they can’t like it or comment on it. I would recommend that you post 3-5 times per day. Start with 3. One in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening (after 7 PM). Trust me, you won’t be bothering them because chances are even if you post 5 times a day, most of your fans won’t see more than one a day.

We post 6-9 times per day on my agency Facebook page and we have maybe 2-3 people a week unlike the page (but we have probably 25 – 50 or more new people like it every week too!).

Try using these 5 simple techniques on your page. With some consistent and concentrated effort, you’ll start to see your fan base growing and engaging with your content more and more often.

If you are looking for lots more strategies to start using Facebook to grow your business and start getting bookings, you may want to consider my Facebook Marketing Challenge. More than 1,000 travel professionals have taken the challenge and rave about the results they achieved (you can even use the coupon code TROSMITH to save $50 when you register).


Lori HeadshotLori Hardegree is a social visibility expert with TheVisibilitySolution.com and is the creator of the Visibility Marketing System, a proven step-by-step program to show you exactly how to stop being the best kept secret in the travel industry and start attracting new clients easily and consistently. Click here to download a free copy of her “99 Ways to Attract New Clients” checklist and receive weekly marketing and visibility strategies right to your inbox!

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