How to increase social media engagement
Aleksandra Kozioł
How to increase social media engagement
Aleksandra Kozioł
Running an online business requires reaching your target audience and engaging it in conversation (or any other interaction) with your brand. However, social media engagement is a difficult game that requires a well-thought-out strategy and some persistence. Read on to see how to boost social media engagement and get more followers, as well as traffic flowing through your social media platforms and website.
When it comes to social media engagement, numbers are clearly against you. Let's consider Facebook posts as an example. According to this platform's data, there are one billion Stories shared every day across the Facebook family of apps. And then, we have posts, comments, and pictures - all of them counted in billions daily.
This means that your content has bigger and bigger competition every day. In other words, it is less likely for other people to see it if they are not your followers (and even then, it's not guaranteed to reach all followers you have regularly).
On the other hand, no social media platform has any interest in boosting organic (free) content. All social media channels have to make money, so they want to encourage people to buy ads to reach more social media users.
Back in 2014, Statista published a chart showing that Facebook is clearly cutting organic reach. Today, the situation is similar, and Facebook is not the only exception. The reason is obvious: Improving social media engagement comes with a price tag.
In this post, we want to show you eight different techniques for engaging on social media. We hope they will help you create better social media posts and tweak your social media strategy. Let's get down to the details.
Understand your social media platforms
You can't think of social media as one unified ecosystem. Different social media platforms have different requirements and audiences.
With almost 3 billion MAUs (monthly active users), it's your must-have. Facebook is one of the biggest marketplaces, social media platforms, online communities, and search engines. That’s why having a Facebook page is extremely helpful, especially if you want to target the 35-44 demographic group.
About 2 billion people use Instagram. Because it’s owned by Facebook, it has access to the same extensive advertising platform. However, there are major differences. Instagram is based primarily on visual communication. So you’ll need lots of high-quality, interesting pictures to conquer this community. Instagram stories and reels are also very popular and will help you gain better exposure.
YouTube
Did you know that YT is the second largest search engine on the web, only surpassed by Google? With hundreds of hours of video content uploaded daily, this is a very good place to advertise your business. Google owns YouTube, so it comes with many advertising options. A majority of them are available through your Google Ads account, but you need a YT profile as well. YouTube videos will help you get to millions of potential customers, but, as always, you need a good strategy to increase engagement.
TikTok
TikTok is now available in over 140 countries and has over 1 billion active users monthly. Regardless of what you think about this social media platform, its role shouldn't be neglected, especially if you want to reach a younger audience. TikTok is all about creating and sharing short and engaging video content in the form of stories or clips. TikTok says this platform is all about entertainment, and that's what its users are looking for.
To sum this part up, each social media platform requires separate social media engagement ideas and strategies. Copy-paste doesn't really work here. Now, let's see how you can drive social media engagement.
Increasing social media engagement: Universal ideas
Of course, a lot depends on your marketing strategy and business profile, but there are some universal techniques that will help you improve social media engagement in your business. Let's have a look at them.
Post frequently
You need to create a social media content calendar. Otherwise, you will have a hard time deciding what to publish and when. Social media is a never-sleeping world; you need to schedule posts and publish them on your social media profiles regularly, at least two times a week. Posting content regularly will help you get better exposure among current and potential followers.
Create relevant content
Creating relevant posts is also crucial. Post only engaging social media posts that you feel are right for your business. Don't publish funny cat videos if your company is about something totally different. As everywhere, you don't need to drive everyone to your profile. You need to get to people and companies potentially interested in working with you or buying something from you. That's why your social media accounts should be built around your business idea and profile. Let every social media post show what your business is about.
Enable user-generated content (UGC)
Everyone wants to be heard. With UGC, you can increase customer loyalty and build more meaningful customer relationships. Encourage people to post on your profile and engage in conversation with them. How can you do so? Things to consider comprise:
Social media polls
Informing about every blog post and asking for comments about them
Replying to every comment you receive
Sharing customer posts
Participating in Facebook groups (in some sectors, they are still very active and popular)
Adding social media links to your website and blog
Additionally, every time someone likes, comments, or shares your content, invite them to follow your profile. Usually, they will do so very quickly.
Focus on video
We live in times of visual communication. People prefer to watch and listen than to read. Video works with all social channels, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and other social media accounts. Try creating (and promoting) more videos on your profile, and see how it affects social engagement metrics. Of course, it all starts with a good idea and execution. Boring, too long, or poor-quality videos won't get you far.
Videos and clips can also be used to cross-promote content (for instance, a TikTok video can easily become a Facebook story). Then, you have the live video option, which is useful when it comes to Q&A sessions, webinars, and online training.
If you have a really good video that you want to show to everyone entering your profile, you can pin it and make it a featured video. It's a good way to get more views.
Use relevant hashtags
Each platform has its own hashtags that indicate what's trending. Adding relevant hashtags can help you reach new users looking for a specific type of content. They are especially important on TikTok. This platform enables you to view currently trending hashtags on their desktop website. You can find them in the "Discover" section beneath suggested accounts:
It's a good indication of what you should focus on to get more followers.
Distinguish yourself and focus on your followers
It may sound like a cliche, but that's crucial for social media engagement. People want to interact with live and interesting brands. Don't water down your presence online. Be bold, be memorable, and make sure you have something beneficial to say. Again, you need a good strategy to build and optimize your brand presence, but when you achieve that - you will get many valuable and engaged fans.
Remember - people are on social media for themselves, not for you. Talk about things that interest your target audience. Show them how to solve their problems, answer their needs, and show how you can make their life better. That's what it's about.
Publish practical content
Experiment with the following forms of social media posts:
Tutorials and recipes
Interviews with influencers and experts in your niche
How-to posts
Q&A sessions and posts
Checklists and TOP lists
Industry news
This way, you will become a valuable source of information, and that's one of many things people are looking for on social media. In a study published by Oberlo, almost 60% of respondents said they use Facebook to keep up to date with news and current events. Don't underestimate this potential:
If you want to trigger more engagement, make sure your posts:
Are interesting and to the point
Use high-quality images
Ask followers to share their opinions
Include clear CTA
Understand your target audience and publish for them
There are several social media and third-party tools that will help you get more insights about your target audience. Use these insights and social metrics to understand:
What are your followers' problems/needs?
What are their interests?
What are they interested in?
What are they looking for in your product?
This way, it will be easier to catch their attention and create content that checks all the right boxes. Remember - random fans do no good for your business.
When you know which posts are the most engaging ones, you can focus on them and create similar content in the future. You can also create a poll and ask followers what kind of content they would like to see in the future on your profile.
These eight techniques are usually effective, but sometimes your current situation makes it extremely difficult to make the most of them. This is the case when you:
Have just started
Are not comfortable with managing social media accounts
Let's have a look at these two scenarios.
What if you've just started and you don't have many followers?
This question has caused many sleepless nights to thousands of people and companies that wanted to join the social media network. You've selected relevant social media channels and created necessary social media accounts, but there's no one to like your posts or engage in conversation with you. What now? The answer is two-fold.
First off, you need to saturate your accounts with content. Of course, creating content when there's no one to read it might seem silly, but no one will be eager to like or follow an empty account, correct? So make sure your profile is well-organized and filled with interesting content. Publish at least several posts before you go to the next step.
Secondly, you need to start advertising your profile. You can do so using all available marketing channels, including Facebook/Instagram Ads and other marketing tools for specific social media platforms. We have to be upfront here; in 2023, it's extremely difficult to start a brand new social media account with no budget at all. It's not impossible, but it surely is very difficult. If you want to get the first results quickly, you need to invest in advertising on selected social platforms.
What if you still can't succeed with social media engagement?
We can't stress that enough - in 2023, digital marketing will be difficult and time-consuming. If you struggle with improving your social media interactions, perhaps it's a good sign that you should start working with a digital marketing agency or freelancer. Such companies and consultants have vast experience and a lot of creativity. They can help you increase brand awareness and launch more meaningful social campaigns.
Add push notifications to the mix
Push notifications can help you increase social media engagement, especially when you're running an active business with many customers. For example, you can encourage your web push subscribers to follow your brand through this channel. This solution is quick and effective.
Content Specialist @PushPushGo
Editor and writer. She is interested in media and new technologies.
