Make it Visual
We always say that putting a post out there without an image is like posting a postcard without a stamp. The message might be nice, but it isn’t going to reach the people you want it to as it just won’t stand out.
Take the time to take some nice images of what you do, whether that’s images of your products or some nice shots of your team or premises. You can choose to employ a photographer, but it’s something you can definitely do yourself too so that there is no cost involved.
If you’re struggling for imagery think about utilising software like Canva which will allow you to create professional style graphics for free and has a huge library of copyright free stock images too. Upload your logo, select your brand colours and fonts and keep it consistent to make sure your content is instantly recognised as being yours. There are also sites out there including UnSplash and Pexels which allow you to download copyright free images to fill those gaps where you don’t have an image of your own. Making sure you use a site like this is hugely important as downloading just any image from Google could land you with a huge fine!
Ask Questions
This is one the most common tips for improving engagement, but it works! Ask your audience for their opinion, whether that’s about colours for new products or what they think of a certain topic. Now more than ever social media users like to give their opinion and they like to know it matters. So, where you can, implement some of their suggestions and they’ll be excited to see they’ve been involved in a decision you have made!
You could do this in a simple post with an attractive graphic, or utilise the poll features available on the majority of the social media platforms.
Share Content from Others
Now this maybe sounds like a strange one but sharing content from other businesses or from your customers will help to mix up the content on your page. Sharing a review or an example of how your product or service has helped a customer probably sounds like the obvious option as people love seeing their contribution being shared.
However, when it comes to sharing content from another business this can be really effective too. Make sure what you are sharing fits with your brand message and is relevant to your audience though so maybe stick to businesses related to what you do or are in your locality. By sharing from others you’ll provide fresh content for your audience but also build a support network with the other businesses. You should hopefully soon see them sharing your content too, helping you to boost your engagement and grow your following.
Plan your Posting Times
You need to be thinking about when your audience are going to be online to see your post. Make the most of the insights available on the social media platforms and do some research online to figure out the optimum times to push your content out.
Not only that, you should be thinking about how you could jump on trending topics and news when planning your content. Could you post something related to a popular TV show or a notable day of the year? If so, the likelihood is more people will see it and engage with it due to you being on the ball with posting content which is being searched for at a particular time.
Hashtags are Key
Leading on from tapping into those trending topics, you need to make sure you’re using the corresponding hashtag to allow your content to be found. For example, content which taps into daily trends like #WednesdayWisom or #FridayFeeling will be highly searched for and interacted with so will help to provide that engagement boost you’re looking for.
With your regular content too, you need to make sure you’re adding those hashtags. Now you don’t want to be adding reams and reams of hashtags to every post, you want to make sure they’re relevant and will allow your content to be displayed to audiences who will be interested in your post. The more people you can serve your content to who are interested in it, the more likely they are going to engage with your post. Hashtags work most effectively on Twitter, followed by Instagram and Pinterest – leave them out for Facebook as they are not commonly used, although this may come in the future.
As well as helping your content be seen, did you know hashtags also help with SEO? This blog post explains how this works when it comes to Instagram.
Still Not Seeing Improvements?
If you need some additional help with your social media presence or just want someone else to step in to write content that is going to convert, we can help! We’re always working to stay up to date with the latest updates in the world of digital marketing so we know exactly what to do to help your content get noticed.