7 Proven Tips to Increase Your Social Media Engagement in 2021
Social media has taken its rightful throne in the world of marketing and for a majority of businesses, social media marketing has become imperative for brand growth. If done the right way, it can boost brand awareness, generate leads, and increase company profits.
However, it is not as easy as it seems. Social media is constantly evolving, new trends emerge every day, and the preferences of people continuously change. In such a scenario, the key to victory is to build a thriving community of followers who will actively engage with your content and ultimately convert into customers.
And the way to grow an engaged community? Well, that’s what this blog is all about! Let’s delve right in and see how you can increase your social media engagement.
1. Post Regularly on All Major Social Platforms
Being consistent is the key to increasing your social media engagement. Posting once in a blue moon will not bring you results anymore. Identify all the major platforms on which your target audience is present and create a content calendar. Frequent posts on a regular basis is the only way to keep your followers interested and attract new people to your profile.
If you find it overwhelming to post daily on multiple accounts, you can ease the task with the help of a social media scheduling tool. By scheduling posts, you can make sure that all your social media profiles always stay active and in front of your target audience’s eyes. It also helps in cross-promoting your social media accounts and building brand recognition.
2. Hold Contests and Giveaways
Contests and giveaways are a great way to make people like your posts and follow your account, along with commenting and inviting other people to participate. It is one of the most popular tactics to boost social media engagement and make people interested in what your brand has to offer.
While running a contest, always ensure that you keep prizes relevant to your brand, so that your followers can eventually become your customers.
Some of the ways in which you can hold contests are:
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Caption contest: Ask people to suggest a caption for your post and the one with the most likes wins.
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Comment and tag friends: Ask people to comment on your post and tag their friends to participate in the contest.
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Share your post on stories: Ask people to engage with your post and share the contest on their stories.
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Photo contest: Ask people to upload a picture and tag your account, the one with the most likes wins.
3. Share More Video Content
For the last few years, video has become the most dominating content form on all social media channels. Whether it is Instagram reels, TikTok, or YouTube shorts, people are more interested in watching video content. Thus, if you can, try to make some form of video content for your brand. It will help you gain more exposure and reach new audiences.
As this kind of content is promoted more by the algorithms, your posts will be shown to people who don’t already follow you and might be interested in it. You can create short 15-60 seconds videos that can include tutorials, explainer videos, teasers, product information, how to use your products, timelapse, behind the scenes, production process, a fun day at work, etc.
4. Know When your Audience is Active
What’s the point of posting content when there will be no one to see or engage with it, right? For every social media platform, there are certain timings when users are most actively scrolling their feeds.
Thus, you need to be strategic about the time when each update goes live on your profile. Every social media platform provides its own analytics where you can check when your followers are the most active.
After collecting information, you can conduct A/B tests to check engagement received at different timings. If that sounds like too much work, there are tools like RecurPost to help you out. It’s a social media scheduler that lets you auto-schedule posts for the best time.
When you post at optimal timings, your content will be discovered by the maximum number of people and your engagement rates will sky-rocket.
5. Listen and Respond to your Community
Social media is all about building a strong community that believes in your brand. You need to show your human side - simply posting about your products is not going to make the cut.
Provide your followers with a fantastic user experience by responding to their questions promptly. Reply to each and every comment and DM that you receive. Even with the help of technology you can engage with your live audience.
You can also start a discussion by using interactive stories. There are multiple ways you can do this: Do a poll, host a Q&A session, ask for feedback, ask for suggestions, or publish an interview. When you make your online community feel acknowledged, they are more likely to become your social ambassadors and will bring more people to your profiles.
6. Don’t be Afraid of Being Funny
A little humor every now and then never hurts anyone. If you’re afraid that posting memes or humorous content will affect your brand image, then it’s time to know that adding a dash of humor to your feed is not only appropriate, but also helps win business. Funny content that’s relatable to your target audience is practically pure gold. It gets shared like crazy and might also go viral overnight.
Along with posting memes, you can also try following trends, if they go well with your brand image. This kind of content shows the human side behind your brand and induces a feel-good reaction.
You can try creating expressive imagery, funny videos, and clever typography. Identify your target audience’s preferences and customize your quirkiness accordingly to generate the best engagement.
7. Collaborate with Influencers
Influencer marketing has become one of the most popular tactics to raise brand awareness and reach a massive number of people in a minimum time. Search for influencers who align best with your company, product, mission, and vision. You don’t always need to collaborate with influencers that have millions of followers.
Partner up with micro and nano influencers as they tend to have a more engaged audience. When influencers promote your products, you are most likely to gain followers who are interested in your offerings and will turn into paying customers in the near future.
In a Nutshell
So these were the 7 most effective ways to increase your social media engagement. Focus on creating consistent, quality posts and share information that will attract the right people to your accounts. Stay on your toes, adapt to updates, rock some trends, and keep interacting with your target audience to stay on top of their minds!