For a small business looking to strike it big online, building a big following on social media sounds like a dream. The more people looking at your content, the further it’s going to spread and the more people you’ll have a chance to convert. That’s how it works, right?
Not always. A big following is worth nothing if the people following you don't actually engage with your content. It’ll just be a number on a screen, and while that looks impressive on the surface, you'll get little to nothing out of them in the long run. All that work will result in little to no ROI in the end.
Now an interested audience, that’s the real goal. Real engagement showcases this and that’s the thing you want to encourage. After all, active, interested engagement means they’re more likely to like and comment on your posts (surface level), and click through to your website and actually buy what you’re selling (what you really want here).
Let’s make sure you can turn a profit off of the work you do on social media. Different engagement methods work for different platforms, and we’ve got a great post here about getting more interactions on Instagram, but the same set of rules can be applied no matter where you’re posting.
Ask Questions
People love having a question posed to them. They love having the chance to put their own thoughts and opinions across. And in the land of social media, unsolicited opinions are rife and everywhere you look! So, why not give people a real reason to let their thoughts flow, and ask them a question with every post you put out?
When you do, you might notice a slow start with maybe one or two comments coming through. But the more you pose questions, and the more you learn to tune these questions to the following you’ve built, the more answers you’re going to get. At the same time, you’ll notice that the views the post is getting, as well as the number of likes on it, have climbed up as well.
You can depend on all of these metrics shifting in tandem, as people aren’t shy about letting content creators know what’s working and what isn’t. Plus, the more engagement a specific post gets, the more likely it is that the algorithm is going to notice it. This then leads to even more views and likes and comments, and thus the cycle goes on and on. And all because you gave your followers something interesting to do.
Understand Your Follower’s Emotions
Emotional marketing is a subset of its own, but emotions leak into every kind of marketing you could put out. If you’re not relating to a person’s emotions when it comes to displaying your product or service’s worth, it’s going to be quite hard to convince anyone to buy it.
That’s why you should understand the feelings behind the reason someone followed you. Is it because they are looking for more entertainment in their life? Is it because they need to bridge the gap about a frustration they have to deal with? What’s going on in someone’s head when they decide to follow you?
Work this out and you’ll be able to make plenty of engagement driving content that appeals to those already interested in seeing it. Emotions are likely to differ from follower to follower, but understanding the most common threads will ensure you’re putting out posts that tug on the heartstrings in one way or another.
Don’t Limit Activity to Your Own Page
Creating social media posts is only half of the equation. When you’re on social media, you need to be social as well! That means actively promoting other pages, including content from users that have tagged you and being active in comment sections where there’s an overlap between audiences.
Reddit is a great social media platform for the latter. Get yourself some reddit accounts, join some subreddits in niches your business can cross over into, and then be active in the comments of posts that relate to what you sell or do.
You’re not here strictly to promote your product or service, but as an authority in the industry (as you’re a business owner operating in it), you could have just the answers someone is looking for. So, share the knowledge and the vibe, and see if you get a few upvotes and replies to the comment you’ve left. If you do, you’ll know what you’ve said is engaging enough to draw people in.
And the more you do this, the more active you are off of your own page and in these communities, the easier it’ll be to draw a following around your expertise. People will come to you because they know you really are that authority we mentioned earlier, which is the basis of ensuring engagement. They’re here to see what else you have to say and/or offer, and they’ll have a level of investment that means they’re sure to drop a like and a comment.
Be Reliable
For our last point, make sure you’re a reliable poster. Get some content out on a regular basis, even if that’s not every day. Once a week perhaps, or two to three times a month. Whatever the schedule turns out to be, make sure it’s consistent. You want people to know there’ll always be something new and interesting to see from you.
Social Media Engagement: What to Remember
If social media followers engage with your content, you’ve hit the jackpot. You don’t need every single person that’s hit follow to like and comment, but you do need to see a good portion of them doing this every time you put something out.
That way you can be sure the content you’re sharing is what they're looking for. And while the numbers will always vary, you’ll have some guarantee that the product/service you’re promoting will be added to cart time and time again.
