The term social media engagement refers to various actions that your social media audience takes that shows they aren’t just passively consuming your content; they’re actively engaging and interacting with it. Each platform tracks engagement in different ways, from likes to comments to followers and shares and more.
Not sure why you should care about engagements? Think about it this way: The more engaged your audience is with your content, the stronger that content is resonating with them and the more likely they are to begin developing a personal relationship with your brand. This increases the likelihood that they will eventually do business with you or, at a minimum, share your content to others who might be interested.
What Not to Do
We’d like to start by saying that whatever you do, do NOT buy new likes and followers for your social media accounts. While it’s tempting to purchase thousands of new followers and likes for a few dollars, doing so can be a bad idea for a number of reasons.
Download our free Social Media Checklist for more great advice and tips.
First, if your audience catches you purchasing followers, it can be bad for your brand recognition and might even hurt the trust you’ve been building with your real followers. Second, doing so can end up getting your content suppressed by the Facebook (Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc.) algorithms.
Each social media platform is guided by its own unique algorithm that decides what content to show what users at any given period of time. The algorithms use a lot of data to figure out what content will resonate with users, and engagements is one of the most important. If your content has a lot of engagements, it shows the algorithm that your content is worthy of being shared.
The problem with buying followers is that it raises your total follower numbers, but keeps your engagements the same. On most follower purchasing sites, these accounts are “robots” and will offer no engagement to your posts or content. This drops your follower-to-engagement ratio way down, and can end up destroying anything good you’ve currently got going with your social strategy.
Strategies to Boost Your Social Engagement
With that out of the way, below are six strategies that we do recommend you try to give your social media engagements a bit of a boost!
1. Host a giveaway.
Giveaways are an amazing way to show off a new product or service while boosting your engagements. Maybe you’re a tattoo artist offering a free small tattoo or a boutique selling a new swimsuit. It’s a great way to connect with current customers as well as make new ones! When creating a post on your giveaway, it’s important to add rules and guidelines to the giveaway. For example, a giveaway should be as short as 24 hours and as long as a week. Rules could be something like “Must be following (your company/brand)”, “Tag 2 friends” or “Share and Tag us on your story for an extra entry.”
Let’s look at local tattoo shop JND Beauty and how the owner had a successful giveaway:
2. Respond to comments.
Increasing your social engagements means you have to be social back too. When a customer, fan, or client comments on your content, it’s important to use that chance to respond back to them and build a stronger relationship. Doing so helps to further engagement, while also building your brand and developing a healthy, trusting relationship with your audience.
Perhaps you’re a company like Netflix or Wendy’s who takes the time to comment back witty and funny responses:
3. Start a Facebook group.
Creating a Facebook group is a great way to increase your social media engagements. Groups tend to be more social than Facebook Pages because they give members the opportunity to post and ask questions, both of you and of each other. And because groups tend to attract the most devoted of your followers, they can become an extremely effective marketing channel.
4. Use emojis.
Did you know that adding a smiley face emoticon can increase your Facebook interactions by 138%? According to research, using emojis can boost your social media engagement by increasing your likes, comments and shares on your posts. Each emoji can increase your engagement by a certain amount, for example, the sad face emoji increases engagement by 60%, whereas the heart engagement emoji increases engagement by 50%. While it needs to match your brand voice (a mortuary might want to avoid using smiley faces) if it makes sense for you, it can be extremely effective.
5. Try 15-minute interactions.
The term “15-minute interaction strategy” refers to engaging with other users’ content for at least 15 minutes before posting your own content. When you then post your own content, those people who you had yourself engaged with will be more likely to view your content and engage themselves. It creates a powerful feedback loop, and can be really effective on platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.
6. Link your social media accounts.
One of the best things you can do to help boost your social media presence and engagements is to link your accounts. Linktree is a freemium social media reference landing page. You can add multiple links to a single URL link with Linktree, allowing easier access for your customers to view each of your social media platforms. Adding the Linktree link (or another option) to your social media bios lets viewers see all your channels and blogs, making it easier for your audience to find you across channels.
Having your account usernames similar on all social media platforms is a great way to keep brand recognition too! When people become familiar with your brand name on multiple platforms it makes it a lot easier to increase your engagements.
Other Social Media Tips
Looking for more advice on amplifying your social media strategy? Below is some additional content that you can use to guide your playbook!
- Hashtags for Social Media
- Best Time to go Live on Social Media
- Instagram Carousels
- Instagram Reels
- Instagram Stories
- Best Time to Post on Social Media
Using Engagements to Your Advantage
By far, the easiest way to build a large, dedicated, engaged audience on social media is slowly over time. Regularly putting out content that resonates with your desired audience will naturally attract them to your page and, ultimately, your business.
But again, it takes time to reach critical mass. That’s why we often recommend businesses start out by dedicating a portion of their budget to social advertising, which can help not just build your audience but also drive business.
Does your social strategy need a boost? At Pepperland, we specialize in inbound and content marketing and can help your business grow with our expertise and resources. Contact us today to find out how we can help achieve your goals.
