Social Media Engagement: What Is It & How To Increase It
Most companies understand that a social media presence is vital to any brand, but many underestimate the significance of engagement. Social media engagement encapsulates the likes, shares, comments, views, and any other interaction with your brand on various platforms. Its engagement rate is typically calculated by adding up these interactions and dividing by your total number of followers.
Engagement offers businesses valuable insights into their target market such as how they can improve their product/service, what about the brand interests them, and what information customers want to learn about the company. Maintaining a high engagement rate across social media platforms is essential because it communicates to prospective customers that your business is doing something right. But how do businesses achieve meaningful engagement? Find out how with these helpful hints!
Use Images/Videos
HubSpot couldn’t have put it better when they stated that “Visual assets are the single biggest content contributor” when it comes to social media. In fact, Twitter reports that tweets with photos average a 35% increase in retweets. So, if you weren’t using images and video in your posts before, you should be now. Furthermore, the search for social media stock images has skyrocketed, causing overlap in company social media content. We recommend curating custom images and graphics to differentiate your brand from the clutter.
Be Personal
Have you noticed on your personal Instagram feed that selfies get more engagement than food and nature pictures? The scientific reasoning behind that trend is because as humans, we are social creatures and naturally attracted to images with human faces. Social media posts with faces show personality and humanize brands. Try featuring pictures of employees, clips of happy customers, or your CEO at a volunteer event -anything to remind your followers that your business consists of real people just like them. Another way to be personal through social media is to engage with your audience. Respond to questions on Facebook, compose timely tweets, and give those Instagram comments a Like. Your customers will appreciate the authenticity, and you’ll love the increased social media engagement that follows.
Image courtesy of Twitter
Give Users An Inside Look
What goes on inside the office? Does your company celebrate Fun Days like us? A great way to give your audience an inside look and boost social media engagement is by posting to your story. In addition to posting pictures, Facebook and Instagram stories are great tools for introducing new products and showing fans what happens behind the scenes. Stories can also communicate a sense of exclusivity to your social media followers while giving them the feeling that they’re a part of the bigger picture.
Ask Questions
Posting polls and asking questions is an easy way to boost your engagement rate because it satisfies your audience’s need to be heard. Posing questions makes your followers feel like your company genuinely cares about their opinions and concerns. Furthermore, it provides valuable insights about your target market that can sway future marketing decisions. Keep in mind that these kinds of posts only perform well with large followings because more followers produce more opportunities to participate. Mix up your posts with silly questions too to stay personal and maintain your brand’s unique voice.
Post At The Right Time
Most people check their social media accounts on weekdays, often during work hours. To achieve maximum engagement, you’ll want to post content between 9 am and 5 pm when people are scrolling through their feeds. However, this can be difficult if you’re already preoccupied with other business functions. We suggest creating a social media content calendar to keep your posts organized and fresh.
Image courtesy of Sprout Social
Use Variety
Variety is the spice of life -even on social media! Test different strategies to see what posts get the most engagement, and keep in mind what platform you’re using too. Customers often use Facebook for education, Twitter for entertainment, and Instagram for inspiration. Post photographs, use custom graphics, create polls, and tell stories to maintain your audience’s interest and watch your engagement rate soar!
We’re experts at creating original, high-quality social media content. Contact us today to learn more about our graphic design and social media management services.
