Rebekah Mori — April 26, 2017 
Social media engagement is essential to meeting your online presence goals. Developing an interactive online community spreads brand awareness, strengthens customer loyalty, and increases your consumer following. Once you are clear on your social media goals, you can select tactics that drive interaction to your business. To get you started, here are 13 easy ways to boost engagement across your social media channels.
1. Share Quality Content
Users do not follower advertisers, they follow people. Think about meeting your customers in your off-hours to socialize. What would you talk about with them? A bit about your industry in general, a funny joke you love, questions about their opinions, right? That’s exactly how successful social media efforts work. Share content about your industry, the day-to-day operations, and events in the community you share with your customers.
2. Tailor Content to the Social Media
Every channel is different. A post perfect for LinkedIn may flunk on Facebook. Think about why people use each of these sites and tailor the content to best serve that audience.
3. Make Your Posts Actionable
Post questions. End your posts with a call to action. Ask for feedback. Actionable posts encourage deeper engagement with your social media channel and your business, so think through ways to create social media posts that encourage commenting, sharing, and reactions.
4. Time Your Posts
Different social media channels have different peak user times and days. Posting during this time increases the chances of being seen and engaged with by more people.
5. Use Hashtags
Hashtags help people discover your business. Users following a hashtag that you use will be able to find your post and engage in your conversation. Pick several hashtags related to your business and location then include them at the end of your posts.
6. Join Conversations Relevant to Your Business
Social media conversations are two-way streets, so engage your followers and potential audience members. Follow the hashtags you selected and check in on those regularly. When you see relevant conversations, comment, react, follow and share.
7. Highlight Your Company Culture
Include the side of your business that customers do not get see, whether it is a forthcoming service, a picture from an office outing, or a feature post from an employee.
8. Ask for Feedback
Ask your followers for their thoughts on services they would like, the quality of their last experience, or the value of a promotion. This is an easy way to build excitement, connect with your consumer base, and get ahead of potential service issues.
9. Humor Travels
Include good-natured jokes in your content mix. Humorous posts get higher rates of attention and engagement compared to other types of content.
10. So Do Visuals
A picture is truly worth a thousand words. Image-driven content is another high performer for boosting engagement.
11. Identify & Engage with Influencers
Influencers are individuals on a social media channel that influence the behavior or opinions of a large group of people. Since they have a more influential network, the content they engage with moves farther and faster around the web. Look for people who have a larger following and high levels of positive engagement on their posts. Support their social media efforts or offer them incentives such as promos, samples, or tours. Keep in mind that they will share their honest feedback with their audience. Built on honesty and mutual respect, influencer relationships boost your brand’s awareness, reach, followers, and expertise.
12. Gamify
Make social media a game. Contests, giveaways and competitions are a fun way to get people to share and invite others to follow you. Get creative and keep the energy going when pushing gamification.
13. Hold Q & A Sessions
Holding a question and answers session positions your company as an industry expert. Be sure to announce and promote the Q & A session ahead of time to get the biggest draw.
There are many ways to drive social media engagement, but you do not need to take advantage of every tactic. Choosing a few simple ways to meet your goals strengthens your social media presence and drives results to your business.
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