The January announcement that Facebook would be demoting the organic reach of page posts for the betterment of the overall community sent marketers into a panic. Many brands saw a significant drop in reach the last time Facebook changed its algorithm, so this reaction was warranted. It even led some to proclaim that organic reach is “dead” and that the era of “Facebook Zero” had arrived.

While the changes will undoubtedly have an impact on how updates are served to your audience on Facebook, I don’t think it’s time for a full-fledged panic. Yes, Facebook has evolved into a “pay-to-play” platform. But that doesn’t mean organic reach is unachievable.

Zuckerberg said that Facebook will “prioritize posts that spark conversations and meaningful interactions between people…”

What are “meaningful interactions?” Well, the company provided some pretty specific details about this, too:

• A person commenting on or liking another person’s photo or status update.
• A person reacting to a post from a publisher that a friend has shared.
• Multiple people replying to each other’s comments on a video they watched or an article they read.
• A person sharing a link over messenger to start a conversation with a group of friends.

In other words, engagement continues to reign supreme. And that’s not necessarily a bad lesson to learn – after all, isn’t engagement what we should be reaching for on our social platforms anyway?

In addition to creating amazing, kick-arse content that resonates with your audience, one way to encourage engagement is to become very proactive about engaging your community in conversations.

A simple strategy for this is to ask the right questions when users leave comments. Rather than simply liking a user comment or replying with a curt “Thank you,” find ways to keep the conversation going. This back and forth will signal to the Facebook algorithm that people are talking about the update and are finding some kind of value in it.

I included 10 sample questions below to give you an idea of what I’m talking about. For the sake of these examples, we’ll pretend like we’re managing a page for an ice cream shop. You can easily apply these to your brand or product…just be sure to adjust the questions based on your product or service and your brand voice.

1. Ask an open-ended question. “Thanks for commenting. If you could dream up our next batch of ice cream, what flavors would you use?”
2. Tap into your audience’s expertise and encourage them to share it. “That’s a good point. What ingredients do you use when you make ice cream at home?”
3. Ask questions about their relationship regarding your brand or product. “Thanks for your note. How long have you been eating our ice cream?”
4. Ask about the origin of their interest in your brand/product. “Thanks for your comment. Do you remember your first ice cream cone?”
5. Use comments as a way to mine customer data. “Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. What’s your favorite flavor?”
6. Give a compliment and then ask a follow-up question tied to it. “We love this picture. What camera do you use?”
7. Use follow-up comments as a way to cross sell/upsell. “If you love coffee ice cream, you’d love our new turtle flavor. Have you tried it?”
8. Make suggestions about the application of your products. “Thanks for your comment. Have you ever tried adding ice cream to your iced coffee?”
9. Promote upcoming sales or events. “We appreciate you taking the time to leave your note. Have you heard about our street party next weekend? We’d love to have you stop by.”
10. Learn more about your audience. “Thanks for your note. What made try your first Inga’s Ice Cream cone?”

Notice that all questions will prompt the initial commenter to respond back. Will everyone do it? No, of course not. But I can guarantee that more people will than if you had not asked the follow-up question in the first place.

If you’d like more information about how to tackle Facebook’s newest curve ball, give us a call. We’d love to chat!

Inga Rundquist

Inga Rundquist is a Public Relations Arsonist and Co-Owner at MindFire. When she’s not dreaming up ideas that will generate publicity, you can find her knee deep in the social media world, also known as the next PR frontier.