Boosting Engagement on Social Media

The uphill climb that is obtaining genuine engagement on social media can quickly become tiresome for even the most seasoned marketing professionals. As social media platforms continuously make reaching customers organically more and more difficult, marketers must think on their feet a bit in order to stay ahead of the curve.

Gone are the days when each and every post put up by a business page was shown to all of the page’s followers. Gone are the days when businesses had no trouble gaining traction on social media, thanks to all of the tools available to improve the interactions between businesses and consumers.

Now, marketers have to find new ways to reach customers. Yes, paying for ads is usually a valuable way to spend the marketing budget, but boosting organic engagement has not lost its value. So with a bit of extra effort and creativity, businesses can improve their engagement rates on the content they’ve worked so hard to create.

There are some tips and tricks to bear in mind when creating content and working it into the social media schedule. First, let’s touch on the subject of video. Video content has become a big favorite of brands who see that consumers are consuming mobile video now more than ever. As users shift away from watching traditional television in favor of streaming services, brands are catching on to this trend and acting accordingly.

But not every video is created equal. When posting video content on social media, there are certain quality and engagement benchmarks that must be met before the platform will distribute the content to the page’s followers. Remember, the algorithm takes many factors into account when determining what content it will show.

Video content quality matters, as does past engagement data for the business page. Video content must be original and should be content that viewers are seeking out to watch. Video content should also be compelling enough to draw viewers in for at least the first minute, as this benchmark shows the platform that viewers are engaged and will, therefore, show the content to more users. On a related note, longer videos that are three minutes or longer are also typically favored by social media algorithms.

Following these parameters can help with boosting engagement. Winning the battle against the algorithm can be challenging, and it may take some testing to find out what content performs better than others.

What about other types of content? There are many ways to invite users to interact with the content a business page is posting. Consider posting content that asks the users to do something — an answer a question, vote on a poll, tag a friend — as all of these actions make up engagement.

Post content that users want to see. In order to determine this, make sure that reports that deliver insights on past performance are readily available and collected regularly. This information is highly valuable in determining the return on investment of any marketing effort.

Another simple way to boost organic engagement on social media is to set aside time periodically to interact, as the business page, with other users and other pages. A page that is active — commenting on posts, responding to replies, and sharing relevant content — will naturally see a bigger boost in the amount of its content that is shown on users’ news feeds.

Engagement is an ongoing uphill climb. As advertisers must be more creative in order to reach those coveted consumer eyes, it’s important to stay on top of the efforts to create more opportunities for engagement with users. Implementing some simple yet effective practices can go a long way to boost the organic marketing efforts of any brand.

Three Unique Ways to Boost Engagement on Social Media

Engagement is a key metric for social media. Interacting with users can have a huge effect on the success of a marketing campaign or simply the lasting power of the brand. However, engagement is also difficult to come by.

Algorithms have made it increasingly difficult for businesses to be visible in users’ news feeds on social media, especially organically (or not paid for, in other words). However, there are still ways to boost engagement on social media authentically, without sacrificing quality of content.

Boost Engagement by Starting Conversations

Starting a conversation online is simple. A brand can boost its engagement by starting conversations in two ways.

First, a brand can make a post on social media and solicit feedback. This can be something simple, such as “what is your favorite beauty routine?” for a beauty or wellness brand. Users can then add their feedback in the comments, and each comment helps organically boost the reach of that post, thereby showing it to more and more users.

Another way to start a conversation is to engage in the comments on posts and other pages. This does not include spam type of comments such as, “Hey, you look cool! Check out our page!”. No, instead interactions should be more genuine and conversational. Remember: any social media interaction should have value. Offer advice or perspective, or simply engage with a customer who is complimentary of the business.

Community is a Great Engagement Booster

Many brands are looking to privatize communications now in favor of limiting interactions solely to public pages. For example, the popular podcast, My Favorite Murder, has its own dedicated Facebook groups for fans to interact with each other and the podcast hosts. These groups are segmented by geographical area and offer an opportunity for fans to feel more like they are a part of the product.

This sense of community is an opportunity that more brands could capitalize on. Even a service provider such as a lawn care company or a spa can create community among their customers. Customers like to feel special — how can your business best fill this need for them?

Contests Done Right Can Increase Engagement

Many brands will offer up giveaways or contests for their social media followers in an attempt to gain more followers and boost engagement. This is a tried and true method, but it should still be done correctly.

Contests should be simple and not spammy. The prize should also be something worthwhile, equivalent to the effort made by the followers to enter.

Additionally, think about what the end goal of the contest is. Is the goal to add email addresses to a database? Prompt customers to make a purchase while entering? Simply gain more followers? Answer all of these questions while structuring a giveaway or contest and ensure that everything is a funnel to achieve the end goal.

Engagement is a marketing buzzword on social media, and it’s an important metric to track the success of a marketing campaign. There are several ways to boost this metric, even without a large paid advertising budget. Organic traffic is still possible, even with the tough algorithms that make it difficult to reach people. All that’s required is a bit of creativity and the time to dedicate to this concept of organic growth.