If you’re trying to engage better with your social media followers, you may need to start doing things differently. Almost every business today has a Facebook page, Twitter account, and other social media pages. In order to actually connect with your customers, however, you need a strategy. Let’s look at some ways to make the most of your efforts with social media.
1. Mix It Up
To get the best possible results on social media, share content in a variety of formats. As visual content gets ever more popular it’s essential to publish high-quality images. It’s better to post distinctive images that you or your employees took yourself than stock photos that are similar to thousands of others. Aside from photos, you can get engagement from infographics, videos, and text posts. Posting a variety of content helps to keep your followers interested and engaged.
2. Drive Traffic to Your Blog
Social media isn’t a replacement for blogging. Both are excellent strategies for driving traffic and engagement. When you use them together, they complement one another nicely. Your blog gives you a chance to build your brand and establish your expertise. Make sure you create blog content that reflects your readers’ interests. Every time you post something new, make sure to link to it from your social media posts and pages.
3. Broadcast Stories
The Stories feature on Instagram and Facebook is currently one of the best ways to increase engagement. Statista reports that Instagram Stories has 500 million daily active users. While it can be hard to get your organic posts noticed, Stories are featured at the top of the page. Since Stories are only visible for 24 hours, use this feature for timely content. You don’t always need earth-shattering news. You can create a quick Story to tell followers about your latest happenings, your thoughts on a popular topic, or just to say hello.
4. Use Hashtags to Target Prospects
On Instagram and Twitter, you can search for hashtags that relate to your business and interact with users. Like and share posts. Follow accounts and make comments. Some of these people will follow you back. These actions don’t take up much time and can help you expand your reach on social media.
5. Try Paid Ads
You can use paid ads to drive traffic to your organic content. Social media ads let you target your audience with precision. You can specify the demographic that’s best in terms of age, gender, income, location, interests, and other criteria. With social media advertising, it’s important to watch your spending, track your results and identify what type of ads are getting you the best results.
6. Keep Up With the Latest News and Trends
It’s important to stay current with the latest happenings in your industry. It’s fine to link to other sites provided they aren’t direct competitors. Your followers will appreciate links to news items and interesting columns on topics they follow. It’s also good to share your opinion and add something to the discussion. Additionally, ask your followers to respond with their own reactions. If it’s a controversial issue, you might post a poll to see how everyone feels.
7. Engage With Your Followers
It’s important to elicit feedback from people and respond when you get questions or comments. Ask questions and run polls to find out more about your followers’ interests and preferences. This can help you post content that matches their needs. Another way to motivate people to engage is to run a social media contest. You might, for example, run a Facebook contest where followers send in their own photos or videos highlighting your area. Seeing all these great images will make people want to visit.
All types of businesses can benefit from social media if they use it the right way. Choose platforms where your potential clients are active and post consistently. As you grow your following on social media, you’ll find that it’s a great resource for attracting more leads and customers. Partnering with the right agency can help you get better results from social media as well as all your marketing efforts.
Act! provides CRM and marketing automation for small and midsize businesses. To learn more about our services, contact us.
