Introduction

If you’re a business looking to grow your brand, one of the best ways to do so is through social media engagement. But what does that mean, exactly? Engagement refers to likes, comments, shares, tags, and other functions of the various platforms. It’s a clear indicator that you’re making moves in the market and establishing yourself as a brand—which can help with the overall growth of your business.

Think of engagement like a conversation: when everyone involved is contributing, listening and responding it evolves into an enjoyable experience for everyone involved. If only one person is speaking (or posting), it just becomes annoying to those who aren’t interested. Your social media strategy is the conversation; it only works if others are involved otherwise you’re just making noise that no one responds to.

But why is this important? Many businesses forget that social media platforms are meant for interaction—and people don’t use them just to be marketed to. People go there to interact with others (to be entertained, unwind or discover new things). This is why if you don’t have a strategy catered to your target audience, you won’t get the engagement you’re looking for.

A lack of organic engagement could be caused by social media algorithms and how your content is being shown to followers. It could also be pointing to an issue with your social media strategy. If you’re looking to get your social media audience interactions back on track, give some of these social media engagement tactics a try:

Crafting Effective Posts

Social media posts don’t have to be complicated. In fact, the simpler your post is, the more likely it is to get noticed. Knowing how to write good social media posts can be a deciding factor for engagement and conversion rates.

The Anatomy of a Social Media Post

Headlines: Every social media post should have a strong headline that will help engage your audience and get them interested in reading the rest of your post. Headlines should be short and catchy, with a clear call-to-action that encourages people to click through or sign up for something (such as a giveaway). If you want your audience to take further action when engaging with your social media post—such as clicking through to your website or signing up for a giveaway—you’ll need strong calls-to-action (CTAs).

Body: The body of your post should include any relevant information about the subject matter of your post, such as links or images that support what you are saying in the body of the post. You should also include any relevant hashtags or topics so that people can easily find other related content if they want more information on those subjects later on down the road.

Good Proactive Engagement

Marketing has changed a lot in the past decade. It used to be that you could just buy a billboard, put an ad on television, or print some brochures. Nowadays, though, people expect more from brands—they want to feel like you’re listening and responding to them personally. That’s why proactive social media engagement strategies are so important for businesses today.

Social media is the perfect place to engage your audience, but it’s also a great way to connect with them before they even reach out.

There are tons of ways to do this, but one of the most effective is by being proactive—starting the conversation before they reach out to you. This means posting content on social media, and sharing links and images on Facebook groups, Reddit communities, and other platforms.

Being proactive also includes joining and posting in those same communities—and interacting with others who are interested in what you have to say. You can also create social media stories with call-to-action links and when someone posts something positive (or negative) about your company or product on social media, don’t ignore it. Instead of ignoring comments or messages from customers who may have a bad experience with your business—reach out to them directly and offer assistance.

Sharing Engaging Content

When it comes to social media marketing, the rule of thumb is 80% of your content should be relevant and helpful to your audience. This helps you build trust and rapport with potential clients, as well as engage existing ones.

When you’re creating content for your social media channels, follow the 80/20 rule—where 80% of your posts either educate, entertain, or help followers solve a problem, while the remaining 20% directly promotes your business. This will help you focus on creating quality content that people like.

Follow a Strict Post Schedule

If you’re trying to get the most out of your social media presence, there are two things you need to know:

First, the time of day matters.

Second, the frequency of your posts matters.

In general, engagement levels tend to be higher in the morning and late at night—and also because every platform has its own unique sweet spot for posting frequency. For example, if you post on Instagram three times per week, you can expect about a 5% increase in engagement compared to posting just once per day. But if you post seven times per week, those engagement levels jump up by nearly 50%.

Partnership with others

When it comes to social media, you can never have too many followers. What if your audience was twice as big? Or even ten times as big?

That’s what cross-promotion is all about. It’s a way to tap into another channel’s audience and grow your reach by using their platform.

To really leverage the power of cross-promotion, you’ll want to think about pairing up with another company with a similar audience to yours or collaborating with influencers.