Once you post to Instagram or Facebook you’re done, right?
Wrong.
Posting is important to your overall content plan, but if you ghost your followers when they comment on what you’ve posted, they’re going to stop replying or they may even unfollow you.
If your aim is to get in front of as many people as possible, then engagement is one of the most important metrics. And remember, engagement includes likes, comments, shares, and saves. You can track these in your social media insights.
Our advice? Schedule time in your content calendar to interact with your followers and you’ll notice a steady increase in your stats.
Here are three ways to give your engagement a boost:
1. ACKNOWLEDGE THEIR RESPONSE
If someone takes the time to comment on your post, don’t ignore them. A simple “like” or “love” is good, but a comment is better.
When it comes to comments, the more personalized the better. People like to know that you read what they said, so try to make your response relevant.
Simply saying “cheers” works sometimes, but if you really want to encourage engagement, it isn’t enough. Especially when someone sees that it is how you responded to every other comment.
2. START A CONVERSATION AND PROVIDE VALUE
The best thing you can do for your engagement is start a conversation. Not only does it get people invested in your brand, but it also makes Facebook and Instagram very happy.
You see, these social media sites are trying to get people talking, so they love posts that do just that. We recommend adding a call to action at the end of your post that invites people to comment, like, or share. Then, give thoughtful responses to comments that invite your followers to chime back in.
3. COMMENT ON OTHER PEOPLE’S POSTS
If you want to encourage people to interact with your posts, one of the best things you can do is start a conversation on their posts. If you see a follower or another brand post something that is relevant to your company like the post and leave them a comment!
The more you engage with others, the more they are likely to engage with you.
WHY IT MATTERS
The all-powerful algorithm ranks engagement as one of the most important stats. If your post has more engagement, Facebook and Instagram are going to show it to more people.
Since engagement encourages engagement, the best way to get people to like/comment/share is to do it yourself. As an added bonus, your engagement can help to create a community around your brand and cultivate a loyal following.
If you think your engagement strategy needs some help, reach out and we’ll set up a free consultation.
This wraps up #5 of our series on the biggest mistakes that craft beverage companies are making online and how to fix them. ICYMI – last time we talked about posting platform-specific content.