15 Tips to Build Engagement - Thrive Northside

Social media… “What’s the point?! It takes hours and hours and it seems like half the time, barely anyone sees my posts anyway.” Sound familiar? I hear you! It’s time to make it worth it. Read on for 15 Top Tips for increasing your social media engagement.

Firstly, you need to understand a little bit about that cheeky, somewhat elusive, constantly changing algorithm. In 2018, Facebook made the decision to prioritise personal posts over business page posts in the News Feed. The main reason being is that they began using “meaningful engagement” as an important signifier that a post should be shown to more people. That means reach is dependent on social media engagement - posts getting active and thoughtful interactions.

Facebook had a pretty sweet reason behind this change:

“Interacting with people is associated with a greater sense of well-being…

Just scrolling through your Facebook feed, passively reading or watching without interacting with others, tends to make people feel worse.”
– Facebook

That brings us to the million dollar (or million follower) question:

HOW do you increase your social media engagement?

If you are serious about increasing your social media engagement, here are the top 15 things you need to do.

Create quality content

Create content that you and your audience enjoy. Think about including content that is honest, friendly, helpful or funny. These rank the highest when it comes to what consumers want from brands on social media.

Talk about your topic

Steer clear of only posting content that is a clear sell, or that is all about you. We don’t tend to like people who have an “it’s all about me” attitude when we meet in person and the same goes for online. To increase your social media engagement, make sure you include content that talks about your topic, not just your brand/business.

Create real conversations

Create real conversations that are relevant to your business by asking genuine questions.
For example: Pineapple on pizza or not? High waisted leggings or hipsters? Honey in coffee – delicious or criminal? Stretching - hold or pulse? Travel destination – beach or forest…

Competitions / Promotions

These must align with what you are about and what your audience loves. The prizes need to be something your audience would REALLY want and/or the giveaway activity needs to be engaging and either easy or enjoyable. And remember, the whole point is social media engagement so make sure you include a like, follow, share, comment requirement as a condition of entry.

Be guided by analytics

Be guided by analytics and do more of what’s working!
What’s working? What’s not working? Make friends with Facebook and Instagram insights and analytics to monitor engagement on different types of posts. There are multiple ways to calculate the engagement rate so be sure to select the one that is best for you and exactly what it is you are wanting to measure.

Create real conversations that are relevant to your business by asking genuine questions.

Content leveraging

Share other business’ content that is already getting good engagement. This will tick two boxes: it already has a good rep with the algorithm AND it
your audience will see you are not just trying to sell but are there to provide them with valuable and informative content.

Timing is everything

For the best chance at increasing your social media engagement, post at the times your audience is online. Insights on Facebook and Instagram needs to become your new best friend.

Use relevant hashtags

It can really help!

Interacting with people is associated with a greater sense of well-being…

Be responsive

When people comment on your post, use your specific hashtag or send you a message – respond! And, when you do respond, use their name to show you really are taking the time to connect authentically.

Respond fast

People expect fast replies on social media. Consider setting up an auto-responder for PM’s and getting other people in your business to take turns monitoring social media engagement to lighten the load a little.

Share content that tags you

When someone’s post tags you, share it! Even if you just share it on your stories, the message you are sending is “I see you, I appreciate you, thanks for including me in your community.” And for genuine social media engagement, being tagged is a good sign you’re connecting in a meaningful way. What if someone tags you in a post that isn’t positive? Respond! But remember – don’t engage with the crazies.

Make eye-candy

Make your posts visual – especially on Instagram. Design posts that are eye-catching, that are you, that stand out from the crowd.

When people comment on your post, use your specific hashtag or send you a message – respond!

Create polls or surveys

You can do this on Facebook as well as by using stickers on Instagram stories. Go for genuine social media engagement by asking about things that you really do want to know. For example:

We’re putting together a new menu and would love your feedback. Which of these dishes do you want to see on our menu in Spring?
30 minute exercise class. Morning or night? You tell us. We’ll make it happen.

Post regularly and often

Truth is, an average of 6.4% of your followers will be shown your post. So, frequency is key. To really increase your reach, and therefore also increase opportunities for social media engagement, you want to be posting a minimum of 3 x per week.

Stay current, be relevant

Create content that relates to the latest trends and issues that are happening locally, nationally and globally.

Truth is, an average of 6.4% of your followers will be shown your post. So, frequency is key.

If you are feeling overwhelmed or unsure about what you can do to action this, consider contacting an expert. There are content creators, copy-writers and social media marketers whose whole world is exactly this stuff. There are also people available to help you upskill and learn the missing pieces of the puzzle so you can go forth and increase your social media engagement like a digital marketing ninja! Or, get someone else to do it for you

Need help with your social media? Speak to an expert.
Contact Donna at DG Consultive on 0404 291 425 or donna.gross@dgcsonsultive.com

Donna Gross

Donna is a strategic business development, operations and marketing professional, coach and trainer with a strong ethics base and a creative, collaborative approach. Donna has 15+ years in the community sector, 10+ years in fundraising and marketing, 3+ years in executive management and 7+ years as a freelance strategic business and marketing consultant.

au.linkedin.com/in/donna-gross

15 Tips to Build Engagement on Social Media

By Donna Gross