How to Engage Your Audience on Social Media

2021, how we longed for your presence. Every year is a learning opportunity and the highs and very extreme lows of 2020 taught us to think on our feet, be flexible, and wash our hands. Businesses suffered greatly in the last year which is why 2021 begs for a fresh digital marketing strategy. It’s time to brainstorm, rethink, and re-strategize.

How’s your resolution list looking? “Watch less Netflix,” “call mom more,” and “sign up for an online gym” – sound, about right? For your business, there’s always new resolutions to consider.

With a wealth of experience, a skilled social media agency engages prospective clients through a combination of shareable video and image content, captioning, blog posts, strategically-placed links, audience feedback and interaction, social media partnering with other brands, contests, and more.

Tools for Engaging Potential Clients through Social Media

Strategy #1: Direct Posts to Social Platforms

Publish posts directly to platforms like Instagram and Facebook, including photos or videos to capture interest. Merely linking to another location is not likely to retain continuing interest. Have a video uploaded on Youtube? Upload it directly on Facebook to maximize reach.

(Pss… Curious if you should be putting your eggs in the Facebook basket? Since beginning in 2004, Facebook has become an overwhelming favorite worldwide. According to a Pew Research survey, the social media giant hosts an estimated 3.21 billion users, of whom approximately 74% visit the site daily.)

Strategy #2: Use Video to Capture Audience Attention

 A savvy social media manager will combine engaging, thought-provoking captions to grab the audience with a compelling video that tells your story succinctly in an entertaining fashion. Videos can range from choreographed productions with high-tech effects or creatively generated pieces produced with only a smartphone. Message and content are the critical elements of your story.

Utilize Instagram and Facebook stories to post video of behind-the-scenes company moments, product sneak peaks and promotions, and introductions to your team. Users are using stories at a high rate with some not even checking their feeds, and only checking their stories.

Social Media Today reports that video watchers who reached an e-commerce site via a user-generated video are 184% more likely to make a purchase. Furthermore, Facebook users watch 100 million hours of video every single day. Marketers need to be aware that since video is the highest engaging medium, social algorithms will show a video post more to audiences.

Video content is also significantly critical for attracting Millennials and Generation Z users. A YouTube survey cites that 50% of the consumers in these age groups find they “cannot live without” video accessibility.

Strategy #3: Stay Focused with Social Media Options

Stay with your primary social media targets to develop a consistent following rather than jumping around to several other platforms. Refresh your video and story presentation, when necessary, based on feedback and results.

Remember that video attracts the highest engagement levels since these have proven to remain in individuals’ feeds the longest. Find the platforms where your audiences are and post relevant content regularly.

Strategy #4: Employ User-Generated Content

Posts created with user-generated content like images, videos, customer testimonials, and other more personalized content appear more authentic and real. Promoting the human side of a product or service rather than a brand enhances trust, creates a desire to buy, fosters loyalty, encourages information sharing and continuing interaction.

Need more user-generated content? Consider running a social media contest where you collect user images and videos.

Strategy #5: Social Media Contest

A perfect segway. Social media contests are a great opportunity to increase your audience as well as collect user-generated content from consumers.

First, choose what type of contest you want to run. You can have people comment and tag their friends in a post for a chance to win a prize. You can require that they follow you on various channels too. You can also choose a video or photo contest. Participants can submit their photor or videos, which you can then share on a microsite, and you can even extend the contest to require people vote for their favorite submission. This will make contest participants reach out to their friends and rally support, offering you the chance for more exposure.

Note that not all contests will result in huge participation. In fact, if you have a small following and have never run a contest before, it’s likely that your first or second contest may be… petite. However, over time, you can learn and grow. It may require creating an ad or boosting your contest promotion post to reach a wider audience.

Additional Social Media Tips

Here are some tips for a social media manager to generate timely and effective content:

  1. Using available metrics and information, be sure to schedule posts at the optimal time when the most significant number of audience participants are most likely to be online. Keeping the conversation flowing will be the primary objective. View your insights and data in each platform to see when most followers are online.
  1. Use hashtags appropriately. A hashtag is a keyword phrase (preceded by #) in a social media post to help interested searchers find your topic by searching those identifying phases. When using hashtags, make sure:
    • They are short and easy to remember
    • They match what you are selling
    • You create different ones for each promotion.
    • You capitalize the first letter for hashtags you want to promote.
    • Your use more hashtags on Instagram and less (2-4) on other platforms.
  1. Stay topical with each post. IF you’re not sure what to post, jump into a trend or hot topic (while remaining professional). Try to relate to some well-known current activity or news item. If material is getting stale, your social media agency should be continually updating to more timely references. Last year’s news is likely to result in a click away from your message.

Stay Alert and Active

An expert social media manager recognizes the ever-increasing importance of relaying the message through channels of social media.
Since the main objectives are to grab a prospective customer’s attention, hold it, develop a personal connection, and assure that person’s life will be enhanced by the products or services offered, the manager must always be proactive in addressing consumer needs.

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