Content is king, but engagement is queen. Digital marketers are quick to talk about creating quality content, content that will engage, inspire, and convert your viewers into customers. But there is another half of social media that many businesses seem to neglect — socializing. After all, it is a social media platform!
If you do not see the results you want from social media in terms of growth and conversions, you either are missing out on engaging or not doing so effectively. Let’s discuss 5 ways to reach out on social media and engage with other users. In doing so, you expand your reach on the platform, make meaningful connections, and increase your engagement.
First and foremost, don’t post and run. Reply to comments and private messages. If you ask a question in your post, keep the conversation going by replying to comments. Additionally, Facebook and Instagram algorithms favor profiles that interact with their followers. Show you care.
Plan and create in advance, so your daily social media management can be engaging with others. When you schedule your content ahead of time, you allow time for engagement. Plan your content for two weeks or a month if you can. There will be room for in-the-moment posts, but the bulk of your content should be done. Use a social media scheduling tool like Constant Contact’s social feature, so you don’t have to post each day manually. Take 10 or 15 minutes each day liking, commenting, and resharing others’ posts and videos. You can reshare posts you like in your stories.
But with who should you be engaging? Engaging with your competitors isn’t useful. Many client profiles are private or feel that a random business commenting on their pictures is spammy. Find leading accounts in your niche. You can search for bloggers, content creators, informational accounts, and product pages in your industry. For example, if you are a tea company, you won’t comment on tea company pages; you would focus on tea bloggers, tea lovers, and tea info pages.
Remember, you’re not just commenting on a post so that that account will engage with you. Others reading the comments will also be exposed to your comment. Doing so expands your brand reach and exposure.
Those you already follow – Take time to scroll through the home page feed and interact with those you already connected to.
Those in your niche – look at recent posts for a specific hashtag. Follow some of your business’s topic hashtags, as posts with that hashtag will come up on your home page, introducing you to new accounts and inspiration.
Engagement bots are nothing new on social media. They’ll leave short unrelated, unoriginal replies on hundreds of posts. Leaving genuine responses like answering the post question and adding to the discussion helps improve your business authenticity. Try to be honest and social like a human being, not a spammy engagement bot.
Following people so that they will follow you is not reaching out on Instagram. Unless you feel like an account has consistent content worth seeing every week, please don’t feel obligated to follow them. You may like a post or two they create and even comment on it but mean you may want to follow them just yet. In a client case study, we engaged with others without following, and their Instagram account steadily gained quality followers.
As you can see, a successful social media presence involves socializing on your part. Is there one of these tips your business can work on? Want to learn more about increasing engagement on social media to drive new revenue? Join us during the 3 Social Media Strategies to Increase Your Engagement webinar as we discuss three pillars to a successful social media presence that fuels engagement!
