There’s no easier way to reach a massive audience than social media. With billions of users and potential customers around the world, it’s almost irresponsible not to have your brand present on social media. But just having an Instagram account isn’t enough—you need an engaging social media presence that will stand out among your competitors and give your viewers a reason to follow you and engage with your product or service.
Increasing your social media engagement isn’t as intuitive as you might think. It’s important to understand what viewers are looking for as you craft your social media message, and the following tips can make all the difference!
1. Be Active
One of the easiest, and yet most important, parts of managing a healthy social media engagement is maintaining a good level of activity across all your platforms. Any company can have a social media account, but if that social media is never updated, your viewers will quickly take note. If your social media goes months without an update, your viewers will assume the information on it is out of date. They won’t bother following your account, since they’ll assume there won’t be anything new to see anytime soon.
Active social media is crucial, but it’s also important to keep your engagement balanced. Don’t go so far on the other end of the spectrum that you’re posting on social media multiple times a day, or viewers may quickly get exasperated with you dominating their feed and unfollow your account!
2. Engage
Just like regular posts are important to your social media accounts, so is regular engagement. Social media is designed around communication, so don’t miss out on the opportunity to speak with your audience and potential customers. When you get feedback on your posts, make a real effort to respond to as many good-faith posts as possible. People will take note that social media is a good way to communicate with your brand, and engagement will increase as a result.
In your social media posts, throw out calls to action. Let your viewers know that you’re willing to answer questions and that you monitor your social media accounts regularly. Viewers will respect your openness, and you’ll experience the benefits of good dialogue with your customers as well.
3. Give Your Followers an Edge
Viewers will be much more likely to follow and engage with your social media accounts when you give them a concrete reason to. Try using social media to offer exclusive discounts or contests with prizes for the winner. The first benefit here is that it’s much easier to submit photos, blurbs or videos for small contests through the social media interface. The second is that once word starts spreading that there are unique discounts and benefits to be had through social media engagement, the more followers you will gain!
If people can see that there are real, regular benefits to following you on social media, they’ll not only follow you but pay closer attention to your posts.
4. Develop Your Voice
When you think of companies and businesses that have memorable, popular social media accounts, they will almost certainly have something in common: a distinct voice. Whether you want your business to be known for being lighthearted and funny or a serious expert in your field, you can make that voice a reality through your social media presence. Decide what you want your voice to be, and write your posts and design your photos accordingly.
Bland, voiceless posts will quickly become just part of the background. If you want your accounts to stand out, hone in on the tone you want to convey. To do this effectively, it’s important to know your audience. Appeal to what they want and expect from your product (humor? Powerful aesthetics? To-the-point facts?) and you’ll see an increase in engagement among your desired audience soon.
5. Use Tools
Even if you follow all of the above tips, it can be hard to know exactly what effect your changes have had on your social media engagement. Take advantage of all the tools at your disposal to make sure your efforts are working! There are many different types of analytic services that can measure your engagement and let you know which audiences you’re succeeding with, as well as which populations aren’t paying attention to your posts.
As well as analytic tools, there are services available that can help you improve your social media aesthetics, prevalence, and even your written posts. If you continuously struggle with certain aspects of social media engagement, take advantage of all the resources at your disposal. A little expertise can go a long way towards improving your social media engagement.
At Greenstone Media, our motto is to help businesses grow with effective digital marketing. Let one of our social media experts guide your social media in the right direction. Give us a call today!
