So many social media experts recommend engaging with your audience, but there aren’t a lot of tips and tricks out there that teach you exactly how to do this.  Social media engagement isn’t some kind of secret that the world is keeping from you.  Social media engagement IS a measurement for how much your audience interacts with your content.  This is also something you can increase, and it will help you start to define and narrow down the types of posts that work well for your business.  It will also help you get more followers and increase the amount of business you get from online interactions.  

Tips for Increasing Social Media Engagement

There isn’t an exclusive list of engagement that can happen with your social media, especially since there are a variety of different platforms, tools, and options.  The idea is to increase the amount of interaction with your posts, your profile, messages, mentions and more.  You’ll want to increase the number of people who visit your page and click on buttons.  You’ll also want to increase interaction with your posts, how many people comment, like, and share them.  Lastly, you’ll want to work on interactions with other pages, for example how many times other people mention your page, or comment on those mentions.  

Step 1:  Analyze What?

The first step in increasing engagement is knowing how to monitor engagement.  Most social media networks allow you to view metrics and analytics.  Make sure you look at each of these pages and understand the information they’re telling you.  When you have a successful post, what made it successful?  Can you continue to make similar posts?  

Step 2:  Audience

You’ll also need to understand your audience.  When you first created your business, you had an ideal snapshot of who your ideal customer is, and you created a brand that appealed to them.  Stay on brand with your posts, and always keep your audience in mind.  This includes the content you create, as well as the best times to post on social media.  If you’re a B2B company, you’ll want to post on LinkedIn, and you’ll want to do it during the workday.  If own/operate a bar, you’ll want to post to Instagram, and you’ll want to do it later in the evening.  

Step 3:  What is “Engaging”

To put it simply, you want posts that are going to stand out, and make your ideal customer stop scrolling and look at your post.  The three most engaging types of social content are short videos, images, and live videos.  Customers also like authentic posts such as customer testimonials that highlight the product or service for the brand.  Check out your analytics to see which posts have already been successful, and continue to post these.  

Step 4:  Like, Comment, and Share!

When it comes to the phrase, “Don’t forget to like, comment, and share” it is time to recognize that this is over-used.  Instead of asking for people to advertise your business for you, create posts that they want to share.  See step 3 for more information…

Step 5:  Remember When to Post

You’ll want to figure out how many times during the week and what time during the day seems to work best for your audience.  Try a few posts at different times during the day and see which ones work best.  Many businesses will tell you that posting at least once a day, if not more, is best, but you don’t have to post on the weekend if your analytics tell you that no one pays attention to those posts.  

Tips and Tricks For Engagement

While you are setting up your account, posting, and watching your analytics, you’ll want to try a few different posts to see how they work.  Here are a few different types of posts that may inspire you and kick off more engagement with your audience.  

  • Host a giveaway with another company
  • Create a Flash Sale – with a message that creates “fear of missing out”
  • Tell a story with a short video
  • Connect with personal stories – if you’re a costume shop for dogs, show a photo of your doggo in an outfit!  
  • Humor is always a great way to connect

Engage Every Day!

At Annek Marketing Group, our goal is to help businesses just like yours get more engagement and followers so that you can do more of what you do best.  We are here to help, regardless of whether you need tips, tricks and advice, or if you need someone to do it for you.  If you have a brand, we’re here to create the Buzz!  Contact us today to learn more about how we can help.