How to Grow Brand Engagement on Social Media
Most business owners realize the importance of how to grow brand engagement on social media, but navigating the different platforms can be challenging. Fortunately, there are a handful of things you can do to increase name recognition and get the word out to your target audience.
First, you need to know where you currently stand with social media before you can figure out how to utilize it to grow brand engagement. Think about the type of interactions you most want. Do you wish to have your regular customers share so you gain new leads? Do you want to increase name recognition? What does engagement look like for you? It can be different for various brands.
How Do You Grow Brand Engagement?
Statista surveyed marketing professionals in companies with 100 employees or more. They discovered that 91.9% of them expected to use social media in their promotional efforts. With so many larger companies on social platforms, you may miss out quite a bit if you don’t get on there as well.
You don’t want to waste your time and effort, though. It’s best to have a plan for how to grow brand engagement on social media. Here are some top tips to get you started.
1. Organize Events
One way to bring people to your page and get them chatting is by organizing events. You can do live videos, have different experts post a tip, announce new products, and many other things. Some people choose to do an entire event with contests, games, and various interactions.
The best way to learn how to organize an event is by observing how others do it. Pay attention to businesses and organizations. Do you belong to a particular hobby group? Do they host any events online? You can often take details from other niches and apply them to your industry.
2. Livestream Shows
The popularity of the format grows annually and livestreaming is a $70 billion market and growing. Never underestimate the power of video to draw in your users and get them talking and sharing your content with others.
Come up with something you’re an expert in. What is your niche topic? Now, turn it into a regular livestreamed show. You can let your followers send in questions, throw up notes in a chat or otherwise interact as you cover a topic.
3. Ask Questions
It might sound simple, but just posting a bunch of facts will get far less engagement than asking questions. Spend time getting to know your target audience and what they’re interested in. Once you have a list of topics, throw out questions meant to get them talking.
For example, if you sell shoes, you might ask something along the lines of, “How often do you buy new tennis shoes?” Or, “When was the last special occasion you wore heels?” If you don’t get much response, refine the question. You could also ask helpers to come in and get the discussion rolling to encourage your customers to chime in.
4. Ask for Feedback
One of the quickest ways to get people talking is to ask for their thoughts. You might not like everything you hear, but consider it an opportunity to improve. Your customers and potential clients will also see that you care about whether or not they’re happy with your products and services.
You can ask for feedback via a poll, survey or simply throw out a question, such as, “How do you think we could improve?” Thank every person for their contribution, whether you agree or not.
5. Encourage User-Generated Content (UGC)
TINT’s State of User-Generated Content 2022 report pulled thoughts from over 1,000 respondents, with around 500 marketing professionals participating. They found around 91% of consumers are more likely to share content about a brand that shares UGC.
What does UGC look like? You can ask customers to share a photo of your product in use. For example, with shoes, you might ask them to snap their footwear in odd locations. Tie their sharing to a contest or give them some type of reward, such as a discount when they post a photo.
6. Personalize Communication
Don’t just throw up a pat response. Really read what your customers say on social media and respond to each one individually. Call the person by name, repeat their concern or compliment and then add something relevant to the conversation.
Study how other brands achieve this and avoid the ones using bots to throw up the same response repeatedly. The problem with an automated response is that it won’t always fit the situation.
Imagine commenting that you bought a pair of shoes and they were rocking and having an automated bot tell you that it’s sorry for your poor experience. It becomes clear you’re just another face in the crowd and no one is really listening to your feedback.
7. Post Frequently
When people know they can rely on new content from you, they’re more likely to visit your page, comment, like and share your posts. They want to feel part of a community, so you can also enable those features on some sites.
Think about the popular Instagram influencers. They tend to post several times a day and encourage their followers to comment and share by providing giveaways and rewards.
What Are User Expectations for You?
What do people expect you to post on your pages and how can you not only meet but exceed their expectations? Use all the information you’ve gathered from surveys, polls and past customer behavior and come up with a social media strategy that works best for your brand.
