Being active on social media must be an essential part of your marketing plan if you want to succeed in today’s market. There are over 2.22 billion, with a “b”, social network users worldwide. With that number expected to climb to over 2.5 billion within the next two years, can your brand survive without a social media presence or even a weak one?
Absolutely not.
Creating quality content is imperative, but if no one engages with your content, like the fallen tree in the forest, does it make a sound? You want “loud” content. Inviting content that initiates response.
Now, you might be wondering how much loud, inviting, sharable content costs. And further fretting that you don’t have the necessary funds to build a tremendous social media following.
Well, there is an old adage that floats around: “if it’s free, it’s for me.” (Or maybe that’s just my mom talking…)
Okay, let’s be serious here. Below, I have compiled a list of five ways to boost your social media engagement for FREE so you can optimize results in a wallet-friendly manner…
1) Create Visual Interest
Social media and visual content need each other simply because color and design draw the eye. Here are some stats to back me up, Jack:
- Research indicates that colored visuals increase people’s willingness to read a piece of content by 80%
- Image selection is crucial. Content with relevant images get 94% more views than content without
2) Use Call to Action
An almost surefire way to increase your post engagement is to create a call to action (CTA). This requires viewer interaction with your post in some capacity. Here are two types of CTA posts:
- Trivia. Include a trivia question about a team member, for example, and have your social media audience try to guess who the team member could be. Not only does this increase engagement, it also lets your audience get to know you as a practice. Personalizing a brand can never hurt
- Click here. Watch this. Read more. Use action words to direct engagement. A post should always include some sort of interactive instruction
3) Retweet and Link to Other Content
If your social media following is lacking or you want to increase engagement on your posts, retweeting posts from larger, reputable sources, might be the move for you.
Retweeting is a free and easy way to reach a larger audience who, in turn, might start following you.
Let’s give a hypothetical example:
Ryan Reynolds has just tweeted about the dangers of the sun and its part in skin disease. If you’re a practice that deals with skincare, melanoma or any skin-related disease, a tweet from a Hollywood star is a major opportunity!
By retweeting or linking to other content, like the above example, you’ll be able to gain more links to your site, which increases brand awareness and connects you with industry leaders and/or trend setters.
4) Repurpose Content
There are a ton of social media platforms that exist today – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest, to name a few. Just about the easiest way to increase your engagement is to adapt your content for the specific social media audience you want to hit. Remember, each platform appeals to a different demographic and therefore requires a different voice.
5) Add a Personal Touch
Don’t you hate it when you call a store and there is an automated answering machine or a phone tree? Well, the same can be said for your social media following. Your followers/audience want to know there is a real person behind your posts. As I mentioned earlier, one of the easiest ways to do this is to create interactive content that tells your audience that they can finally pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
Social media can be a blessing if you properly and actively engage. Building a following is like building relationships. You don’t necessarily need money; just time to connect.
