Social media success is measured mostly by the number of likes, shares, and comments you get. The more you succeed at these metrics, the higher the likelihood that people will be shown more of your content in the future. If you want to build an engaged and active community online, take note of these crucial tips.

Ask the People

People are opinionated, so why not ask them what they think about something? Indeed, asking questions is one of the proven ways of increasing your engagement online—and gleaning insight into customer preferences and behaviors. The key, however, is choosing the right questions. Make sure that it is relevant to your brand and that it is timely. If it’s winter and your company sells footwear online, you may ask something like: “What’s your favorite winter footwear? Tell us in the comments!”

Know When to Post

While people constantly check Facebook and other social media sites throughout the day, there are certain time periods where they are most likely on the platform. Luckily, Facebook has a nifty Insights tab which tells you at what time your audience is most active. As for Twitter, this infographic from KissMetrics says that people are most likely to be sending and checking tweets at around 5PM, with midweek and weekends being their most active days.

Use Photos

Nothing catches a Facebook user’s attention more than captivating imagery. In your posts, always try to include a visual component, whether that may be product shots or nice vector graphics. Just make sure that the image quality is high to better encourage people to share it. Also, if you’re planning to add text overlays on your image, make sure to follow Facebook’s 20% rule, or you might have trouble boosting your post to your audience.

Be Quick to Respond

More and more, social media channels are becoming customer service channels too—many people tweet brands to inquire about products or to let their complaints be heard. What’s more, a study by Twitter and Applied Marketing Science found that people who got a response quickly were more satisfied with their customer experience, and were more willing to recommend the brand to others and buy more products in the future. As such, make sure to have a dedicated person or team who will serve as your online customer service reps to make sure all of these questions and comments are attended to in a timely manner.

Hold a Contest

Who wouldn’t want to get free stuff? If you’re new to a social media platform and wish to garner more followers, consider holding a contest to spur engagement. There are many formats to choose from, including raffles, captioning a certain photo, and sharing a photo using your prescribed hashtag. The key here, however, is to make it as easy as possible for contestants to enter—don’t make them bend over backwards just to get a reward! Also, make sure that the prize you’re offering is commensurate to the contestants’ effort in joining.

Look at Your Data

At the end of every month, take a look at your Facebook insights and data analytics, and see which posts did best. If you find that people react particularly well towards short videos, perhaps you can increase the frequency of this format type or even run a mini-campaign. The data will tell you what people want—you just have to listen to it.

With more and more brands joining the social media bandwagon, standing out and making a genuine connection with your audience is becoming ever more challenging. If you need help establishing and growing your social media presence, consider hiring a digital marketing agency that has the creativity and insight to help you get more likes, shares, and comments.

Sources:

8 Surefire Ways To Increase Engagement Facebook, KissMetrics.com

How to Increase Social Media Engagement, BrandWatch.com