Picture this: You’re throwing a party. You’ve gone to the shop and bought the crisps, sweets, chicken nuggets - you name it, you’ve got it. You’ve sent out the invites and put up the decorations. The guests arrive and everything looks great. The only thing is, no one is talking to each other. No one is eating all the food you spent so long cooking up in the kitchen, no one comments on the decorations and there’s not even any dancing. Sounds like a fun party, right? Your social media page is a bit like a party. It’s all well and good having a pretty feed, or having a large amount of followers, but if you aren’t providing them with true value, or encouraging conversation, then your followers will be left unsatisfied.
You want your followers to be engaged. Higher engagement means higher brand awareness, and also creates a brand trust and loyalty that is important to any business. Not to mention, many social media platforms prioritise posts that spark conversation and therefore these posts get a higher reach. We’ve come up with a 5 step plan to help your business increase its engagement:
In order to grow, you need to know where you are starting from. Analyse what is currently working for your business, and what’s not. Keep a note of how many followers you have, how many likes, shares and comments you are getting per post, and any other stats you may think will be useful. As you carry out the following steps, you can check back and see if your engagement is improving.
As we said before, creating true value is the key to higher engagement. You want to create content that is going to be of use to your followers, or anyone else who may see your post. How-to blogs, tutorials, life hacks, recipes and infographics are both saveable and shareable, and provide value no matter what field you are in. Include a clear call-to-action in all of your posts, and keep up to date with trends that your followers will want to get involved with.
I don’t know about you, but I personally can’t scroll past an instagram poll without voting in it. Most of the time I vote in the poll without even looking to see who posted it first. Story features such as polls, quizzes, and question boxes are a fun, interactive way to engage with customers and encourage them to get involved with your brand. It’s also a good way to hear their opinions and get feedback that may be useful to your business.
People connect with, trust and relate to other people. At the end of the day, people support people. Show off your staff, give a behind the scenes peek at your business, and create an online community in which people talk to people. Add personality to your captions, and tell real life stories about your business. Share your wins and your failures, and give your brand a face. Head to our Instagram and check out our ‘Day in the Life’ reels for some inspiration!
Sometimes, less is more, but not in this case. Posting more frequently on social media will keep your followers engaged and interested. This will also suggest to the platforms that people want to see your content, and therefore your reach will increase too. It all goes hand in hand. Posting frequently might seem tough,especially if social media is just a small part of what you have to do on a day to day basis. However, there are scheduling apps out there such as preview, hootsuite and publr that can help you plan ahead. Set aside one day a week, or one day a fortnight, to plan your content for the next few weeks.
Engagement is what makes your social media tick. At the end of the day, what’s a party without dancing or some questionable drinking games? Try these 5 steps and see how your engagement improves. Encourage conversation between your guests, check your insights to see what time is best to post and most importantly, play around and experiment. You don’t have to get everything right straight away!
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