How to Increase Social Media Engagement

Incorporating social media into your marketing strategy is a great way to make people aware of your brand and your business. The benefits of posting to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram are easy to find; with billions of users for each site, there is a wide audience to reach as long as you have quality content up to attract them. Of course, it can be a difficult process to come up with content to post, especially if you post things on a frequent basis. Fortunately, there are numerous ideas that you can use that can help you drive engagement and attract customers. Here are some ideas for social media posts.

Tailor Content Based on Each Platform

Social media marketing is quickly becoming an essential part of a company’s overall marketing strategy. However, it should be noted that it’s more than setting up a post and scheduling it to go on every platform. What works best on one website isn’t guaranteed to do so on another.

Having a plan for each social platform you want to target can guarantee that you will receive relevant engagement from visitors. For example, a post that features heavy image use is best for Instagram or Pinterest. Posts that are primarily text can be used on LinkedIn. Message length is another factor in choosing platforms. Shorter pieces are best served on Twitter, while other services can host longer messages. In addition, you can cross-promote content on multiple platforms, allowing your posts to expand their reach.

Repurpose Your Original Content

Blogs and videos can be great additions to your website. Both allow you to expand on details about your business and let you be seen as an expert in your field. Only limiting views of these elements to your website, however, reduces their visibility and keeps you from reaching more viewers. Repurposing what you’ve previously created can help your content be viewed by a wider audience. An example can be to take quotes from a blog posting and turn it into an image or an infographic. With a video, they can be shortened into a smaller clip to be put up with a link to see the full version.

Offer Live Discussions

Live videos give businesses the chance to interact with their customer base in real-time. Reports show that people spend three times longer watching live videos compared to pre-recorded ones. And with most social platforms offering live streaming options, there are more opportunities than ever to use this technology to your advantage. You can do a live chat or question and answer session, show detailed processes of a business service, create a video blog, and much more.

Of course, you don’t necessarily have to use video to have live interactions with customers. You can plan Q-and-As using any social site where visitors can leave questions in a comment section or in a reply, and you can respond soon after. No matter which option you choose, this is an excellent way to grow connections with your followers.

Schedule Interviews

Similar to live discussions, you can also bring in a relevant expert in your field for an interview. There are available options that allow split screen recording and viewing. If you want to use this option, or any live stream option, it helps to practice beforehand and do any needed diagnostic checks to ensure everything works correctly when you go live. You can also have the person being interviewed respond to feedback from an audience. In addition, these interviews can be repackaged for other purposes such as blog posts, YouTube videos, or podcasts.

Add Visuals As Much As Possible

When you are trying to come up with ideas to post on social media, make sure that visual elements are included and featured prominently. Whether it’s an image or a video, adding it to a post can increase the likelihood of visitors engaging with it and wanting to click on your site to learn more. As visual search rises in popularity, you should still try to optimize these visuals for SEO purposes. This includes incorporating the right keywords and alt text with any visuals. On Instagram or other platforms where hashtags can substitute for keywords, you want to include rich captions and geotags.

Conclusion

When it comes to social media, the best strategy is to do more than simply schedule a post. Knowing how to expand on your social presence helps increase the engagement you have with your customers, and can help drive a new client base.