To get more engagement in social media, one has to really be an icon of something, be the best in something, the pinnacle of something. This has been true for the last couple of years. With the surge of free internet usage around the globe, people can now become Social Media Stars.
These lucky few have been blessed with the knowledge, the status and even the aesthetics to become as such. Gorgeous content, great writing, and, sometimes, the over-the-top executions of social activities like parties, travel, and even the infamous selfies. Almost every one of us now, most especially the millennial generation, has at least 3 or 4 active social media accounts; but only a few get those 10,000 double taps, 10,000 post views, or even 10,000 retweets, or even the buzzing 10,000 page views in a day.
Personal conversations to get more engagement on social media
For those who are using social media platforms that allow you to converse with someone in an instant, please do so. If you are still on your way to the top, talking to people within the niche you are in is a great way to kick start your engagement numbers. Being personal and connecting with them genuinely, even reaching out to businesses you have been admiring from a distance, can greatly help you out to get more engagement on social media. If you already have a business and have a solid following, chat with them from time to time and see how they are doing and if your products have been satisfying their needs or if they have some feedback they would like to express but feel embarrassed about.
One-on-one conversations, with a strong focus on an interaction of great quality, can get more engagement on social media. By giving time to react to a follower’s comment on your post will make them more engaged in the process of it all, plus, you’ll have more fun too because you are able to build stronger connections with them on the get go.
Some would just result to “batch and blast” their followers on their accounts, hoping that this can help push the numbers up. But on the contrary, it actually decreases any activity or post engagement because their followers would feel that the host is simply ‘good enough’.
Never “Batch and Blast”
As said in the previous item, “batch and blast” is a lazy attempt to get more engagement on social media. Its purpose is to post the content – theme, format, headline and everything in between – on different social media accounts all in one go. Though this is very convenient and such a tempting way to posting your contents, this is actually giving your accounts adverse effect. Instead of gaining more engagements, followers tend to ignore 4 out of 5 accounts, which leave you with only a single engagement per person per account.
Although it’s pretty time consuming and labor intensive, creating unique content for each of your platforms can be the move you can do to get more engagement on social media. To really get the best out of each account, you should understand that each platform acts and engages differently because of the culture of users found within them.
Facebook is more casual and in-depth while Twitter is more into quick gabs and instant attention grabbing. Instagram deals more on the aesthetic of the content while Google+ goes to a more serious written agenda. All of these accounts have strong strengths and quivering weakness. Taking time to formulate the perfect headline, and in some cases, hashtags, can go a long way. This shows your followers that you are dedicated in satisfying their online hunger for great content, day in and day out, without the slightest bit of laziness or mediocrity.
Analyze your data
Unless you’re still new on social media, your accounts have a goldmine of information you can use to get more engagement. Determine which content was your best received and which was the worst one. This gives you a hindsight and an insight to what kind of post you should invest time on and which ones to drop.
Visual stimulation
Be it black and white or multicolored, your posts should always be visually stimulating to the eyes. To get more engagement on social media, investing time to plan, create and execute a great concept will pay off in folds. With some other hosts, they would feel entitled to engagements because they have been patronized for so many times already. But, what they fail to understand is that creating and posting bland and mediocre content is as good as not posting anything at all. Followers crave for more visual stimulation every time they go online to their units or phones. They also invest time and effort just to read and get updated by you. The least you can do is to satisfy their hunger and quench their thirst for more. Hard work pays off.
If you are searching for something to post, but coming up dry, you can always create a visual of the information you want your audience to digest. The best way to do this is in the form of an infographic. According to an article from Forbes, “74% of marketers rely on visuals in their social media messaging”. Even if you do not think of yourself as a marketer, you can always learn from the best. If you are not a gifted graphic designer, then you can use a service like fiverr.com to make infographics for you for as little as $5. Infographics get 3x more likes and shares on social media than other any other type of content.
Perfect timing
Monitoring your social media engagement is a good strategy to get even more engagement to your social accounts. With social monitoring, you can see which days and what times of those days are prime content posting spots for you to take advantage of. Organize them into a chart so you can efficiently maneuver through your accounts within a week. But you have to analyze it all first. Take note of the time and day that your followers tend to go active and flock towards each platform.
These are the most potential ways you can gather more engagement on social media. Take into consideration it’s not as easy as 1,2,3 so you have to be hands-on with the many approaches you do try. If it feels like it’s a little too difficult there are always the three key reminders and practices to go by to keep yourself and your engagement in check:
#1 “Kid, it’s not all about content”
You also have to get to know the communities you create via your engagement on social media. Things like: Who they are? What they’re like? What social media tools do they like to use? And how do they like to use it? Are some crucial questions, because these will help you build a stronger foundation in effectively gathering more engagement on social media.
#2 They call it social media for a reason
Most organizations and businesses will and can get caught using social media simply for announcement and or news. As a business minded individual you have to step back and remember that social media is, in fact, a conversation between you and the very audience you are trying to engage with.
A simple way of doing this is building relationships with members of your community by connecting with them on a regular basis and seeking out their opinions not just sticking with your own. Take the time to talk about current events and get more engagement on social media.
#3 Add value to everything
Time is everything; we all know that. When you start getting connected on any social media platform, you are asking audiences and potential members to spend their time with you, instead of elsewhere; this is natural. Provide them with rewards and freebies; getting on their good side is always a good first step. Teach them something worth listening to and that would enrich their knowledge of something else. You have to make sure to add value to their lives in the simplest way, and simply because of that, they’ll keep coming back.
Wrapping it up
Getting more engagement on social media can be one of the easiest things, possibly as easy as making a community member feel like they themselves are valuable parts of the network. And just like any other community, members like to feel like they belong somewhere where they have their own voices, and where they are heard. So ask and reach out to your community for their opinions on different aspects. What they think about a specific product or even their recommendation on the improvement of a certain feature could be everything.
Always encourage them to share their own knowledge and expertise with others as well, remember this isn’t a one-man show. You could always simply start up a moderate conversation and leave it be, don’t always stay in control.
It’s also about having fun, so don’t forget to relax and ultimately enjoy your audience. In return they will feel the same way; this will not just highlight your brand or service it will help it shine with a spotlight you never knew was there. You are the frontier of your brand, how you handle the more engagement on social media is a reflection of multiple capabilities you might have.