When it comes to building solid brand-customer relationships, engagement on social media is crucial. It can strengthen your brand loyalty, increasing word-of-mouth advocacy. Engagement is one of the critical metrics marketers should measure to gauge sentiment and customer interaction, not to mention conversions. Let’s take a look at ten types of social media posts designed to up your engagement.
[Read more: Connecting With Your Audience On Social Media]
Why is Engagement Important?
In today’s digital landscape, social media marketing has a 100% higher lead-to-close rate than traditional outbound methods. Why? Because of social media engagement. It’s created a genuine relationship between brands and consumers, a concept that’s proving to be one of the best conversion tools.
There’s a difference between social media presence and engagement. Simply being online isn’t enough – you have to be proactive. Many brands wonder why their seemingly perfect content has little to no engagement – you’re not alone.
With an ultra-smart algorithm at play, you’re competing for attention, and it’s getting harder and harder. Focus your efforts on social media posts that drive engagement, and you’ll soon see a difference. Here are a few tips to help your brand stand out online.
[Read more: An Evergreen Guide to Facebook Marketing]
10 Types of Social Media Posts To Increase Engagement
Start A Conversation
One of the best ways to start a conversation is to ask a question. It seems like a no brainer, but brands rarely understand how powerful this can be.
Think out of the box, uncovering creative ways to encourage your audience to engage. It can be in the form of quizzes or games, polls, and competitions. It can even be as simple as “what’s your favorite thing to do for date night?”.
As you’re crafting your social media strategy, think of unique ways your audience can get involved with your content. Best of all, use your customer engagement to spark new ideas. These are valuable insights into your audience.
Create “Savable” Content
On platforms like Instagram, comments and saves are more critical than ever. It’s one of the best ways to improve your engagement, using the algorithm in your favor.
To fully utilize this, you need to adjust your content marketing strategy, identifying the types of posts your customers are likely to comment on, save, or archive. Your content can range from topical text-based posts to recipe ideas and blog-style content. Evaluate your audience and create what they’re after online.
Add a call to action to your post copy, encouraging users to save your post. Don’t underestimate the value of prompting your audience.
Keep It Topical
One of the easiest ways to increase engagement and reach is to post about trending topics. Monitor what people are talking about online and incorporate it into your content strategy. Be quick on your feet, so you join the conversation while it’s still relevant.
Create Your Own Visuals
According to Wishpond, single image content generates 120% more engagement than the average text post on Facebook. Let’s face it; images are easier to digest. Incorporate them into your content marketing strategy, giving yourself time to curate unique visuals.
Top tips include an exact focal point, highly saturated colors, and attractive creative designs. If done correctly, this is one of the easiest ways to engage your audience. Follow through with a witty caption and a call-to-action, and you’ll see a vast improvement.
Be On Top Of Your Community Management
We know that social media engagement is the key to building customer-brand relationships, but don’t restrict it to posts and content calendars. Shift your thinking from a one-way conversation to two-way interaction.
By responding to comments and posts, you’re showing customers you care. It’s an opportunity to build your brand’s personality and instill a sense of trust and accountability. If it’s appropriate, try replying with GIFs or memes once in a while. It’ll inject some fun into your page.
Ask For Feedback
Companies spend thousands of dollars on focus groups – you don’t need to. You have an audience at your fingertips, so ask your followers for feedback. You can do this by striking up a conversation about a product launch, requesting the type of content they want to see more of, and making real connections with your audience.
Tell Stories
Go behind-the-scenes and reveal the people behind your brand. Your audience wants you to get personal, and telling stories is one of the best ways to connect on a different level.
Share stories about how your business came to be, what your product is, and the thinking behind your company ethos. Better yet, show them the making of your content. Lift the veil and give your users access to the real you. Being vulnerable makes you personable and relatable.
Incorporate Video Content
Whether it’s YouTube, IGTV, or Facebook, incorporating video into your content strategy is one of the best ways to improve engagement. You don’t have to have a whole production crew to start. You can share anything from simple stop motions or infographics to informational videos and entertainment pieces. It’s about getting some moving content on your channels. It’s one of the easiest ways to maximize your organic reach.
Schedule Your Posts
Today’s advanced algorithms are making it increasingly tricky for users to see your organic content. Don’t hamper your chances more by posting at completely the wrong time. If you post something while most of your followers are inactive, it’s not going to have the same engagement level. Find out when your followers are most likely to be online and schedule your posts accordingly.
The best times differ based on your product, your audience, and your time zone. Do your due diligence using tools like Hubspot to gather data around your followers.
Contests and Giveaways
If you’re looking for a guaranteed way to increase engagement, host a contest or giveaway. Find something relevant to your target audience or partner with like-minded brands to host an online competition.
The best prize is a discount or giveaway of your product. That way, you know you’re attracting followers who are interested in your offering. Depending on your brand’s size, you can go as big or small as you’d like. Whatever you do, ensure the mechanism includes a customer action like commenting or sharing.
Get Started!
Now that you’ve got the top ten tips to improve your social media engagement, you’re ready to get going!
By implementing these minor tweaks, adjusting your social media strategy, you’ll see a vast improvement in your performance. Best of all, we know engagement leads to improved conversions, so it’s sure to benefit your brand in multiple ways.