What is Social Media Engagement

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Today, brands need to offer something more to be present on social networks. They need to capture the attention of the audience and increase the response rate of their community. But do you know how you can improve your brand’s social media engagement? Exactly, it is the degree of interaction that the consumer has with the brand.

This means that depending on the level of connection you have with the brand, the greater commitment the consumer has.

The social media engagement rate can be demonstrated in different ways on social networks such as through likes, shares, comments, mentions, feelings, and views.

In essence, engagement is the ability of a brand to engage its audience and generate a long-term commitment that ends up turning them into customers and positively influencing the company’s objectives.

Based on this definition, there are multiple indicators that you can use to measure it: number of followers, visits, likes, comments, etc. The choice of these KPIs will depend on the strategy and objectives of the company. In any case, the concept of engagement is independent of the network or social networks you are using.

Before jumping into the pool, we have to be prepared if we don’t want to swim in circles. To measure the impact of your social networks, you need to establish a series of metrics that will help you identify the performance of each action and take the appropriate measures at all times.

There are Multiple Indicators or KPIs For This Task, Among Which Highlight:

Scope: Several people who have seen the publication of a social media profile on their screen.

Conversions: The action of reaching a previously set goal in Google Analytics.

Several followers: Users who follow a brand, company, or another user due to their interest in its contents.

Engagement: Percentage of user interaction with published content (links, videos, images …)

Impressions: Several times a post from your social network is displayed, whether or not you click on it.

Interaction: The reaction of a user to the content they have viewed ( likes, comments, clicks, times shared, etc.)

Visualizations: Number of times that audiovisual content is viewed.

Leads. Data or opportunity to contact a potential client.

Frequency: Number of times that the same publication impacts the same user. It is calculated by dividing the number of impressions by the scope.

Mention: Action in which another user quotes or references another user.

Unique users. Several different visitors who visit our social network.

Sales: Sales made of a service or product on the social platform.

Currently, there is a wide variety of social media engagement tools that help you measure endless parameters. Each one has specific characteristics and some may be more useful than others

Some of the most used tools to measure our performance on social networks are HootSuite Social Analytics, Brand watch, Social Mention, How sociable, Simply Measured, and Tweet Reach. Normally, you end up combining several of them for an optimal result.

What Are The Factors That Determine The Best Time To Post On Social Networks?

The best time to publish on social networks will depend fundamentally on four components:

The social network.

The sector.

Your target audience.

1. The Frequency of Publication

These four aspects are very important when preparing a social media audit and you must always keep them in mind. You can go for social media engagement companies

Each social network has specific characteristics and has its publication frequency. Therefore, posting on Facebook is not the same as posting on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram.

To give you an idea, Twitter is a social network with a frequency of publication much higher than other social networks. You just have to look at the activity that many companies have in this social network concerning the others. Maybe we are talking about 10 daily tweets compared to a daily post on Facebook or Instagram.

In these cases, it is necessary to take into account a wider time slot about the rest of social networks.

2. The Sector

Regardless of when your followers connect the most, the sector in which you are has great relevance to select correctly the publication hours with the greatest impact.

With an example, you will see it. Imagine that you are managing the social networks of a restaurant. You have analyzed in depth what hours your followers are most active and the result is from 3:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. would it make sense to post when people have finished eating? Very little. It would be more logical to do it before lunchtime to stimulate people’s desire to eat at your restaurant.

3. Your Target Audience

If you do not know the type of person who may be interested in what you have, you will achieve little or nothing. Perhaps the most relevant factor of all.

Not only do you have to know what time your followers are most active on social networks, but also the type of content they consume and for which they show the most interest.

To do this, the use of analytical and tools to measure social media engagement will help you get to know your followers in detail.

4. Frequency of publication and Activity of Your Account

When you plan your calendar of publications on social networks, another aspect to take into account is the frequency with which you are going to publish content.

And you will ask yourself, why? Very easy. Posting on Twitter (whose frequency of publication is broader and more dynamic) is not the same as on other social networks such as LinkedIn.

Twitter, unlike the rest, has a larger time slot to schedule your posts.

Why Social Media Engagement is Important 

An active account reinforces the image of the brand, but without exceeding ourselves. Maintaining an excessively active account can be tiresome and annoying, and the quality of the content will surely be lower. Quality is better than quantity.

We are going to focus on the four main social networks: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Take these data as a reference to know where to start and from there, analyze your statistics, research your competition, and do the appropriate tests to get the best result depending on your sector.

Facebook: 

The best hours are from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m., from 6:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. and from 8:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., with Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday being the best days to post.

Instagram: 

From 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The best days: Monday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. 

Twitter: 

The best times are from 3:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. and from 9:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., Monday through Friday is the best day to post.

LinkedIn:  

10:00 am to 11:00 am is the best time (the worst being afternoon) and Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday are the most appropriate days.

How to Increase Social Media Engagement Rate

If you apply the following guidelines, managing social networks to improve the commitment between your brand and buyer people will be much easier.

1. Start Conversations

To build a community you need to talk to your audience. You don’t have to reply to every comment you see, but always stay active and participate in 

The wheel of social media engagement.

If you focus on the quality of these interactions, the commitment obtained towards your messages will be greater by your followers. You will show interest and concern about what is happening and you will get them involved with you.

2. Take An Interest In Your Audience

You can use social networks to communicate, to promote your services and products … But, above all, show interest in your audience:

Post detailed and interesting information in your status updates.

Ask your followers what they think through their preferences and what they like.

Ask for their opinion when you post videos, photos, or other links.

The possibilities to get to know your audience are very varied. Be innovative and creative.

3. Add value

Don’t focus on self-promotion and one-way messages that don’t add anything to users. Instead, share interesting content with your fans, applying the 80/20 rule. 

That is, 80% of your publications focused on your competitors, sharing articles from other professionals, highlighting news from your sector, etc. 

In this way, you will constantly offer valuable content to your buyer persona and will gain credibility and trust.

4. Includes Call to Action

If you want your audience to do something, ask them the right way and without disturbing them by using customer engagement in social media. 

When you tell your followers what you want from them, they are more willing to collaborate. And over time, engagement with your brand will increase.

The calls to action or CTA that work best are those that convey a direct and blunt message, short, very visual, focused on the interest of your audience, and with the use of appropriate language, away from canned corporate messages.

5. Get The Most Out of Images

Images are one of the most attractive types of content for users and the easiest to carry out. They can see them quickly, connect with your audience, can be fun, and help you grab their attention. Do you know how to increase the engagement of your images?

6. Connect 

Establishing authentic relationships with prominent people in your industry is a great way to get new professional contacts, increase your credibility, and have access to a broader network of people to spread your message. 

Connect with these influencers and share their posts to add value to your followers.

7. Invest in Advertising and Promotion

Social media advertising can be tremendously engaging and effective. An economical way to get better and faster results. Thanks to it, you will gain access to a more specific audience that is interested in your products and services.

Sure you sound Facebook Ads, Instagram Ads, or LinkedIn Ads. And if not, look at the advertising that comes out constantly when you browse your social networks. Not to see it, right?

8. Use Short Videos To Increase Engagement

The short video is a widely used strategy to captivate your audience due to the amount of information you can transmit (tutorials, use of products or services, show brand identity, customer service, courses, events, storytelling, etc.)

Unlike texts, videos have better engagement because they consume less time, empower more senses (visual and auditory) and that seduces people, generating emotions that help connect with your audience.

9. Be Aware of Publications

Today, the competition is so overwhelming on social media that it is very important to be consistent with the posts. Only in this way will you be able to compete with it.

But beware! That does not mean that you have to publish content non-stop. It is better to have a reasonable number of posts and that they add value to your community.

10. Organize Raffles and Contests

The sweepstakes and contests will help boost the commitment largely because people have the option to receive something in return. You encourage them to act voluntarily, strengthening ties with your company. 

Depending on how you run it, the amount of user-generated content for your brand will increase dramatically.

11. Use The Hashtags That Are Trending

As you use hashtags, you can increase engagement on social networks considerably. Thanks to this resource, you will involve people who do not follow you yet but who are part of your target audience. If you use relevant hashtags from your sector, you will increase the chances that they will find your content.

To choose a good hashtag you can choose:

Observe which ones are used by influencers in your sector.

Use those that are trending at the time.

Employ related hashtags. For example, if the main hashtag is a gym, you can choose to use training, fitness, bodybuilding, etc. It all adds up.

Follow popular hashtags to find new social media engagement posts ideas

Conclusion

Connecting with the audience is the key to success. As you can see, improving your engagement on social networks can bring you a higher level of reach, impact, interest, and response with your target audience. And with these recommendations, we are convinced that you will get the most out of your social media strategy.