Let’s say you’re creating social media accounts for your company and started creating posts. You’ve chosen the perfect time to upload quality social media content and expect a decent result. However, over time, you found that engagement on social media isn’t great.
Now, you feel frustrated by your social media marketing strategy. You wonder what’s wrong with your social media posts. Why can’t you increase engagement on social media?
If you’re facing this situation, you’re not alone. Many businesses face the same problems. Fortunately, you can avoid such problems using social media engagement strategies.
So, do you want to implement such strategies? In this article, I will discuss how to increase social media engagement. Make sure you read this article to the end to know more.
Why social media engagement is critical?
What is social media engagement? This type of digital marketing refers to how much your audience interacts with your content. This includes likes, comments, and shares. All these actions vary from one platform to another.
For instance, on Facebook, engagement includes all interactions with a page’s posts and profile, such as messages and mentions. Here are different types of engagement:
This list isn’t complete, but it helps you understand where to start focusing your efforts. Comparing engagement over time provides a bird’s eye view and helps spot trends.
However, you need other metrics to improve and see the bigger picture. The key is to understand engagement broadly and examine the details closely.
Now that you know what social media engagement is, there is one more thing on which to focus: a proactive marketing strategy. Let’s examine this strategy and how to improve social media engagement.
What is a proactive marketing strategy?
Proactive marketing helps you get more out of your social media engagement strategy. This approach showcases that you are actively trying to connect and communicate with prospects and customers. This can create a significant competitive advantage.
For example, Nike’s proactive marketing strategy includes uplifting social content featuring sports champions. These posts indirectly promote their products and serve as open forums where customers can ask product-specific questions.
Reviewing the social conversations around Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign shows that audiences engage with the brand on various topics, including product inquiries.
This shows how even big companies like Nike must show that they care! Doing social media correctly means talking to your fans, not just waiting for them to talk to you.
Now, once you understand proactive marketing strategy, it’s time to learn how to create one for your business. There needs to be more than one approach to proactive marketing, especially on social media.
The conversations your brand can engage in are endless. That’s why creating a strategy focused on driving business value through your social media efforts is essential. Here’s how to get started:
1. Optimizing Your Social Media Team’s Capacity
Creating a proactive marketing strategy means leveling up your social media strategy. Like any new initiative, it takes time and resources.
Consider how much time your team spends on reactive engagement (responding to tags and mentions). What is your daily social media inbox volume like? If that alone is tough to manage, consider making a business case to expand your social media team.
2. Spotlighting High-Value Conversations
Use your company and department goals to decide which conversations present the biggest opportunities for your team. For example, if brand awareness is a key goal, prioritize engaging with posts from key influencers or discussions in your industry.
3. Leverage sentiment insights
Sentiment analysis can highlight customers’ emotions about your products and services on social and online channels. Examining sentiment in your social listening data can tell you the common discussion topics when people mention your brand.
Analyze this data to understand sentiment trends and the conversations driving these sentiments. This intelligence can help you construct a data-driven, proactive marketing strategy aligned with customer expectations.
For example, you could refine your content strategy, shift your ad campaigns, and personalize your customer service to proactively address customer needs and wants. The key is to take a strategic, insights-driven approach to proactive social media marketing.
After creating a strategy, you need to apply that strategy on your social media to boost engagement.
How to Increase Social Media Engagement?
After you create a proactive marketing strategy, your next step is to increase social media engagement. No matter what you think, the process is easier said than done.
You need to consider various metrics and parameters. Moreover, the process is also time-consuming. Here’s how to increase social media engagement.
1. Focus on social insights
To determine social media performance, you can check your engagement metrics on social networks. You can also use an AI social media marketing tool.
Most major social platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok have built-in analytics. It will show you likes, comments, shares, impressions, and more for each post. This allows you to see which content is resonating with your audience.
If you want a more comprehensive view of your social media performance, tools like Keyhole, Sensible, IZEA, and Sprout Social can aggregate all your engagement metrics in one place.
For example, you can see which of your Instagram posts got the most engagements in total. This includes your average engagement rate, impressions, and reach per post. This makes it easier to identify your top-performing content and understand how your audience interacts with your brand on social media.
Regularly checking your engagement metrics can gain valuable insights to inform your proactive social media strategy. Focus on the types of content and conversations that drive the most engagement, and use that knowledge to create more of what your audience loves.
2. Determine the metrics
Make sure you measure social media engagement and their meanings on each platform. This helps because the goals you set for your social media decide which stats to track. Each goal needs a specific stat to determine the effectiveness of your social media plan.
If you set clear goals for engagement, you’ll know where to put your content energy. For instance, if you want more interaction on your posts, you’ll focus on making your content more appealing. The stats related to this will show how many people engaged with your posts and what kinds of interaction they did.
3. Tailoring your strategy for social success
Remember that each social media platform has its success criteria, trends, and community standards. Therefore, adjusting your strategy to match each platform’s distinct features is essential.
With over 15 social media platforms to choose from, the temptation to join all of them is vital. However, it’s important to thoroughly research and choose the platforms that best suit your business and target audience. This brings us to our next tip.
4. Know your audience
Improving the number of people interacting with your social media content starts with knowing your target audience well. They’re the people who are most likely to be interested in what you offer.
For instance, LinkedIn might be ideal for a B2C business. It’s known for professional networking, and many B2B brands use it regularly.
Always focus on your audience when creating content and deciding when to post on social media. Everything should be geared toward what they want and when they’re most active online.
5. Create and upload compelling content
Every social media platform has its way of keeping people interested, but they also share common elements. According to data, short videos, images, and live videos are the most effective types of content for engaging users.
Consumers appreciate genuine posts, such as customer testimonials that showcase a brand’s products or services. Pay attention to which content performs best on each platform and consider whether it will appeal to your audience.
Then, use your data to see how well these posts resonate with your followers. There are many social media ideas to explore and inspiration to draw from, so don’t hesitate to be creative.
6. Create viral content
You’ve probably heard the phrase, “Don’t forget to like, comment, and share”. But there are additional strategies to boost your social media shares beyond just asking directly.
One effective approach is to focus on visual content, such as short-form videos and images, which will garner more shares. These posts can help you focus on shareability and appeal to your audience visually.
Creating shareable content is key to boosting your social media engagement. People are more inclined to share posts that they find enjoyable, inspiring, or valuable. Therefore, producing and curating content that encourages your followers to hit the share button is beneficial.
Remember, the goal is to enable a connection with your audience through content that reverberates with them. Relevant content can help you gain more shares and engagement on your social media platforms.
7. Humanize your brand
It’s much more appealing to interact with a brand when you know there’s a real person behind it. So, don’t keep it a secret—let your audience see the human side of your brand.
Here are several ways to get personal and build stronger connections with your audience:
These steps are essential. They can help you create a more engaging and personable presence that resonates with your audience.
8. Use humor
Humor can make a big impact on social media. Adding a touch of humor can grab attention, develop emotional connections, and make your brand stand out.
Emotional appeal helps prospects and customers remember and share your content and sets you apart from those who only promote themselves. Thus, you can gain a steep competitive advantage.
Plus, laughter is contagious—Robert R. Provine from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, found that humans laugh 30 times more with others than alone. So, if you can make your followers laugh, you’re also building a sense of community and strengthening connections!
9. Maintain posting frequency and timing
Understanding the ideal times to post content on social media is crucial for boosting your engagement. It involves figuring out the optimal posting times based on the platform you use and the habits of your audience. This knowledge helps you decide when to schedule your posts for maximum impact.
Equally important is knowing how frequently to post. You don’t want to overwhelm your followers with excessive content, but you also want to stay active enough to maintain visibility and engagement. According to some findings, the sweet spot for brands is typically around 1-2 daily posts.
When you find the right balance in both the timing and frequency of your posts, you can effectively manage your social media presence. You can also keep your audience engaged without inundating them. This strategic approach helps you maintain a consistent connection with your followers while maximizing the reach and impact of your content.
10. Focus on execution
Pay close attention to the execution of your social media strategy. It’s essential to regularly test, adjust, and experiment with your social media marketing trends. Social media trends and algorithms are constantly evolving, so it’s essential to adapt your strategy throughout the year.
Make it a habit to analyze your social media performance regularly. Experiment with different types of content, posting schedules, and engagement tactics to see what resonates best with your audience.
Remember, consistency and flexibility are key. Stay proactive in monitoring changes in social media platforms and consumer behaviors, and be prepared to adjust your strategy accordingly. This ongoing process of refinement and experimentation will help you optimize your social media efforts and drive greater engagement over time.
Ready to increase engagement on social media?
Social media is undoubtedly one of the best ways to boost your business’s online presence. With the right engagement tips, you can capture the attention of your target audience.
Additionally, you will get better leads, which will be converted into more sales. Thus, you can leverage the best benefits of your social media engagement strategy.
I hope now you know how to increase social media engagement. What are your thoughts on my engagement strategies? Let me know in the comments below.
