33 ways to get likes and engage visitors on your company Facebook page (works across other platforms too)

So, you've got a company Facebook page. Tick. Now what can you do to get Likes and engage people outside of your immediate friends and family ...

Well, it's all about engagement.

Each post must be relevant to your product or industry and to the audience you're trying to reach. Inform, advise, entertain, but don't be bland.  Make them care and do it fast.

The following tried and tested suggestions should get your creative juices flowing and if you really want to see those numbers climbing, make sure you add an attention grabbing photograph or video.

1. Post updates at least once a day.  The most successful company pages post up to ten times each day using a mix of images, inspiring posts, questions and links to other resources.  Don't be afraid to show some personality. People buy from people.
2. Give sneak peaks of future plans and ask for further suggestions 
3. Make personal recommendations and ask for your readers favourite/most loved/best X 
4. Ask visitors to ‘like’ a picture and/or submit their own 
5. Set a weekly trivia question related to your product or industry (remember to post the answer)
6. Run polls to solicit opinion and start discussions
7. Celebrate milestones and rally your audience to reach them e.g. help us get 200 likes by June
8. Use images to tell a story/highlight a situation, inviting feedback 
9. Have a weekly discussion topic 
10. Answer an FAQ each day 
11. Be seasonal and timely. Comment on relevant stories in the news, festivals etc. 
12. Share posts from others and third party content 
13. Ask multiple choice questions or those where a yes/no answer will suffice 
14. Educate your users in how to share and endorse your page e.g. Hit the like button and comment yes if you agree or click like if you enjoyed this video 
15. Expand each conversation by responding to responses 
16. Post top tips and challenges e.g. try this and tell us what happens
17. Provide lists e.g. top 10 (insert something to inspire/educate/entertain your audience)
18. Ask your audience to provide one word descriptions for something
19. Align your company page with similar complimentary organisations by liking their pages and tagging them in your status updates 
20. Run competitions.  There doesn't have to be a prize.  Sometimes a mention on the company page is enough reward and it's likely to be shared as the winner tells their friends
21. Use your other social media accounts to highlight your Facebook page and directly ask people to like it.  This works best if you encourage them to do it within a time limit, but make sure there's a good enough reason to pump up the urgency
22. Post photos and invite visitors to guess where/what/who they are
23. Visualise data by turning it into charts or an infographic so it becomes information worth sharing
24. Highlight stories of day to day happenings to help visitors feel they know you/your employees
25. Excite and surprise fans whenever possible to keep them talking about and sharing your brand
26. Share expertise, with an ask the expert day
27. Admit where you've made mistakes and publicly apologise
28. Make sure each post is authentic so you attract a like minded community
29. Invite feedback on new product ideas
30. Ask fans why they liked your page
31. Put your fans in charge of naming something
32. Invite fans to suggest a caption for a photograph
33. Include links to your website and any other web presence you might have

Crank up that newsfeed.

I'd love to know what works best for you?