10 Killer Tips to Boost Social Media Engagement

1. Focusing more on the captions than on the image – As per experience and the usual pattern, it is the image that your audience looks at first and then if the graphic is of interest, they go on to read the caption. However, it is the caption where 80% of the thinking goes. Graphics that are attention-grabbing and where the caption co-aligns with the visual always perform better. I have often observed and learned by example to prioritize the visuals and to then support the visual with a short relevant caption.

2. Underplaying or overplaying with hashtags – Hashtags are the holy grail of social media marketing. But, how many are too many? On LinkedIn, usage of hashtags is comparatively low as compared to its counterparts. Having a detailed reference sheet helps to connect the content better with relevant hashtags. Research often to see how your audience interacts with industry-related hashtags across platforms and then draft your strategy. Reaching the right audience depends largely on the choice and usage of hashtags. It is quite a bit like following a channel for specific updates. Is your content synced with the appropriate channel? While on LinkedIn 1 or 2 hashtags can be used, for Twitter you can be a little more flexible. It isn’t also always necessary to use a hashtag, sometimes, simply rolling out relevant content for your immediate audience is the requirement for which a hashtag can be avoided.

3. Quality > Quantity – Buffer Social’s social strategy is one example of achieving more by posting less on their social platforms. It is never a mandate to have a said number of posts in a month or a week. Analyze your content structure. Does it have the necessary elements? Does it add value? Put yourself in the shoes of the reader and check if it will drive him to hit the like button or share the update or even just make him smile or curious to know more. As per LinkedIn,updates containing links can have 45% higher follower engagement than updates without links.

4. Drafting the content with a ‘Me’ or ‘Us’ focus – Think of an offline social scenario, you’re meeting a friend or even maybe a prospective client – would your conversation comprise of only your skills, abilities and achievements? I believe – No. Online social scenarios are no exceptions. Have more than 3 posts a week talking about yourself? You might just want to replace or rephrase them. Draft your content keeping in mind the interests of your audience.

5. Mirroring content for each platform – Each platform works differently, the audience might also differ across LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. One size or sentiment doesn’t fit all. While you can have a more casual approach on Facebook, it is short, witty captions that work better on Twitter. LinkedIn is much more like a large online conference that you’re attending. You can laugh and share a joke but not compromise much on the professional language. While drafting the content follow the golden rule of RQV – Relevancy, Quick-to-consume and Value adding. If the content meets these three basic criteria, it has a higher chance of garnering engagement.

6. Re-purposing best performing content strategy – Month over month, we churn out content to communicate about various services, products and initiatives. On an average every organization has about 10 best performing posts per month. But, not even half of the organizations repurpose this content. New audience is getting added to your community on a daily basis, why not repurpose high-performing content to inform and engage? Dive deeper into post-level insights to ascertain which content is repurpose-worthy.

7. Leaving no scope for real-time updates – Most of the organizations follow a fixed strategy of having a set number of posts each month. While it is good to have a strategy, when it comes to Social Media, it is also imperative to not miss out on current affairs and talk about the same. Take into account the events or maybe a CSR initiative or what if a new recognition? Leave scope for real-time updates to not over crowd the social platforms with excessive posts.

8. Ignoring the element of brand consistency – Amul does a fantastic job at maintaining a brand consistency and designing campaigns on a real-time post. One look and you would know, this graphic belongs to Amul. Do your graphics and captions follow a consistent approach in terms of the font, colours, logo placement or mascot? Take a look. Having a master branding document with specifications on which font to use and which colour codes to apply helps to ensure clarity and maintain the branding.

9. Not including enough industry-focused content – Participate in conversations and share valuable third-party articles related to your industry to inform your audience and share a perspective about your company’s interests. Well researched articles and reports are informative and can help to support the decision making process.

10. Analysis of the content sentiment – It often happens that after posting certain content, I realize that this could’ve been written better. If I would’ve replaced this phrase with that, it would have been more impactful. Is the caption too subtle? Is it too affirmative? Can I make it more toned down? These are certain questions that help to draft a more effective content strategy. The synergy of the content on the graphic and that of the text should be well-balanced. Testing often and thinking from a third person’s point of view has almost always helped me.

The understanding of social media is changing over the years and organizations are becoming more aware of the benefits that it holds for their businesses, content strategy is something that we can always work on to make it more engaging and value-adding. Think there is scope of improvement in your current strategy? Have more to add to the above mentioned points? I’d love to know in the comments below.