How to Boost Social Media Engagement

For many brands, increasing social media engagement is on top of this year’s to-do list. Boosting social engagement can elevate brand awareness and help your business reach as many customers as possible.

How can you improve your social engagement as quickly and easily as possible? As we’ll see, it’s more than just starting a Facebook group or strategically using a hashtag (though both are great ideas). In fact, there are many ways to increase engagement with your social media content.

What is Social Media Engagement?

Social media engagement measures the interest of your brand (and content) through actions such as comments, likes, click-throughs, and shares on social platforms. Engagement can determine whether your content is resonating with your audience. Social engagement shouldn’t be thought of as a one-off communication, but more of a construct of nurturing a long-term customer relationship.

How to Measure Social Media Engagement

Social media engagement rate is a way to measure how people interact with a brand’s published content. In general, engagement rate is determined by the total engagement divided by the total number of followers, all multiplied by 100. Individual platforms can have their own social media engagement rate formula. For instance, the rate for TikTok is calculated by total engagement (likes + comments + shares) divided by the number of posts published. The result is then divided by the number of views, and all multiplied by 100. Today, social media engagement measurement and tracking is easier with the help of web-based tools or a social media tracking app. Tools like Agency Analytics or Sprout Social connect to your social media platforms and give you the ability to run reports for all platforms.

How to Increase Social Media Engagement

Looking to increase engagement on your social media platforms? Check out these tips for boosting followers, likes, comments, and shares!

Develop an Authentic Brand Voice

Not only does cultivating a tone of voice humanize your brand, but it’s also a way to forge strong customer relationships. Studies reveal that 90% of customers look for authenticity when deciding which brands they’ll support. Here are few simple tips on developing a brand voice:

• Use a conversational tone
• Be authentic
• Keep your vocabulary simple
• Speak like your audience

Once you’ve developed a tone of voice that fits your brand, use it consistently across all social media platforms.

Post Engaging Content

Want to boost engagement? Post more engaging content! Create content that people can relate with on a personal level. Choose content that’ll drive an emotional response. For example, it could be a video, a funny graphic, or an image that encourages someone to tag or share with other friends. Also, post content that will receive a positive reaction from people...something beautiful, inspiring, or encouraging. Follow the 80/20 rule—where 80% of your social media posts either educate or entertain, while the remaining 20% helps promote your business.

Post Regularly

Posting consistently across all your platforms will help strengthen engagement. Regular communication helps you stay at the top of your followers’ minds. It also helps social algorithms favor your content and show your posts to more viewers.

Be Visual

You only have one...two...three seconds to grab your viewer’s attention. Visual assets are more likely to stand out in the feed. While photos on social media effectively captivate viewers, video is even better. In fact, videos on Instagram receive 49% more engagement than static photo posts.

Engage With Your Community

When customers leave a comment or response on a social post, they’re giving brands the chance to talk to them. Whether they leave a good message or not, respond to your customer in a timely manner. It’s an opportunity to show appreciation for positive messages and a time to suggest a resolution for any negative post. It’s also a great idea to respond to people who will share your content or tag your brand in posts, helping you reach new viewers and increase awareness.

Grow Your Following

By growing your audience, you’re more likely to have a higher level of engagement (leading to better conversion and increased sales). Yet quality is just as important as quantity. It’s important to have invested followers who are interested in your brand and who interact with your content in a meaningful way.

Run Contests & Giveaways

Giveaways and contests are a great way to boost engagement. Hosting a social media contest or giveaway will without a doubt get people talking. Giveaways create buzz, increase social reach, generate new leads, and drive sales. Contests should entice your audience with a nice prize (which doesn’t have to be expensive) and lead them to follow, like, comment, or share your content.

Cross Promote Content

Promoting your content across different social platforms can increase your engagement everywhere. Cross promoting in different places will help get as many eyes on your content as possible. With cross promotion (different from ‘cross posting’), you’re putting effort into driving followers to your other social platforms. A simple way to do this is provide links to your other media accounts viewers can follow you everywhere you post.

Need Help With Your Social Media Strategy?

Cuker understands the power of social media! Leveraging social media platforms like Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, and Pinterest, we create a premium presentation of your brand to boost engagement, drive conversion, and increase sales.

Ready to get social? Let’s connect!