Like it or not, you need to improve your social media engagement.
Social media engagement is a term we use for when people interact with content or profiles on social media. But why should you care?
You could say that social media engagement is one of the most vital elements of a successful social media presence.
Social platforms use engagement levels to rank your content. The better your ranking, the more people they will show your content to.
In this article, we’ll explore 10 ways you can reach your audience with engaging tactics that will work throughout your social media strategy.
1. Use Video
Video is by far one of the most engaging content types on social media today. One-third of online activity is spent watching videos and more than four billion video views take place on Facebook every day. There’s no doubting video’s popularity.
If you’re looking to capture attention video does a great job of it. It’s also thought that certain social platforms rank it higher than static content. Meaning you’re more likely to appear at the top of your followers’ news feeds. BambooHR does this exceptionally well with their point of view style videos on Facebook.
2. Ask Questions
Don’t expect interactions if you don’t encourage them in the first place. Asking genuine questions with your social media posts can be a great way to encourage people to give more than just a double tap.
Engagement metrics rank differently, and comments suggest that you’ve provided more value to someone than if they were just “liking” your post. Ask questions, earn a comment and rank higher on news feeds.
3. Use Hashtags
The jury is often out on hashtags. You need a hashtag strategy if you’re looking for pure reach metrics such as:
- reach
- impressions
- likes
- comments
However, if you’re after saves, shares, and direct messages–higher converting metrics–then hashtags are not necessarily what you need to focus on. You’ll want to focus your social efforts elsewhere.
4. Share Quizzes for Social Media Engagement
If you’re really looking to get more social media interactions than sharing engaging quizzes are an innovative way of getting there. Build a quiz that’s relevant to your brand, educational on your product and does not come across as sales material.
By doing this you’ll give your social media followers a powerful brand experience. That gives them a reason to engage with you as well as leaves your business at the top of their minds.
5. Community Manage
This tip is often overlooked yet can see any social channel reap great rewards. Social media cannot be a one-way street. You can’t expect someone to interact with your content if you don’t do the same with their efforts.
Keep your interaction rates high by responding to those that comment on your posts. Like the content of those people that engage with your content the most and make sure you’re quick to respond to messages and DM’s.
Show people that you care and are thankful for the time they’ve put in to engage with you.
6. Capture Attention
There’s no denying that there’s a lot of content on social media. There are 500 million Instagram stories uploaded daily, alone. If you want to stand out and earn more social media interactions on any account then you’ll need to get creative.
Make sure you’re creating content that is not only answering trends but ahead of them. Lead the way with visual work and aim to stop thumbs. The engagement comes as a secondary factor to that.
7. Stay True to Your Brand
Social Media Interactions are won by having a positive brand affinity. To do this, you need to build a brand that people can trust and people can associate with.
Backtrack to your mission and vision. Is it something others can relate to? If so, how can you share your efforts toward your vision on social media?
Once you’ve identified this, stay true to your efforts and remind your followers of your progress.
To whatever extent, your followers are on your journey with you. Let them hold you accountable; they’ll begin to encourage your efforts and celebrate your victories with you.
8. Stay Topical
Popular culture and topical news events are great conversation starters. If you’re looking to create conversations then pick relevant topics. They’re at the forefront of people’s minds and people are often looking for a platform to discuss their opinion on.
What your brand needs to decide is where you stand on certain events. Don’t let these events distract you from your mission but certainly build on them if they help you achieve your mission.
Also, don’t let these events reveal the personality or opinions of your social media team; despite how close to heart they may be. Your social platforms are always your brand’s voice, no one else’s. Defining a tone of voice guidelines and brand bible will help you stay topical and on-brand.
9. Support Social
In order to get your social media platforms on the radar, you need to let people know where you’re active. Look at how your other content avenues can support your social media platforms.
Consider sharing CTA’s that encourage people to follow your business on social media. You can do this in your newsletters or email signatures, implement social sharing and following buttons on your blog content.
Try to create campaigns that encourage followings from one social channel to visit another one of your channels as well as encouraging your readers to share your posts.
Let all of your content support each other.
10. Reach Out
This is something that, if you have the time for, can set you apart from your competition.
Get to know your community. Use social media analysis platforms to identify your most engaging social media followers. Understand what they are like as people, what they enjoy and identify why they are relating to your brand so strongly.
If you share content that is relevant to your biggest social media fans then be sure to tag them in the posts. Let them know you thought of them.
Going this extra mile can create loyal brand ambassadors. Those ambassadors will propel you towards those all-important social media interactions goals that you’ve set. Do this and you can keep excelling on all platforms.
Wrapping Up on Social Media Interaction
To grab the attention of your audience you can’t just post static content and expect engagement. You need a strategy in place to capture their attention using different content formats such as quizzes and video.
It’s not a one-way street. If you want your brand to shine you need to be reactive by encouraging engagement too. Everyone likes to be thought of so try liking and commenting on your followers posts and you’ll soon see some return love!
Remember to keep your tone of voice consistent with followers and don’t send them confusing messaging.
People need to recognize what you stand for. This is an important part of your brand personality. When you spark a connection with someone, they’ll stay a brand ambassador for life.
Try out some of the tips outlined in this post today to improve your social media engagement and grow your target audience.
