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Engagement is a word that is often discussed as we talk about social media marketing. So, what exactly is engagement, and how can it help you grow your online presence? Simply put, social media engagement is how the algorithm measures how interested in your content (ie. engaged) your audience is. The more engaged your audience, the more “popular” your page appears, and it will in turn be shown to more of your followers.
Basically, you can put all the content out into the online world as you want, but if no one is interested in it, it is just going to sit there.
Think about Two Rooms of People
I like to think about it as two rooms of people. Imagine the first room is filled with familiar faces who already know, like, and trust you. This group of family members, friends, customers, and colleagues are hanging out in this room waiting to cheer you on and support you. Now, imagine the second room is filled with a group of strangers. They don’t know who you are or what you have to offer, and they aren’t particularly excited to learn about you.
So, what is the goal? You want to get all of those uninterested strangers to move into the supportive familiar faces room.
How do you do that? By creating interesting content to build an engaged target audience on your social media accounts!
What is Social Media Engagement?
So, what makes content engaging? Let’s start by talking about what counts as an “engagement” on Facebook? Other platforms use similar actions to gauge this, though each varies just a bit. For the purpose of this blog post, I’m going to cover what Facebook considers an engagement.
Facebook engagements include read more clicks, likes, comments, shares, tags, video views of more than 3 seconds long, saves, etc. Any action that a user is taking as they see your content is an engagement.
How Does Engagement Affect Post Reach?
Facebook (and other social media platforms) want to show the platform users the content that they will be most interested in. There is so much content posted to social media each day that it would be impossible to show all posts to all users. So, page and post engagement helps the algorithm decide what content to show to users.
The reason some of your posts get seen more than others has to do with the TIMING of that engagement. If you post something that receives likes, comments, or other engagements right away, it has more potential for the algorithm to show that post to more people. Alternatively, if you post something and no one likes or otherwise engages with it right away, it will be shown to fewer people.
Take a look at your insights data for your Facebook page, and you will see this in action. You will likely see a handful of posts that had a very low reach, and you will also see some posts that have a significantly higher reach. This is almost always directly related to the engagement that happened on the post.
This is another reason why the time of day that you post is important. You want to always be aware of when most of your followers are online, and post during those times. For example, if you post at midnight and no one sees it, it’s likely that very few people will see it by the time morning arrives. Your post is “old news” by then.
Social Media Engagement Tips
You’ve likely heard people say, “Put the social back in social media,” or “It’s called social media for a reason.” That’s true!
While your goal obviously is to sell more of your product or service and that’s why you are on social media for business, it’s essential to build a community with your followers. Don’t just sell at them. Offer value and make your posts interesting. Give them a reason to follow you. Make that room of strangers know, like, and trust you.
Plan your Content
As we talk about creating content that will be engaging for your audience, it’s important to have a content plan. Within that plan, you want to make sure you are mixing up your post topics.
Share helpful information related to your industry, give behind-the-scenes peeks at what you do, share customer testimonials, staff features, fun facts, etc. Mix these other post types in among your “sale” posts. But, don’t forget that you can still work calls-to-action into your value/other posts.
Encourage Audience Interaction
As you create your content, do what you can to encourage audience interaction. Ask them a question or invite them to share a story or photo of something related to what you are talking about.
Be careful with your verbiage because Facebook doesn’t like it when you use words like “share, comment, giveaway, etc.” You can find lists of words you shouldn’t use online, but basically, you want to encourage follower interaction without it seeming like you are asking for it.
Be Active in Your Stories
Posting to your page’s stories at least once every 24 hours keeps your page active in the “Stories” feed. This is a great way to build engagement on your page. It is quick to post a little story slide versus a full social media post. You don’t have to overthink these, just post something about your business in some way and move on.
On the days when you don’t publish a full social media post, try to post at least one story per day. As many as one per hour is great, but I recommend just starting with one per day until you get into the habit, and just know you can always do more as time and inspiration allows.
Go Live and Share Videos!
Show your face! People love videos, and Instagram Reels and TikTop clips have also become fan favorites. If you can mix some sort of video content among your text posts, it should boost your account’s engagement and show your non-video posts to more of your followers. If you are new to video on social media, this blog post has some tips for going live. You can do it!
Answer All Comments
As we talk about engagement, it’s important to answer all of the comments that followers may leave on your posts, and do it as soon after they comment as you can. Don’t just like their comment if you can help it – it’s important that you reply back to them. This generates conversation and shows Facebook that your audience is interested in you (and that you are interested in them.)
Engage With Other Pages and Accounts
It’s also a good idea to engage with other pages and accounts in your niche. Engaging for 15-30 minutes before and after you post on Instagram is recommended by many experts. Engaging on Facebook is also a great idea.
On Facebook, I often do a mix of posting as myself and my page. It’s more authentic if you do so as yourself. However, make sure your personal profile is optimized with your business links!
If you are a B2C business, you can try to engage with your target customer by joining some local Facebook groups where they hang out. There are some great opportunities for connecting with your customers there. Be aware of each group’s rules, as some don’t allow self-promotion.
