Getting low engagement on your business’s social media accounts can be very frustrating. This is especially common if you’ve only recently set up accounts on the top social platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. If you’ve found yourself on this page because you’re feeling disgruntled at the lack of engagement on your social channels, don’t worry. You’re definitely not alone in feeling this way (I’m speaking from experience).
Luckily, I have some tried and tested advice for you. It will give your online presence a boost. After years of experimenting with social media marketing, I found there are many different ways to increase engagement (as well as following) on your social media channels. I’m going to share a few of my favorite go-to engagement-boosting methods.
#1 Authentic Engagement
Try to authentically engage with your followers and other businesses in your industry. A few years back, some social media “experts” would advise commenting on almost every single post you see. They said it was a way to fast-track your growth on social media. While some companies could find success in this strategy, it’s definitely something to be cautious of nowadays. Individuals will quickly get annoyed at you spamming their posts. Plus most people will know the difference between a legitimate comment and a hollow, meaningless comment.
Instead of blasting every Instagram post, you see with a random emoji or “Great post!”, actually take the time to communicate. Engage with individuals and business pages authentically. With individuals, you should always make sure to at least like their comments to your posts. Ideally, you should take the time to respond to all comments left underneath your posts. Show your appreciation for the support. Answer any questions. Even carry on the conversation.
When it comes to businesses, take an interest in what they’re offering. Ask questions. Send a direct message to show your appreciation and build a rapport. Maybe see how you could offer value to other pages. You could even suggest collaborations.
#2 Collaborations
Collaborating with other social media pages has been a go-to strategy for many marketers.
You can collaborate with influencers to improve your brand awareness. Influencer marketing can be an incredibly powerful way to quickly grow your social media engagement and generate sales for your business (click here for more on the power of influencer marketing). For example, you could utilize influencers to create Instagram and Facebook posts advertising your company’s products or services.
But you can also suggest collaborations with peers or brands that relate to your industry. For example, if you run an independent restaurant, you could collaborate with a local beverage company to promote each other.
#3 Incentives
You can offer incentives, such as prizes or giveaways, to encourage more engagement.
This is a tried and tested method of grabbing attention online, and it’s pretty easy to do. You can determine a giveaway prize, set rules for a contest (usually as people to like, share, and tag a friend in your social media post), and announce the winner/s of the giveaway.
However, while this can spike engagement, it’s not a guarantee that the level of engagement you receive on the contest/giveaway post will continue — unless you’re posting awesome content.
The plan with the giveaway should aim to draw new users to engage with the content you’re already posting on your social media page, as well as to generate new customers for your business.
#4 Encourage UGC
User-generated content is both an effective and relatively easy marketing strategy. Essentially, you can encourage your followers and fans to post about your business, and you can then report that content to your social media channels.
One example is testimonials or reviews — when someone writes a great review about your business, you should always share it on social pages.
Another example is of people using your product and showing how great it is. For example, customers who visited your restaurant post pictures of their dining experience while tagging your business’s social page in the photo — which you can then share with your followers.
#5 Memes
Good memes can connect with people almost instantly. I like to describe memes as digital icebreakers, and they can work wonders when incorporated into your social media strategy.
If you spend only a short amount of time on any major social network, you’ll soon find a meme or a funny picture/video that has a lot of likes, shares, comments, etc.
Memes are a great way of breaking down the sometimes corporate perception of your business, and lets followers know that you’re a brand that has personality.
Making someone laugh or smile can go a long way — it can result in an inflow of new followers, build new connections, boost engagement across your social pages, and generate new customers for your business.
Here’s more on using memes as part of your marketing strategy.
Consistency is Key
Okay, I know this is kinda cliché, but as with anything, consistency is going to yield you the best results.
Taking time to plan and schedule a social media content strategy is going to increase your chances of success massively.
Be sure to post content regularly (check out tools like Hootsuite or Buffer to automate content posting), always engage with your followers, and stay connected with other brands in your industry that you can network and collaborate with.
If you’d like to learn more ways to power up your business’s digital marketing strategy, read through the latest posts on the Intentionally Inspirational blog or listen to the latest episode on our podcast.
Written by Lewis James