What is social engagement?
Social media engagement is a term used for interactions with the audience. It measure the the interaction with the audience. measure how much your audience interacts with your content. In most of the platforms it includes likes, shares, and comments but the specific interactions varies.
For example, Facebook engagement can be split up into different areas- from simply liking a post to sending a message or mentioning a page.
Looking at engagement numbers helps identify trends overtime. However, other metrics besides impressions matter in understanding the social media campaigns and figuring out what’s working. In addition, need to look at broad level data for engagement and micro-level data for engagement. A key way to improve engagement is to look at metrics on a broad scale and also in more detail, specifically for the micro-level.
Importance of social engagement
Why is engagement so important? Simply put, it’s because social media platforms like Facebook say so.
Organic reach on social networks is decreasing with time, however it’s worth it to put more money into the posts that are really resonating well. Having posts that are engaging is important for long term success. Facebook uses an algorithm that keeps track of engagement level to show higher quality content in News Feed.
Social media posts with more active and thoughtful interactions are likely to have more reach. One of our other ways to research and analyze customer feedback is by listening to what customers have to say on social media. Engagement with audience through social media builds relationships, which are excellent examples of how we learn about our audiences.
Also Read: What Do Consumers Want In 2022?
How to increase social engagement?
A business is only as good as the quality of its work. In other words,quality comes before quantity, especially when it comes to business. The focus should be on the quality of the content. It is critical that social media channels are active and engaging to have a positive management experience. Therefore, engaging with your followers on social media helps in turning them from fans into customers. The time you devote to building relationships with your audience can lead to a higher number of sales, increase in customer loyalty, and higher positive reviews. However increasing these types of engagements with customers/users can also lead them to potential futures purchases. Find below some of the ways to increase social media engagement:
1. Content Worth Engaging
It is important that to have content that people can relate to in order to increase social media following. It could be a poll on Twitter, a video people can relate to, a graphic that makes people laugh, or a product photo that encourages someone to tag their friends. Choose to post content that will receive a positive reaction from people. Is your post about something beautiful, inspiring, funny, or relatable? For instance many people are using social media and content they share is valuable. However creating content follow the 80/20 rule—where 80% of your social media posts either educate, entertain, or help followers solve a problem, while the remaining 20% directly promotes the business. This will keep the focus on creating quality content.
2. Add Relevant Hashtags (#) to the Posts
Use of hashtags. Social media content with hashtags is more likely to be read and commented by other users. These hashtags help keywords to stand out in the post, they are great for tracking discussion around a specific topic and connecting with people who are using that particular hashtag.
A great example of use of hashtag is Coca-Cola it made a #ShareACoke hashtag across multiple social media channels. Finding every Instagram post that has this hashtag by performing a search on the search bar. Hashtags, helps in connecting and reaching out to a huge number of users. As it also gives the chance to engage with others on a broader global scale, or in your own local area – because people are really keen on using these. Hashtags work really well in marketing and social media to create one cohesive message. They have the added benefit of reaching out to people who are not the followers, or are closely engaged with the content.
3.Create Polls & Surveys
One more good way for creating engaging social media posts is through the use of polls and surveys. Social media online polls and surveys are use to collect feedback from customers quickly. Mostly Posting the poll or survey at the optimal times when target audience tends to be active.
Polls generate leads without making audiences wary. This engaging experience of a social poll creates value for both the brand and the audience. So if brand wants to create an experience that is more personal, the first step would be to provide value. People are willing to share more with those who they have a rapport with and they feel comfortable engaging in conversation with. Attaching a lead form or special offer can make the conversation feel very natural. The data obtained from these polls and surveys can be used in making marketing strategies.
4. Use Analytics Tools to Monitor Engagement
Analytics Tools collect data on the levels of engagement of the content on all the social media, website visitors and more. This data can be used to modify different aspects of the campaigns so they are more successful. From tracking the number of views and the number of link or image clicks to find the optimal times to post and the most successful social media sites for the business.
There are many great tools to measure how engaging your posts are like Google Analytics, Twitter Analytics, Hootsuite etc. Experimenting with a different analytics tools is a great way to check what suits you better.
Conclusion
Increasing social media engagement takes time. It’s important to create consistently valuable content for your target audience, and to distribute it in the right places. Once your audience realizes the value you provide, they will eagerly enter information and buy products. They may even create a buzz about your product or service with their friends.
