10 Ways to Increase Engagement on your Social Media Posts

In today's advanced digital age, there will be hardly someone who is away from the macrocosm of social media networking. From a techie to an old retired person, almost everyone uses social media for various purposes. Whether it's reconnecting with old friends or pursuing larger business opportunities, social media has proven to be an efficient tool for communication and marketing over the past few years. Study has revealed that many businesses are dominating the market with some effective strategies that are simple and extremely result oriented. Once you are into social media marketing, reaching the right people at the right time is crucial. And to do so, you just need to schedule your social media posts and ease the burden of managing your social media strategy smartly. By managing your social media posts effectively, you will not only get connected to quality audiences but also increase your engagement to the next level. At the same time despite being a great way to promote your products and grow your audience, social media tends to be a crowded landscape. Therefore it is necessary to understand the ultimate game changing strategy of this dynamic tool to enhance your visibility within a fierce and ever evolving social networking platform. In this article we will explore in details about various ways of engaging potential audience by harnessing the power of social media posts.

What is a social media post?

Now a days we often hear the term 'post' especially from those who are much involved in social media. However, one must understand the obvious meaning of this term in context to the social media.  Basically, a social post is a short message published online by a user on a message board, comment section, or social network. In other terms these are short-form of engaging content that gets published on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and other similar channels. These posts generally include varieties of text combined with, images, videos, links, and audio files.

What Is Social Media Engagement?

In a nutshell of digital marketing landscape, social media engagement occurs when followers and prospects interact with your business on social media. The social media engagement generally includes likes, shares, comments, and clicks on your business posts and tags and mentions in their posts. This means, if you have a large follower count you are becoming visible in social media with a significant engagement rate, but if your audience isn't engaging with you, it is a sign that your engagement rate is low. When the audience engage and have positive interactions with your business, you are likely to grow in your business by building a robust brand identity and strong reputation.

So how do you grow your business through social media posts completely depends on your caliber to harness the valuable strategies of engagement.

Ways to increase engagement on your social media posts:

1- Create eye catching content

By creating outstanding content that are both eye-catching and relevant social media can be a true game changer. A good content has 2 components known as visuals and copy. Good images or video definitely increase engagement, and they endear your brand to customers. They can also keep customers from quickly swiping past your post and missing your message. Here is how you can take your social media posts to the next level by creating excellent content:

• Use more photos with faces in them. Images with more human faces get more engagement on Instagram, and they can project your brand positively
• Prioritize videos: Facebook's algorithm always prioritizes video content, and it can be a fun way to show off your wares. Plus, as live streaming has hit the mainstream, consumer expectation for social video has shifted. Videos that feel rougher around the edges can feel more native to social platforms.
• Have a strong call-to-action strategy: Don't make customers guess if they want to continue the journey with your brand, tell them they do. Also make it clear where to send the content and how.

2- Being Consistent and active

To be consistent is the most essential factor to excel and grow within the social media marketing nutshell. Here are few key points on how to remain consistent on social media:

• If you want to grow your business through this dynamic strategy, you cannot afford to waste your time, rather you need to be proactive and keep on posting consistency.
• Platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn prioritize new and fresh content, so regular posts ensure that your brand stays top of mind.
• Remember that once your social media pages go quiet for weeks or months, your followers won't engage because they're not sure if anyone is there.
• For social media marketing to work, you need to be active in your blogging and social media posting.
• So keep posting and don't forget that consistency is the key to success!

3- Push yourself Sharing content to a greater mass

 It is a matter of fact that every small business needs not only a website, but also a blog. You'll have plenty of content to share with your audience on social media by having a blog. When you consistently share useful content to a wider mass, firstly you become visible to your audiences and begin to trust you. This strategy will make them more likely to engage with future posts and consider your paid offerings.  It is therefore highly recommended to share new posts to your expertise, and push more people back to your website. Here is how sharing content to a greater mass helps you increase engagement:

• Once you share content to a greater mass of audience, it gets exposed to their networks, attracting new followers and customers potentially.
• When it is shared by multiple users or influencers, there is a higher chance of your content to go viral, leading to exponential growth in engagement.
• The more your content is shared, the more your brand appears to be a trustworthy, popular and valuable one.
• Shared content often encourages discussions leading to a more profound and meaningful engagement.

4- Craft Compelling Headlines

Your post's headline or caption plays a pivotal role in attracting your audience's attention as it is the first text that is being noticed within the competitive crowd of social media networking site. Here is how compelling headlines help in engagement significantly:

• By using simple, clear, captivating, and action-oriented language you can attract user's mind in such a way that they tend to read and share your content on the first place.
• It is also recommended to use questions or bold statements that pique curiosity
• A well-crafted headline can significantly increase the likelihood of engagement.

5- Engage in dialogues with audiences

Having dialogue is an excellent way of engaging audience showing a great sense of compassion and dedication. You can initiate genuine interaction by:

• Responding to your audiences comments in the comment box
• Replying to their queries or any messages promptly
• Acknowledging them by texting back to their comment or sending just an emoji
• Always remember that whenever people feel heard and valued, they are more likely to engage with your business and make purchases digitally.

6- Emphasize on Stories and Live Videos

By including content in the form of stories and live video you can make your social media platform look more alluring resulting in maximum engagement. Platforms like Instagram and Facebook always prioritize Stories and live streaming options that gives the audience a sense of authenticity and real-life experience.  Here is how you can use this strategy to increase engagement on social media posts:

• You can share behind-the-scenes content or host Q&A sessions for better engagement.
• With live interactions through videos you can significantly boost engagement, as the audience always prefers personal touch.
• By posting stories on any event you are encouraging real life experience within your audience which they enjoy and get thrilled.

7- Share a Free Resource

When you share a free resource, you are indirectly encouraging sharing, goodwill and trust building with your audiences. Here are few key points to share free resources for increasing engagement on social media.

• You can use a template or sharing how they implemented your advice.
• By providing free resources like eBooks, templates, guides, or tools you can encourage and demonstrate your compassion about your audience's needs.
• Offer valuable content that is useful and informative so that you can expand your reach and attract new followers who may be interested in what you offer.
• Add value in your content as the value aided contents are more likely to be engaged by liking, sharing, or commenting.

8- Post Content at the Right Time

Timing plays a critical role in social media marketing landscape as it readily determines how likely your content is to be seen by your target audience when they are most active. Study has revealed that posting at the right timing can increase potential engagement for each of your social media platform. Here are few guidelines on best timing that can work best for your audience.

• You should post at times when your audiences are mostly active, this can help your content to show up in their feed thereby providing a greater opportunity to grab their attention.
• If you want to seek the right timing for LinkedIn, try to feed your posts during Tuesday to Thursday as LinkedIn is more active during weekdays, particularly during business hours.
• If you want to post in Facebook, you can consider the lunch hours (12 PM–1 PM) and around 5 PM, when users are winding down or catching up on news.
• Moreover in Instagram and Facebook you can choose morning or late evening timings as their audiences tend to show higher engagement during early mornings and late evenings, with weekends often being a prime time for posts.

9- Add hashtags strategically

 These days' hashtags have become a must to do trending pattern in social media marketing arena due to its easy and effective purposing. Here is how hashtags are one of the most effective strategies to increase engagement.

• By using hashtags on social media platforms, you are making your post searchable for those interested in that specific hashtag.
• You can use many tools to research the best hashtags for your business.
• Hashtags make your posts visible and discoverable to users who are actually looking for similar products or services. For example, if you post a picture of a new product with hashtags like #Fashiontrends or #DesignerwearLaunch, people who are interested in fashion and clothing are more likely to find your post, increasing its visibility.
• Also by using relevant and popular hashtags #Worldcancerday your brand get exposed to a broader audience that allows you to engage in the ongoing conversation and connect with users who are talking about the same topic.

10- Add question and answers

One of the most effective and engaging way to attract audience is by adding questions and answers to your social media posts. This approach not only encourages interaction but also creates a sense of community. This strategy can drive potential conversations, leading to higher visibility and participation from your audience. Here's how incorporating questions and answers into your social media content can help you boost engagement:

• On asking questions directly through posts for example a simple question like 'What's your favorite cuisine?' or 'How do you feel about the latest fashion trend?' you are giving your audiences to share their views that promote engagement and spark curiosity.
• By asking open ended question like how do you feel about the ongoing trend? You are allowing an open discussion with your audiences where they can unwind and share their thoughts; this can increase the visibility for your post, as social media platforms favor posts that generate higher interaction in their feeds.

Dev Bhushan

Digital Marketing Specialist at SEMReseller

• Social Media

10 Dec 2024