Why do some social posts get a hundred “likes” or shares while others languish without any engagement? It’s a common question that many tech business owners ask as they put time and effort into their social media posts and wonder if anyone out there cares.
While shares and likes are designed to give us a feeling of gratification, they’re also an indicator of how engaged followers are with your business.
If you’ve been wondering how you can get more engagement on your social media posts, here are some strategies you can use to create compelling posts that invite people to interact with and share your content.
Tips for Creating Social Posts that People Want to Click & Share
Social media has become where most people congregate during at least some of their time online. It’s also become an essential fuel in your tech marketing engine, something that should be done regularly to help boost your company awareness and lead generation.
About 68% of U.S. adults use Facebook and nearly two-thirds of them are on the platform daily. Here are a few more social use stats that illustrate the importance of social media marketing for small businesses:
- 54% of social media users use it to research products and services.
- 71% of consumers that have a positive experience with a business on social media, are likely to recommend it to friends and family.
- 73% of marketers say social media marketing has been an effective strategy for their business.
While signing up for an account and posting may be free, the time and effort you put into your social media marketing is an investment. By following a few key tips for inviting more engagement with your posts, you can get a better return on that investment and improve the quality of your content for your followers.
Here are some proven strategies to attract more interaction from followers on social media.
Ask A Question
People generally will feel compelled to answer a question you pose to them if it’s relevant to their lives.
Instead of just talking to your followers on social media, ask them questions from time to time that align with the focus of your services and give them a chance to voice their opinion.
You can do this in a few different ways, such as:
- Just asking a question outright in your post
- Posting a poll with options followers can choose from
- Creating a tech-focused personality quiz
It’s hard for someone to resist a direct question and this type of post not only gets them engaging with your post it can also provide you with valuable information for your business.
Some potential questions you might ask are:
- What’s your biggest technology headache?
- What’s the one thing you absolutely have to do on desktop rather than mobile?
- How often do you hold cybersecurity awareness sessions at your office?
Be Mindful of Facebook Ranking Factors
To get people to engage with your posts, they have to see them first. Unfortunately, only a small percentage of your overall users may see your post, unless it gets more interactions.
It’s estimated that as few as 5.5% of a page’s followers will regularly see their posts, but you can increase this by being mindful of Facebook’s ranking algorithm.
Ranking signals for Facebook include:
- Who a user typically interacts with (someone that “likes” your posts, will see new posts more often)
- The type of media in a post (video, link, image, etc.)
- The popularity of the post (how many shares, likes, and comments it gets)
Things like posting regularly, posting when people are online (i.e. rather than at 2AM) and avoiding posts that will get you downranked (like offensive content or misleading information) will all help your posts have a better chance of being seen by followers.
Use Images & Videos in Your Posts
Employing visual content in your social media posts causes people to engage with them more than if you’re just using text only. While using just text may be faster, the time you take to find a quality image to accompany your post, makes a big difference in your interaction numbers.
Tweets with images get 150% more retweets than those without them. Facebook posts with images get 2.3x more engagement.
We’ve got a whole blog on finding quality images for your tech business with links to free and paid image sources.
Some basic tips for social post images include:
- Make sure they’re not grainy or blurry
- Make sure you can use them and you’re not infringing on copyright
- Use social post creators like Canva or Adobe Spark that include images you can use
Post Consistently
If you’re only posting once or twice a month or just when the mood strikes, then you can’t expect followers to engage with your posts, because it seems like you’re not really engaging with social media as a business.
You want to post consistently on a schedule, for example, maybe you post every Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, or once a day at Noon. Whatever your schedule permits, make an effort to be consistent and not let weeks go by without posting or checking in on your timeline.
Two things that can help you get content out on a regular basis are:
- Social media scheduling apps (Hootsuite, Buffer, Postfity, etc.)
- A content service that creates and posts your content for you
Decide What “Your Lane” Is
The most popular social media pages have a “lane” or theme to them. This is similar to your branding message and voice. You want to answer the question, “What are people going to get when they follow my IT business page?”
For example, if you specialize in home theatre setups and residential computer customers, then you may want your social media lane to be any type of tech for consumers, and include posts related to things like:
- Streaming services
- Smart TV and stereo
- Home PC security
- How to secure smart devices
But if you’re mainly business focused and work with cloud services, then you may want to theme your posts around things like:
- Cloud services for business
- Office 365 products
- Business cybersecurity
- Mobile use at work
Of course, you’ll also want to include pertinent posts about your business, and there’s nothing wrong with switching it up now and then and including some light-hearted memes. But having a central theme you’re following will not only make content creation easier, it will draw in followers interested in the type of information you’re sharing and thus be more engaged with your content.
Use a Meme Every Now and Then
Some consider meme’s the slam dunk of social media posts if you want to drive engagement. Afterall, who doesn’t love a good meme that makes you laugh?
In a social media content study, regular marketing graphics had a 5% engagement, while the engagement for memes was 60%.
Just be careful what you choose, because there are plenty out there that can be offensive. You want to stick to the “lane” that we discussed in the last tip and keep it classy.
Making your own memes can be fun and give you a branding opportunity that might end up being shared across the social stratosphere. If you have the time and inspiration, here are a few online meme creators:
If you’d rather just find some good memes to use that are already made, try Giphy for memes in gif version or Me.Me.
Use Tags and Hashtags
A great way to get your social posts to more people and invite more engagement is to make sure you’re using hashtags and tags where possible.
For example, if you’re mentioning a great project you just finished at ACME Motors, look up their social media @name and tag them in the post. This will encourage them to share your content on their own feeds, which means more eyes… more potential engagement.
You can use hashtags in a couple of ways:
- Use them to get your post in front of more people
- Brand your own hashtag and encourage people to use it
An example of using hashtags to get your post in front of more eyes, is by using something like #Cybersmart, which is one of the hashtags used for National Cyber Security Awareness Month (NCSAM).
You can also use something popular like #ThrowbackThursday, which is pretty universally recognized on all social platforms.
Look at Which Posts Your Followers Like Most
Which of your posts do your followers engage with most? Are there certain types of content that seem to do better than others? Take a look at your social post stats and see which posts are getting the most engagement, then use that information to guide future posts.
- In Facebook: At the top of your business page, click the Insights link and you’ll find statistics on reach and engagement for all your posts.
- In Twitter: Go to analytics.twitter.com, then sign in with your Twitter account if you’re not already signed in. On this page you can see engagement stats for all your tweets.
- In LinkedIn: Go to your page’s admin center and click the Analytics tab in the menu bar and select Updates from the dropdown.
Encourage Your Team to Participate
Social media feeds can be somewhat like those awkward dances in high school. If the dance floor is empty, no one wants to go out there. But if it’s full, everyone feels comfortable about joining in.
By inviting your employees, friends, and family to participate on your company’s social media page with natural (not coerced) comments, likes, etc., your feed will be generating posts and comments, and thus make other people feel more comfortable about engaging with it as well. Engagement attracts engagement, so the more the merrier!
Participation Goes for You Too!
Are you just putting out content but not really present on your social media page? It is “social” media after all, and if you want your follows to engage with you, you have to do the same.
Watch for comments and direct messages and reply in a timely manner. Timely in the social media world can mean anything from within 1 hour to less than 24 hours. Just do your best, and set up Facebook instant replies to help.
Your followers will notice if you’re an active part of the community and the more they see you engaging with them, the more they’ll want to engage with you.
Keep That Social Post Consistency Going!
Creating an engaging social media presence, has a lot to do with just being consistent and being there. Follow good posting tips and post regularly, and you’re bound to see your shares, likes, and comments increase.
Do you have a favorite tool that makes planning social posts easier? Share your tips in the comments!
