How to Increase Engagement on Social Media

Engagement on social media is likes, comments, and shares your content garners. These make social media “social” as these engagements show that there is actual interaction among real human beings.

In a perfect world, these engagements are the true rewards that content creators aim for. If money was not important and everything was magically provided for, then the greatest fruit of a creator’s labor would be the interaction with their fellow humans.

But our world is far from perfect, and engagement means more exposure. Exposure means views, views mean sponsorship deals, and views and sponsors mean more money. So engagement means money.

This may sound bleak and jaded, but that does not mean wanting more exposure in this less-than-ideal world makes you a profit-oriented miser. You just need money, but what you really want is to touch other people’s lives with your content.

Engagement rewards creators with immediate proof that their content is worth giving attention to. That people’s comments and reactions validate their effort of pouring their souls into their content.

What Is Social Media Engagement?

As mentioned previously, engagement on social media equates to other people’s likes, comments, and shares of your content. The more of these you have, the more users will be able to see your content on their feeds. Engagement is the catalyst that propels you to become viral.

Engagement keeps the ball rolling, and it assures that the algorithm deems you worthy of exposure to social media users.

Engagement also proves that your followers or subscribers are real. This is quite important these days because as you may know, fake followers have recently been one of the bigger issues of social media.

Steps to Increase Engagement on Social Media

Is your social media engagement rate a little uninspiring? Do you wish there was more you could do to make your subscribers involve themselves with your content?

Here is our list of ways how to increase social media engagement that are totally doable and easily doable.

Create Evergreen Content 

As its name implies, evergreen content means content that remains relevant regardless of time. This type of content stays fresh for viewers and will be viewed regularly by anyone.

Creating evergreen content will reward you with more views compared to time-bound content. Consciously create more evergreen content, as this content tend to accumulate more engagement throughout the time they are posted on your social media platform.

Interact With Your Audience

Do you want engagement from users? Maybe consider engaging with them too! Engagement means interaction and communication anyway.

Reward people’s comments with responses that make them feel special. This will encourage your fans and viewers to comment and interact, and all this, in turn, will increase engagement on social media.

Remember that a creator that does not interact with their fans and subscribers kills the flow of engagement. You will be seen as snooty and aloof and fewer people would bother subscribing and much less engage with your social media content.

Keep Up With the Trends

The internet lives at a fast pace. It is the only pace it knows. This pace also goes hand in hand with being trendy. Being trendy is very much appreciated by the internet and social media.

You are a social media user yourself, and you will always be aware of what is currently trending. Ride the bandwagon but don’t forget to ride it on your own terms. These trends may be what everyone is doing but you can always add a twist to them to make them feel like your own.

Embed All Your Social Media on Your Website and Other Social Media 

If you have a website, have clickable links to all your social media channels. If you don’t have a website, have these links on all your different social media platforms.

You can also have your content tell your followers that you can also be found on other platforms. This will ensure an increase in interaction across all your social media platforms.

Ask Your Viewers or Followers to Leave a Like, a Comment, or Share Your Content 

Your followers and subscribers are also your fans and are most likely to support you and give you engagement. You do the same to content creators you follow, and your followers would likely not mind leaving comments, shares, and likes.

We understand that asking your followers to like, comment and share your content feels self-deprecating, but your followers understand, and they don’t mind giving your content a simple like or comment.

Explore Your Audience

This often overlooked act of knowing who your audience is is a very helpful device in gaining more engagement from them. Knowing who your audience tells you what they want and knowing what they want enables you to strategically create content that can elicit more engagement.

Designate time to examine your social media analytics to enable you to make content that your audience would appreciate. This is another way of “listening” to your audience that will fine-tune your style for better content.

Avoid falling into the trap of pleasing your audience no matter what. You will have to strike a balance between creating content that you want and dovetailing with what your audience wants. A perfect equilibrium of both pleasing yourself and your fans.

Pick Up a Perfect Social Media Platform for Your Brand

Not all social media platforms will perfectly fit your brand. Pick platforms that will represent your brand well.

Ask yourself if your brand would find its target audience in a certain social media platform. If the answer is an honest yes, then go ahead and use it.

Having a presence on the wrong social media platform will do your brand more harm than good. But being present on the right platform will make wonders for your brand in terms of positive engagement.

Produce Quality Content

Your audience only cares about viewing and engage with quality content. But what is quality content anyway?

Quality content will always be well-thought-of ideas executed with quality production.

Quality YouTube video content will always be from well-written scripts that are shot with decent technique and equipment. The good reels on Instagram, TikTok, or Facebook are always concise, relatable, and complete whatever topic they cover.

Sit on your ideas, mull them over for their soundness, and consult people who you know will be objective about their opinions about your content to give you the edge on social media.

Lastly, be updated with other content creators in your niche. Quality content is current content. Make sure you are not being left behind regarding trends and movements in your niche.

Other Tips for Boosting Engagement on Social Media

Do Promos Like Contests and Giveaways – There is nothing more encouraging than rewards and giveaways. Even users who seldom comment are compelled to participate because of the lure of winning something.

Remember to schedule posting content with these promos and giveaways during high-traffic hours to maximize your reach.

Appeal to Your Audience’s Emotions – Make it a point to intentionally tell your audience to leave a comment, like, or share your content. Create content that makes people want to engage. This simple call to action gets real results.

Use Emojis to Better Illustrate Your Point – A text without emojis feels flat and bland. The same is true about any social media post that is devoid of emojis. Use emojis but do not overdo them, and you will find that people will be encouraged to read through and interact with your posts.

Make Good Thumbnails – Thumbnails offer a preview of what an audience can see in your video content. Make thumbnails just a little clickbait-y, and you may be rewarded with more views and engagement.

Just don’t go overboard, and always deliver on what your thumbnail promises.

Optimize Your Headlines and Titles – The algorithm understands only keywords and SEO-optimized headlines and titles. Be thrust at the forefront of users’ feeds when you optimize titles and headings.

To Conclude

Engagement rewards you from a financial angle but, more importantly, gives your work validation from your community. You need both in more or less equal measure. Garnering engagement as one of your goals takes care of your career as a content creator.