What Engagement Is Plus 5 Tips to Boost Social Engagement
Many marketers know that your social media engagement can always improve. The more engaged your audience is, the more the algorithm pushes your content out to new audiences. But it’s easy to get caught up in the number of likes you get on a post. It can also be easy to get stuck in the same old social media strategies. Add in the constantly changing feed algorithms, and social media can feel like trying to navigate a maze.
So what exactly is social media engagement and what are some strategies you can use to improve your engagement online?
What is Social Media Engagement?
Engagement encompasses several different aspects of social media interactions. It can include likes, but it also includes comments and shares, depending on the social media platform. For example, engagement on Facebook is all possible interactions a user can have with a Page’s post. On Instagram, the engagement metrics change depending on whether it’s a Story or a feed post as there are different ways to interact with those different types of posts.
Looking at your analytics data can tell you a lot about your engagement levels. You can get granular and look at engagement for a particular post, but you can also zoom out and get a bird’s eye view, looking at your engagement for an entire month or even a full year. This broader view is a great way to identify trends.
If you see your post engagement dropping week over week, then your posts need to be adjusted. If you see a post has a significantly higher rate over other posts, make note of what makes that post stand out. This can help you identify the type of content you should focus on more to improve your overall engagement levels.
Tips for Improving Your Social Engagement
Now that you have an idea of what engagement is and how you can use your data to look at micro and macro trends, let’s dive into some tactics and strategies to help increase your engagement levels online.
1 | Set Goals and Define the Metrics
Every strategy you set should help you meet a goal. So set some clear, well-defined goals to focus on. For example, if you want more engagement on your posts, you should focus on creating more interesting content. Then make note of what metrics tie into that specific goal. This metric can vary depending on the type of post and the platform you post on, so be sure to understand each platform you are using so you can tweak your strategy to accommodate each platform’s nuances.
2 | Get to Know Your Audience
You may feel like you have a good, broad sense of who your audience is, but it’s important to remember that their tastes and habits are constantly changing. It’s crucial that you understand your target audience and how they change over time. Your brand is making content for your audience and you must always keep them in mind when creating content. So pay attention to key audience metrics as well as what posts they seem to love most.
3 | Create Interesting Content
This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s often forgotten by marketers. The most engaging and shareable content is enjoyable and high quality. You have to make your content both exciting and informative. It should be something that your audience will feel compelled to comment on or to share. The most highly engaging form of content is video, with images coming in second place.
4 | Use Emotion to Your Advantage
The decision to engage is an emotional one. Emotional marketing is a powerful tool. Holiday advertising uses emotional marketing really well. Each commercial taps into a specific emotion, whether it’s joy, love, tradition, empathy, or warmth. When planning each post, tap into a specific emotion as this will help encourage your audience to engage with your post. Create an emotional headline for each post that gives your audience an overview of what your post is about. Make use of adjectives such as useful, valuable, mind-blowing, shaking up, or essential as these words can grab attention and persuade users to comment or click through to read more.
5 | Post at the Best Time
Finally, one of the key ways to increase engagement is to post at the right time. Many platforms identify the best time for you to post based on when your audience is active. Make sure that you take advantage of those times by posting during the peak times. But don’t flood your audience with posts during these time frames. Focus on quality over quantity to help you hit that sweet spot!
Final Thoughts
There are many other different things you can do to help increase your engagement. It can depend on who your target audience is. Sometimes, humor and emojis can also help increase engagement. Don’t be afraid to experiment with some tactics after taking a look at your own unique data on your target audience and their habits and tastes. Keep in mind that your target audience is constantly evolving, so you’ll need to check back in with your analytics data constantly. When you notice something isn’t working, adjust or move on! Overall, remember that you are creating content for your audience and that they should always be at the heart of every piece of content you create.
Need help developing your engagement strategies? Let Tintero Creative help you develop an online presence by telling your story in a way that engages your target audience. Schedule a free consultation today!