Three Simple Ways to Engage Your Audience Online
No one knows all of the nuances and details of the algorithms of social media. However, we have seen consistencies and patterns in posting and promotion. What we do know is that social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter all rank you higher as a business with the more engagement that your audience has with you. If people don’t engage with your content, the social media platforms interpret that as your audience saying they don’t care about what you have to say. If they don’t care about what you have to say, then the social media companies are not going to put your content in front of your audience. There are lots of ways that you can encourage your audience to interact with you to help with your rankings.
- Keep your post copy short and sweet
Let people engage with your photos. Post multiple photos (on Facebook, more than four and on Instagram, more than one), so that people have to swipe through to see all of your photos. - Ask a question in your content to engage people to respond
They can respond with likes, shares, or comments. When you ask a question, request that people respond in the comments. In Facebookâs Publishing Tools section, you can create a poll. If you want people to vote on their favorite from a group of photos, use all of the Facebook reaction buttons to vote for a particular picture. So let’s say you want them to vote for number one, they can push the like button to vote for photo two, they can push the love button, etc. - Keep the interaction going
Respond to comments and messages as quickly as possible. When someone comments on one of your posts, don’t just like their comment, try to engage them more and continue the conversation. Let’s say you asked a question about someone’s favorite State Park, and someone commented with their favorite State Park. You can and ask a follow up question, like what their favorite part of that state park is or where they like to stop to get a snack along the way. Pro tip: don’t drag it out in a way that’s awkward or annoying. Use your best judgment with the hope that you can continue to engage people with comments.