Do you wish you could connect better with your online potential customers? Are you unsure how you can engage your audience and make them interested in your brand? If you’re wondering how to increase social media engagement for your business and excel online, we have just the answers to make your social media presence exciting for your customers.

The benefits of robust strategies for online engagement strategies include increasing brand awareness and reaching a wide audience, which helps create a more profitable business. If you’re ready to kick your business’ social media up a notch, read our comprehensive guideand build a better business today.

What is social media engagement?

Social media engagement definition looks into how engaged and active followers are on your social media pages. When examining what is social media engagement, it is vital to remember that is about quality over quantity. Of course, the number of followers matters, but if they are not engaged, they are pointless.

If your followers are not reacting to your pages with likes, comments, shares and saves, you should readjust your overall strategy. You can increase the level of engagement by creating social media engagement posts that are captivating, interactive, shareable and relevant to today’s climate.

How do I increase social media engagement?

If you’re ready to create excellent social media content to better connect with your online customers, read our 5 easy tips that you can start implementing today.

1. Create engaging content

When creating social media engagement posts, you must know what content compels your followers to save or share with their friends. Creating a robust yet well-developed strategy must occur before posting. Share thoughtful content that your audience finds valuable, useful, or relevant.

As a rule, the content you post on your social media should be original and relevant to your audience for optimal engagement. Quality content creates an emotional connection. Some content proven to spark emotion and interest are carousel posts, mini-blog style posts, or quotes that resonate with your followers.

2. Start Conversations

Interaction is the very definition of social media engagement and the main goal of social media strategies. If you’re looking for fun posting ideas, starting conversations with interactive social features on your posts should be on your radar.

You can provide some features on your stories and posts such as questions, countdowns, polls, or mini infographics pertaining to your business. Implementing engaging features as such make your customers feel like they’re more closely connected to your business through direct interaction.

3. Try out new types of content

One excellent social media strategy you should consider is the use of user-generated content (UGC) which involves your potential customers creating content about your brand. UGC can include videos, texts, images, and so on. Once created, always ask permission to share on your platforms.

UGC as a type of social media post for businesses offers a level of trust that brand-created content does not. Users are 2.4 times more likely to view UGC as authentic vs content created by a brand, and an additional 80% say UGC impacts their purchasing decisions. That’s some persuasive content!

4. Optimize posting hours

You might have stellar ideas and content you’re eager to post, but it is a waste if added to your platforms at the wrong times. Knowing the best time to reach your users on each channel mustn’t be overlooked and should be executed according to the topic, platform, and audience members.

For example, the prime hours to engage with your customers online when posting about consumer goods are Wednesdays at 11 am (Facebook) and 3 pm (Instagram) and never on Sundays. Ironically, Sunday is the best day for Twitter’s social media engagement posts pertaining to consumer goods!

5. Mind your hashtags

What is social media without hashtags? They are an excellent tool for perpetual sharing. Wise social media strategies use hashtags for brands, products, niche industries, special words, or locations. Longtail hashtags are especially helpful in increasing searchability.

The importance of properly using hashtags cannot be ignored: an Instagram post with a hashtag averages 12.6% more social media engagement than a post without one when applied. In essence, hashtags create a reverberating flow of engagement for your business even when you’re not actively posting.

How can you measure Social Media Engagement?

There are many ways to measure engagement to ensure your posts are making an impact. Social media platforms provide you with many metrics to see your progress. To measure awareness, see your current and potential audience. For engagement, view how your audience is interacting with your content. Conversions are measured by the effectiveness of your social media to bring in and convert a new customer. Finally, consumer metrics reflect how active your customers are and how they feel about your brand.

In general, social media engagement by definition is most commonly measured with likes, comments, clicks, shares, and saves. However, for each platform, each metric has a different value. For example, you are more successful when people share your photos on Facebook than when it comes to Instagram. In any case, metrics are key in your strategy. Make sure to monitor your actions, and gather feedback from the audience to adjust your messages and campaigns accordingly. Keep your audience engaged, and you will thrive.

Are you ready to learn everything about social media engagement?

At Knowcrunch, we know everything there is about social media engagement. Our distinguished instructors are industry leaders in digital marketing who take the time to explain the intricacies of this discipline thoroughly. Our curriculum focuses on our students learning material for real-life application. If you’re looking to learn how you can take your business career to the next level, sign up for our Professional educational courses & training today!