What Leigh Ann’s Been Up To

10 Creative Ideas to Engage Your Facebook Fans

May 15, 2012
by Leigh Ann Otte

Are your Facebook page updates trickling into oblivion? As you may already know, the less often your fans engage with you, the less often they see your posts, thanks to an algorithm introduced last year. Boo!

But this ugly turn of events has prompted some businesses to get creative—and made for some lively pages. Sure, there are the typical go-to like-me posts: inspirational quotes, customer testimonials, article links, discount offers. Nothing wrong with those. But there are also more interesting ways to inspire engagement.

Here are my top-10 tips for new ways to engage your Facebook fans.

10. Ask for advice. People love sharing advice, so ask for it! It doesn’t have to be for you personally; it could be for your fans. For example, the Editorial Freelancers Association posted, “Tell us how you make working alone work for you without feeling too cut off from the outside world.”

9. Teach your language. Do your readers struggle with your industry’s jargon? Post definitions they’ll appreciate. China Highlights even teaches useful Chinese phrases on its page.

8. Inspire creativity. Sprinkles Cupcakes asked fans which flavor described their personality and offered up a giveaway of a dozen cupcakes as an enticement. Who could resist? The update received 840 comments, 587 likes and 30 shares (with over 351,000 fans). From other companies, I’ve also seen creativity-inspiring posts that asked fans to caption a picture. Granted, these challenges are more involved than I’d normally recommend; they require fans to work at an answer. But they can make for fun giveaway challenges, and you can go simpler for an everyday post.

7. Go blank. Fill-in-the-blank posts are easy and fun for fans. Here’s an example from Savoring Your Sixties: “FILL IN THE BLANK: Today I’m feeling good about ___________.”

6. Pander to the CCD (cutesie common denominator). Go on, post a cute picture. You don’t need a reason. On tax day, Zappos posted one of a puppy licking a turtle. “Forget taxes, we declare today Cute Puppy Day,” they said. “Flood Facebook with cute puppies!” They got 480 likes and 47 shares (of about 245,000 fans).

5. Make an inside joke. Have special fans? Make ‘em feel that way. Post things they’ll uniquely relate to, like The Introvert Entrepreneur’s picture of a fortune that reads, “For people who like peace and quiet: a phoneless cord.”

4. Promote through interaction. When Panda Express was promoting its new Peppercorn Shrimp, it could have just told people it was good. Instead, it got the fans themselves to say why the dish was tasty, with a poll that asked, “What’s your favorite ingredient in Panda Express’ new Peppercorn Shrimp?”

3. Make ‘em cheer. What do your fans love, besides you? Entertainment Weekly tapped into its fans’ passions by posting brief breaking-news updates when cult-favorite television shows were renewed.

2. Engage their brains. Merriam-Webster doesn’t just define terms, it challenges its words-loving audience to use them, like with this simple Mother’s Day post: “How would you describe your mom, in a single word?”

1. Go local. If you’re targeting fans in a certain region, you have a ton of options. Just take your camera for a spin. For most of its posts, Fisher Honda Kia, in Colorado, forgets about cars and engages its audience in local fashion—like this post challenging fans to name the springtime flowers pictured.

Bonus tip: Pit your fans against each other! I’m halfway kidding. But in a just-for-fun poll this month, The Survival Doctor (my dad’s blog, which I consult on) asked fans to vote on two photos by liking whichever they preferred to illustrate a certain post. Altogether, the photos got 44 likes. (The Survival Doctor had about 1,460 fans when the poll was posted.)

After all these ideas, I do have one “don’t” recommendation: Don’t ask fans to like your posts just to show support. At least don’t do it too often. It may inspire some likes, but it’ll also inspire some eye rolls if overdone—maybe even, after a while, some unfans or hides. And wouldn’t that just be a bummer after all this?

Leigh Ann Otte is a freelance writer and an expert in writing for the Internet. Her specialties include health, long-term care and aging issues.

5 Grammar Myths That Will Ruin Your Day

March 2, 2012
by Leigh Ann Otte

Break out the party hats and toss the confetti; National Grammar Day is coming!

The official date is March 4 (Sunday), but I say this fine subject deserves a whole weekend of hoopla. To kick things off, let’s go myth bustin’. I gotta warn you, though, this may be the start to a bad day. The thing is, I’m going to guess that most people believe at least some of these myths are true. So most people will soon be realizing they’ve been steadfastly sticking to rules they didn’t need to. But look at it this way: Your writing is now freee!

You can find a lot of grammar-myths lists, but my favorite is “Top Ten Grammar Myths” by Mignon Fogarty, a.k.a., Grammar Girl. Here’s my take on five common ones, which she includes:

  1. Myth: You shouldn’t start a sentence with however, but or and.
    Fact: As long as you write a complete sentence, starting with a conjunction is A-OK.
  2. Myth: You should never use passive voice. (Passive: “A ball was thrown.” Active: “A boy threw a ball.”)
    Fact: Passive voice isn’t wrong, and it’s even useful if you don’t know who did the action. Just don’t overuse it.
  3. Myth: If someone asks, “How are you,” it’s incorrect to answer, “I’m good.”
    Fact: Not only is it correct, but Grammar Girl says some grammarians prefer it unless you’re talking about your health.
  4. Myth: Splitting infinitives (to go, to see, to do) is a no-no.
    Fact: It’s perfectly OK to brazenly split. (See what I did there?)
  5. Myth: Ending a sentence with a preposition is a no-no.
    Fact: To, at, in, up and all the other prepositions end sentences just fine, as long as they’re not redundant. (“Where are you going to?” is redundant.)

Grammar Girl’s post explains the facts in more detail and includes five additional myths you’ve probably heard. Are you taken aback, or did you already know all this?

Have a wonderful National Grammar Day weekend. Celebrate your writing freedom—now in more ways than one!

Surviving Disasters and Starting Blogs

October 22, 2011
by Leigh Ann Otte

I’m excited to be consulting on a new blog called The Survival Doctor. It’s do-it-yourself survival medicine for disasters and the like. Cool idea, huh? The writer, who happens to be my wonderful father, is a family doctor.

3 Quick Tips for Starting a Blog:

  • If you’re looking for a customizable WordPress theme, consider Atahualpa, which he’s using. It has many options that are relatively easy to work with.
  • Need ideas for your first few posts? Think of them as the base of a pyramid. Write about general topics that will be helpful to link back to later. My dad has written a few of these—for example, “Arteries Vs. Veins: How to Tell the Difference and Stop the Bleeding.” He links to it in other posts about wounds.
  • Learn the art of the nut graf. It’s one little paragraph that can make the difference between readers zoning out and reading on with interest.

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Leigh Ann Otte is a freelance writer and an expert in writing website articles. Her specialties include health, long-term care and aging issues. Contact her at la [at] lawordsmith [dot] com.

The Peanut Butter Post

October 11, 2011
by Leigh Ann Otte

I got to play in the kitchen for this week’s MyFamilyDoctorMag.com blog post. If you know me, you’ve already predicted that that turned out interesting. If you don’t know me, you can get a clue from the title: “What NOT to Do When Making Your Own Peanut Butter.”

My posts have gotten more and more personal on that site—different from what I usually do for clients. It’s fun to incorporate life experiences every once in a while.

I had a client ask me this week about how personal blog posts should be. I may blog about that at some point. It was a good question. How personal are your posts?

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Leigh Ann Otte is a freelance website-article writer and blogger. Her specialties include health, long-term care and aging issues. She’s a journalist at heart, a former magazine editor and, in her own mind, a famous actress with 10 miniature dogs all dressed in tutus.

My New Blog

October 4, 2011
by Leigh Ann Otte

They say the cobbler’s children have no shoes. Well, neither does this cobbler. I’m too busy writing and blogging for clients that I have no time for my own blog! A good problem to have, I admit.

But I would like to keep folks up-to-date on my latest writing projects, so I’m starting this little blog. I plan to post no more than once a week—maybe even once a month—because it’s more of a newsletter/blog meld.

So, if you’d like to hear from me periodically, please subscribe. (See the box to the right.) I’ll not bug you too much, and you might find some downright interesting articles to read in the meantime.