Having a high social media engagement rate is one of the best ways to grow your platforms.
Simply put, engagement is the number of interactions people have with your social media content. Think comments, likes, saves, shares, etc. Having high engagement is far more important than having a huge number of followers as engagement results in deeper connections with your audience – which is exactly what you want!
So, if you’re ready to increase the engagement rate of your social media posts, here are 7 surefire tips to help you.
Invest in a Great Scheduling Tool
Social media marketers are constantly striving to boost engagement, increase ROI, and save time. To accomplish their goals, they work on an extensive Social Media Content Calendar to line up multiple posts depending on the trends and their audience’s preferences. Oftentimes, the content you need to publish and share can seem overwhelming. That’s where a good social media scheduler can save the day.
A good social media scheduling tool is more than simply a convenient shortcut that helps you queue up your posts. The right tool will make the entire social media management process much easier, boosting your efficiency and leaving you with more time to develop connections with your audience in real-time.
Post Engaging Content
If you want people to engage with your content, you need to make sure it is worth engaging with. But how do you decide what kind of content is best? The most important thing is knowing your audience and their expectations. Who are your customers? What are their interests? How do they consume information? What types of content do they prefer – blog content, images, or videos?
According to Social Status, the average Instagram engagement rate benchmark is 6.87%. It is important to analyze the highest performing content in your industry to understand what it is about this content that makes it so engaging.
In general, you should try to stay away from posting things that might make people angry at your brand. Go for anything that will drive emotional response and positive reaction from people. Is your post about something funny, inspiring, relatable, or beautiful?
Second, experiment with different types of content to see what works best. Try captivating videos, Twitter polls, funny graphics, or product images that encourage people to tag their friends.
PRO TIP:
When sharing a blog post on social media, make sure you optimize your post with correct social media meta tags. Social media meta tags are the secret sauce of your post’s success on social media channels.
Pay Attention to Your Visuals
When it comes to creating engaging social media posts, the rule of thumb is: show, don’t tell. Have you ever stopped scrolling on social media to read a big wall of text? Of course not. People are visual creatures and that’s why you need to make it a habit to add an image to each and every one of your posts.
A study by Buffer has found that tweets that include images gain up to 150% more retweets than tweets without images.
According to ContentStudio Twitter banner size plays a vital role in winning followers. Emojis are also helpful. Research has shown that using emojis can definitely boost engagement, but each emoticon increases engagement by a different amount. For instance, a grimacing emoticon can increase engagement rates by more than 135%, whereas using a smiley face can boost engagement by about 25%.
Post Several Times a Day
How many times a day is enough to see an increase in your engagement rates? According to experts, two to three posts per social platform a day should do the trick. Be careful, though, posting took much can be annoying and result in an increased number of unfollowers.
In addition, you need to make sure to post at the right times. In general, any time between 1 pm and 3 pm is the best time to post on most social media platforms.
Encourage People to Engage
If you want to boost the engagement rates of your social media posts, you also need to be social. Make sure to respond to every comment or message, even if it’s a negative one. Try to show appreciation for positive comments and offer solutions for the negative ones.
Another way to encourage engagement is by adding a CTA at the end of each post. Simply ask people to comment, like, and share your content with their friends.
Asking a fun and relevant question is also an easy way to get your fans to leave comments on your posts. For instance, you could create a post that compares two different pairs of shoes and ask ‘Which pair would you wear on a date night?’ Besides allowing you to include your products, such posts also allow you to be playful and offer some fun experience.
Run Giveaways and Contests
One of the easiest and most effective ways to boost engagement on social media is to run giveaways and contests. They thrill your followers, trigger sharing, and stimulate your audience to talk about your brand. The basics of contests and giveaways are simple: you give something of value to your followers while, in return, their engagement with your brand increases.
Don’t forget to add attention-grabbing words at the beginning of your giveaway posts. Capitalizing two important words, such as ‘GIVEAWAY ALERT’, should help you boost your engagement even further.
Increase the Number of Followers
Having more followers will certainly help you boost your social media engagement rates. It’s quite simple: social media engagement is a numbers game. If you have under 100 followers, you’ll receive less overall engagement than brands with thousands of followers. In other words, having a bigger audience means you’re more likely to have a higher level of engagement on your social media posts.
Final Thoughts
When it comes to increasing the engagement rate for your social media posts, there is no universal rule to follow, so make sure to experiment and try different strategies.
Standing out on social media isn’t easy but once you learn how to connect with your audience in a real and engaging way, the results are sure to come. You can also boost engagement by avoiding these Terrifying Social Media Mistakes.
