6 tips on increasing social media engagement

Content creation is very important in current days for surviving in the digital world. Texts, images, videos, infographics and so on. There are a lot of ways to create content for your audience. However, creating content is only the beginning - content without purpose won’t be effective. It must be engaging. It is the driving force that will make your brand more relevant, bringing more leads, sales and traffic. But how to make highly engaging content? Don’t worry: there are some great tips we have selected to make your content be more consumed, as you can see below.

1 - Cause emotion.

Well, this advice may be somewhat risky, but if your content creator can pull it off, it can show great results. Why is it “risky”? It depends and here’s why: the most guaranteed emotion for good engagement is comedy, but you can’t overkill your posts with only jokes. And depending of your company’s segment or current world events, some jokes could backfire. Try to be always light-hearted, don’t engage with politics (unless your business is linked with it - and being controversial would be beneficial), etc. Be creative, try to show another side of your company that the audience can relate to.

2 - Use great visuals

One of the most reliable tools you can use to help your brand increase social media engagement is to incorporate some kind of visual content. This includes images and videos, although you don’t want to overuse videos. They can be very effective, but situational, where things like cooking, comedy, celebrities and trending topic videos shine the most. Keep them short, but not too short: a study from 2017 by Buzzsumo tells the sweet spot for a Facebook video is between 60 to 90 seconds.

Images in the other hand, almost always will make a substantial increase on the interaction rate of your publication. It can go up to 85% more and be shared 35% more too. Use appealing images, always following the social media guidelines. Be sure to have a photo stock site available for more options, but don’t rely solely on it. Have original images, people using your product, an image promoting a sale, etc.

3 - Original content

It is impossible to be 100% original nowadays. But this can’t stop you from thinking out of the box. Of course, you should be aware of popular trends and take advantage of them, but making some original content in between is always a plus for the audience. Even if you are making a content based on something else, try to put your own brand spin on it. Make it different, make it funny, improve the concept, be creative. The chance of people reacting and sharing this kind of content is much higher than a simple copied and pasted one.

4 - Be present

No customer likes to be left alone when in need - and in the online space, there is always a customer ready to ask you something. You will need to be attentive and prepared. Show them you care. Respond their messages, comment their interactions, react to their comments, use emojis, don’t be so rigid with your language, show humanity. The more they relate and perceive your behaviour as a ‘cool friend’, the better. These kinds of interactions are golden opportunities to strengthen the bond between your company and target audience.

This advice is one of the most overlooked ones, not because companies don’t care, but because being at the customers’ disposal almost 24/7 is costly. Nonetheless, it is crucial to have at least one person responsible for those moments, after all, it is how your company directly speaks to customers. Don’t miss the opportunity to become their friend.

5 - Giveaways

People love free stuff. Use this to your advantage: create a hashtag, ask people to comment and share, use an appealing image for the promotion, etc. If you want to engage even more, make this content sponsored to reach an even bigger audience. Make the promotion worth it though, nobody will want to share just to win anything, it has got to be valuable to them.

6 - Mix it up

Don’t rely only in one type of content. For example, experiment making a contest: the fluffiest dog, the easiest and tastiest food recipe, the best use of your product ever, etc. This kind of content will have much higher chances of interaction from the audience and for you to comment their entries, bonding even more.

You can also try giving them the power of choice over your business in some ways, for example, if you have a restaurant, you could do a pool asking for which new menu choice will be featured on the weekend. It is a way to show that the customer input matters to you and to them.

But for all of those tips to work, your business must be digital-ready, which refers to a responsive website, mobile app, new features, online support and much more. Make it reality with TinyBoat. Try our services for free. Contact us to know more.