A few social media tips

Effective use of social media has become an essential tool for businesses to deepen their customer relationships and grow brand loyalty. Below are our top tops for increasing audience engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Facebook icon   Facebook

Tip 1: Start a conversation

Pull in followers with questions and call-to-actions to initiate conversation and generate more likes, comments, and clicks. People are much more likely to interact with your post if you address them directly. Tell them what you want them to do. For example, you might say “Like this post if you’ve ever been to San Diego” or “Tell us which one is your favorite”. This is also your chance to build a more personal relationship with followers – talk to them as if you were talking to someone one-on-one.

Tip 2: Keep your posts short

Facebook post

In the past 5 years, the average person’s attention span has decreased by more than 31% to a total of 8.25 seconds (StatisticBrain.com). That’s less than the attention span of a goldfish. So, when people see big blocks of text, they cringe, and scroll on without taking a second to read a word, let alone engage. Posts with 80 characters or fewer receive 66% higher engagement, and posts with as few as 40 characters receive even 86% higher engagement (SocialMediaToday.com). Keep it short.

Tip 3: Use imagery (photos or video)

Pictures speak louder than words, and this is very clear in the statistics for Facebook engagement. Photos receive 53% more “likes”, more than twice the amount comments, and 84% more clicks. To get your customers’ full attention, fully engage them with the immersive experience of a video or a captivating image.

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Twitter icon Twitter

Tip 1:  Engage followers in real time

Twitter gives you direct access to customer feedback and the chance to continuously craft your brand experience in real time. But customer expectations for engagement are high. Each year, users expect a faster response when engaging with social media outlets. According to Search Engine Watch, 70% of Twitter users expect a response when interacting with companies, and 53% prefer a response within 60 minutes of posting. When used for customer complaints, the expectation rises to 72% (eConsultancy).

Tip 2:  View the active consumer as the new influencer

As the everyday consumer’s voice grows stronger with social media, people are increasingly likely to tweet about their favorite brands (or complain about them) and promote them in their own content. Consumer-created content increases the likelihood that an additional consumer will be attracted to your product. (Huffington Post). So it’s especially important to engage passionate Twitter followers and nurture your relationship with them– they’ll form an important part of your success in gaining even more followers.

Tip 3:  Include video content to enhance engagement

Video is a great way to catch the eyes of viewers in the fast moving Twitter stream, increase engagement and grow your audience.  Marketers are using video more than ever in today’s saturated media landscape. It’s everywhere: 73% of marketers will increase the use of video in 2016, and 21% claim it to be the most important form of content marketing. (Business.com).

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Instagram icon Instagram

Tip 1: Showcase the experience

Elevate your brand by showing off the experiences one can have with a product, instead of just the product. Highlighting experiences can have a strong emotional impact and may help influence consumers much more than basic product details. Use striking images to tell stories about what they can experience by making an investment in your brand –whether it’s showing off a new outfit out on the town or snapping amazing vacation pictures with a new phone.

Tip 2: Optimize #hashtags and locations

Use hashtags, as this can have a dramatic effect on how many people you reach with your carefully curated images. To make one, use your company name or a defining catchphrase. Hashtags are on every social media platform, and it’s important that your business uses them to expand content reach and improve SEO. However, it’s also important that you don’t use too many at once. You should also tag the location of the post, as it’s proven to drive engagement by 79% (Ipsy Open Studios).

Tip 3: Use video and graphics 

Have you incorporated videos into your campaigns? Instagram videos actually receive twice the amount of engagement as photos (Video Checkout). Videos are even more effective than images in telling engaging stories about products and services. The immersive experience of a video can quickly capture viewers on an emotional level, creating stronger relationships with them.

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