How to Boost Social Media Engagement

Are you struggling to get your content shared on social media? A lack of organic engagement could be due to social media algorithms or the way your content is displayed to your followers, but it could also indicate a problem with your strategy. The greatest measure of social media success is an engaged audience, constant monitoring is highly recommended because it offers some of the most relatable information regarding the audience’s interests in your messages.

Grow Your Following

Engagement is a numbers game. The more followers you have, the more interactions you’ll see on your social media posts. However, remember that not just any follower is enough to increase engagement. You need quality followers who are interested in your brand and interact meaningfully with your social media content. Doing so will not only increase engagement, but may even convert followers into customers.

Be Authentic

90% of customers say authenticity is important when deciding which companies to like and support. So one of the best ways to increase engagement on social media is to be more original. Find a voice in social media marketing that embodies your brand, and stick with it while interacting with your online audience. Most users like funny content that they share, comment on, or like. Honesty and humor can be used as a tactic to improve. Whether it’s admitting mistakes or communicating your company’s values, honesty goes a long way earning your audience’s trust and keeping them engaged with your brand online.

Practice Proactive Engagement

A proactive social media engagement strategy requires that you start the conversation. Fortunately, 85% of consumers are willing to take action online, making social media a great opportunity for brands to engage with their audiences on a daily basis. Active engagement includes

Moderating brand groups with active forums
Creating and following brand-related hashtags
Creating social media stories with link stickers, filters and Instagram polls
Collaborating on Instagram scrolls
Organizing “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) sessions.
Responding to indirect social mentions
Creating posts with open-ended questions

Responding to Followers

Conversations require input from both sides, and social media interactions are no different. Responding to inbound mentions, comments, and direct messages shows that your brand cares about your followers and is interested in continuing the conversation. As a result, you’ll get more mentions, comments, and direct messages. When you reply to your followers, make sure you respond to both positive and negative comments. You can also direct the conversation to DMs for a more responsive and personal interaction.

Share Engaging Content

Creating unique and relevant content is not only a great strategy to attract new followers, but also to engage existing followers. Follow the 80/20 rule when creating content for your social media channels. This means that 80% of your social media posts should inform, entertain, or help your followers solve their problems, and the remaining 20% should directly promote your business. This way, you can focus on creating high-quality content that your audience will like.

Create Effective Posts

When it comes to sharing content on social media, it’s useful to know the structure of posts on social media. No matter how unique your content is, if the headline isn’t engaging, no one will read it. In fact, eight out of ten people only read the headline of a post, so a good headline is a crucial factor for engagement. In addition, you need a powerful call to action (CTA) to get people to take action, such as visiting your website or entering a sweepstakes.

Use Hashtags Strategically

Hashtags make it easier for your target audience to find your social media channels and content: On some platforms like LinkedIn and Instagram, users can follow hashtags. This means they can join an ongoing conversation and get noticed by other users in addition to their followers. By using a combination of popular and branded hashtags, you can gain more followers and increase engagement with your content on social media.

Use Imagery

The viewers have about three seconds to grab your attention when they scroll through social media before moving on to the next post in their feed. Visual content such as videos, photos, and infographics are likely to stand out in the feed and grab followers’ attention, which can lead to higher overall engagement. For example, video posts on Twitter get 10 times more engagement while image posts on Facebook get 2.3 times more engagement. Look for opportunities to incorporate more visual posts into your social media content calendar.

Keep a Posting Schedule

The timing and frequency of posts on social media can impact engagement. Your posting schedule should be based on when your audience is most active online and what platforms you use. Of course, there is a general “sweet spot” for social media posting frequency: three to seven times per week for Instagram, once to twice per day for Facebook, and once to five times per day for Twitter. However, you should track audience metrics and adjust accordingly to target your followers when they are online.

Cross-Promote Content

If you’re struggling to engage your existing audience on social media, you can expand your reach by collaborating with other content creators. Cross-promotion on social media is a great way to reach audiences in other channels and grow your following. You can partner with other businesses that have a similar audience to yours, or work with influencers to gain new followers and engagement.

Organize Contests on Social Media

Running a contest or giveaway on social media is a great way to get people talking and interacting. Giveaways are a short-term promotion that can create buzz, increase your social media reach, generate new leads, and increase sales for your business. Contests on social media should be designed to offer prizes that viewers want and encourage engagement with the content, such as following, liking, sharing, commenting and tagging. For example, run a contest on Instagram and ask participants to follow the main account and refer their friends to win prizes.