10 Tips to Increase Social Media Engagement

With over 4 billion active internet users in the world, social media marketing is more important than ever. If you want to learn how to increase social media engagement take a look at some of the best and most effective social media engagement tips!

What is social media engagement?

Social media engagement is the measure of user interaction with content on social media platforms through likes, comments, shares, clicks, and other forms of participation. 

Engagement on social media signifies the level of activity and connection between a brand or individual and their audience beyond mere follower counts. The more engaged an audience is, the more actively they interact with and respond to the shared content.

How increased social media engagement helps

If you want to achieve a strong social media presence, it’s not enough to post on social media regularly. Increased engagement has numerous benefits, and here are some of the most important ones.

Increased brand visibility

According to a study by Hootsuite, businesses that engage on social media enjoy higher brand visibility. In fact, 75% of users are more likely to visit a website after being exposed to a brand on social media.

Impact on purchasing decisions

A report by Hubspot reveals that 71% of consumers rely on social media referrals to guide their purchasing decisions. Engaging content builds trust and influences consumer choices.

User trust and loyalty

The Edelman Trust Barometer reports that 53% of customers trust businesses more than engage with them on social media. Building trust fosters customer loyalty and advocacy.

Algorithm benefits

Social media algorithms calculate the engagement rate and promotes your content accordingly. Higher engagement increases the likelihood of your content appearing in users' feeds.

Social proof and recommendations

Nielsen's Global Trust in Advertising report indicates that 92% of consumers trust recommendations from friends and family. Social media engagement, including user comments and shares, serves as social proof.

Higher organic reach

The more engagement your posts receive, the higher the organic reach. Social Media Today reports that posts with high engagement rates are more likely to be shown to a broader audience.

10 Tips to increase social media engagement

Now that you know how engagement helps, here are 10 actionable tips to increase total engagement rates on your social media posts.

1. Have a unique profile aesthetic

We all love seeing a beautifully put together social media profile, with a clear theme present in all of the posts. People are incredibly visually-oriented, and your engagement on social media will go up if you have a defined sense of profile identity.

This doesn’t mean that all posts need to look exactly the same, but a common thread like a color palette or recurring visual motifs would make your brand’s profile more memorable. Great design is vital in creating social media content, whether it’s logos, merch, or channel visuals.

2. Use more video content

Video content can massively bump up a brand’s social media user engagement. Studies show that video content generates 1200% more shares than text or photo content and people tend to absorb information 80% better from videos than from text or photos. 

Videos are very versatile, from traditional ads to short announcements intended to create buzz and interest. However, with TikTok dominating the social media game, vertical videos are by far the most popular kind of video content right now.

3. Post useful content

If you treat your social media channels as virtual billboards, people will get fed up and regard them as visual white noise.

Some of the best engagement post ideas are how to’s, recipes and other kinds of useful content. Care instructions or user instructions can make for great content, especially in video form.

Apartment Therapy is a great example of striking balance between aspirational and inspirational interior design, and some practical how to’s and interior decorating hacks. Below we can see a short video on how to best organize a junk drawer with the queen of space organizing herself, Marie Condo.

4. Know your audience/niche

There’s no way you can create successful digital marketing campaigns, without understanding your target audience.

Find out who buys your product/services. What’s their age, gender, job or role? What are some of the challenges they face in their day-to-day lives? What are their fears and their goals? Creating an ideal buyer persona will help you find your niche.

You should also understand which social network they’re most likely to use, and what type of content they look for. Is it informative content, funny tweets and memes, or something else?

5. Be relatable

Generic language and messaging don’t cut it anymore in social media marketing. People want to engage with brands that have character and a unique personality. Commenting on current trends or memes, or memes, or creating content that responds to these is the way to go.

The best example of this is Wendy’s, which became viral through their sassy tweets. Having a brand persona is massively helpful with this. 

But sometimes, you must know how to spot an opportunity. In the great Colin vs. Cuthbert feud between Marks&Spencer and Aldi UK, Aldi had gone viral with their hilarious tweets poking fun at the situation and their rivalry with M&S.

However, don't make the mistake of trying too hard to be “down with the kids”. If you jump on every trend with engagement posts, people might find it grating and overly pandering.

Another way of making your brand more relatable is to introduce the people behind it. Giving props and shining the spotlight on your team not only makes the company look more collaborative and caring towards its employees, it also presents a softer, more human side of the company to the public.

6. Ask questions/opinions

Engagement on social media often boils down to open communication with your audience. Simply asking your followers for their opinion on a new product or offer can work wonders for your engagement.

Hosting live Q&As is another great way of creating a direct rapport with your followers. It also makes the brand more relatable and helps the audience better understand your creative process. 

Quizzes are another great way to boost your engagement rate. They can also be a lifesaver in market research. 

7. Collaborate with other brands

Partnering with other brands gives you both cross promotion which garners more engagement for all.

The brand you team up with doesn't have to be in the same or similar industry as yours, but it’s crucial that there’s an overlap in your target demographics. If your ideal customers are younger professionals, find out what are their interests and needs and partner up with another brand with a similar audience.

8. Partner with a micro influencer

Micro influencers are influencers with follower counts within the 10,000-100,000 range. However, there is nothing small about the numbers of micro influencers themselves, as they account for 91% of the influencer market.

Partnering with one is a savvy move for several reasons. They charge smaller fees, but also have a more niche and dedicated audience. In fact, micro influencers have up to 60% higher engagement rates than macro influencers. So, while your sponsored posts may reach fewer people, it could easily mean reaching those more likely to buy from you.

9. Set goals and track your metrics

Like in any endeavor, you need to know what you want to achieve with your social media channels. Setting both short and long-term goals will help you develop a social media engagement strategy, as well as broaden your overall reach.

When you’re building your brand’s social media presence, you have to start small. Realistic goals will not only be more achievable, but will also allow you to adjust and change your long-term strategy if the need arises.

There are many different platforms for tracking reach and engagement metrics like Later or Buffer, which have useful analytics tools. You can also use an average engagement rate calculation formula, which typically involves interactions divided by the total audience and multiplied by 100.

10. Post at the optimal times

Sometimes when you post is just as important as what you post. However, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Different platforms work in different ways.

A study shows that the best time to post on Instagram is between 12PM and 3PM and 6PM and 9PM. These time frames will also ensure the best Facebook engagement rates. This means that people generally access these platforms on their downtime, in their lunch breaks and after the working day has finished for most people.

The best time to post on X (aka Twitter), on the other hand, is from 9AM to 12 AM, and 12PM to 3PM. So, we can conclude that Twitter is the busiest in late morning and early afternoon, as this is a platform people also might use in a professional capacity to check for relevant news and updates.

In contrast, TikTok is the busiest in the afternoon and evening. The best time to post on TikTok is between 3PM and 9PM.

Conclusion

We don’t need to explain  why is social media engagement important. Whatever your industry is, it’s likely your audience is using at least one social media channel. On the other hand, all of your competitors are probably on there too, competing for your target audience’s attention.

We hope some of our tips will help you boost your brand’s engagement across various social media platforms and reach your social media marketing goals.on't