The purpose of social media is to build relationships, have meaningful conversations, and grow your network. But how do you increase your social media engagement RIGHT NOW to start creating those connections?
One of the most common questions I get is how do I increase engagement on social media.
So let’s talk about that today.
I believe that social media is about connecting and building relationships. Eventually, you will also be getting leads and traffic from social media, but your #1 focus should be on connection.
Why is social media engagement important?
Well, there is more to life than followers. I consider that a vanity metric. It’s important to have followers, yes, but how often are those followers interacting with your posts?
The purpose of social media is to build relationships, have meaningful conversations, and grow your network. It’s possible to have genuine relationships that come from social media. Several of my business besties are people I met on social media. Some I eventually met in real life, but a lot we just interact online. And it’s amazing. I couldn’t imagine my business without them!
My point of telling you that is don’t be distracted by the vanity metrics. Focus on the connections.
Social media strengthens that middle section of your funnel – the awareness and consideration phase. We have all heard the statistic that it takes someone interacting with you 7-12x before they take the next step. Social media is a big part of that awareness and those 7-12x.
Let’s say you are posting on social media 5 days a week on 2 platforms, recording a video, creating a blog post, and sending a newsletter. That’s 13 opportunities for someone to engage with your brand. Versus sending an email every few days and possibly following up with a phone call.
So when you are building relationships and focusing on the connection, your funnel will naturally fill. Especially as you continue to show up and serve your audience.
What is a good engagement rate on social media?
There is no hard and fast rule for what makes a good engagement rate. It really depends on each channel, your industry, and your content. (Great answer, right?)
Engagement can be a variety of different things, such as:
- Likes
- Comments
- Shares
- Retweets
- Clicks
- Video views
- Image expansion
- Scrolling through carousel photos
To determine your engagement rate, you take the total engagement a post received, divided by the total number of impressions on that post. That will give you the percentage of engagement on that post.
So if a post is seen 1,000 times (impressions) and gets 100 engagements, that’s a 10% engagement rate.
An okay organic engagement rate on Facebook and Instagram is 1-2%, but as a small business, you should be aiming for 4-5%. If you are running ads, it should be higher.
Take a minute to look at your engagement rates and make a plan to improve them, if needed.
How do I improve my social media engagement?
This is the burning question, right? How do you increase your numbers and get more people to see your posts?
There are so many things that go into the algorithms and reasons people see your posts, but there are a few things you can do right now to increase your engagement on your social media channels.
Ask questions
Your content on social media should stir an emotional response. That’s why it’s so important to ask questions in your posts. Give people a reason to respond. It allows them to share their thoughts and an opportunity to get to know them.
So when you are posting on social media, don’t just share a quote. Ask a question at the end that encourages a response and the start of a conversation.
Use carousel photos
When people swipe through your photos, that’s engagement. Carousel photos lead to high engagement across all industries, so you should be using those frequently in your posts and ads.
Use Video
Yep. Video. I talk about this a lot because it’s so important. Video gets 135% more reach than photos. And if those videos are live, your interaction will jump by 6% on average.
If you aren’t comfortable with video, practice makes perfect! Even if your first one is only a minute or two long, congratulate yourself for doing it.
Watch your metrics
Do you know what posts your audience engages with the most? Do you know what posts get the most reach and engagement?
Do you know when your people are online? Your people are more likely to comment or share content that has just been uploaded. So watch your metrics and post during those times.
Metrics means money. When you know what converts and your audience wants, you will make more money!
Be Relevant & Consistent
I talk about consistency all the time. It’s the first step to gaining omnipresence and understanding your audience.
But it’s also important to watch what’s trending. What is trending? What’s going on in your industry? Be the leader in your space so people are coming to you to learn.
It’s also great to share things that are not only educational, but funny, inspirational, and informative. Don’t try to sell all the time (we recommend only selling about 1x/week). The more you give to your audience, the better your ROI will be in the long run.
Be Human
Think about the brands that you like to interact with the most. Is everything on point? Do they always wear makeup or have a perfect background?
Or do they sometimes stumble through their words or get nervous? Do they have kids in the background sometimes? Do they make a mistake in their post or have a spelling error?
Guess what? We are all human. Even those people on social media that you think are perfect. So be human. Show your personality and fun side. Make social media fun not only for your audience but for you.
TL;DR
- Social media engagement is important because it tells that people are listening to your message. They want to develop a deeper connection and start a conversation. That’s the whole point of social media anyway!
- A good engagement rate is 1-2%, but you should aim for 4-5%
- You can increase your social media engagement quickly by asking questions, using carousel photos, watching your metrics, being relevant and consistent, and being human