As the ways of interacting on social media are constantly changing, it is essential for companies to adapt to these changes and find new strategies and types of Social Media posts to increase engagement and capture the attention of their audience.
Check this post to find out what method the majority of bloggers recommend to drive traffic from Social Media: Which Social Network is the best for driving traffic to a blog? Poll + 21 Actionable Tips from Experts!
Knowing that the average person will now spend 5 years of his or her life on social media and that 72% of people check in on social media multiple times per day, having a solid social media strategy put in place can reap massive benefits for your business.
Why Has Engaging Your Target Audience On Social Media Become So Difficult?
Playing the low-effort game of Instagramming, tweeting, feeding Facebook about your services and products is not enough anymore. According to Aprimo, one of the biggest challenges that marketers face today is a phenomenon called the experience gap. It describes a void between what customers expect to experience and what they are actually experiencing.
This is the result of marketers only using traditional marketing methods: just think of all the countless banner ads, commercials, social posts and emails a customer sees per day. It’s easy for companies to get lost with all of that noise. They need new social media engagement posts ideas.
Read this post about monetizing your Instagram profile with brand sponsorships!
Today’s social media users want to have a more interactive experience: They want to be able to give their opinion, vote and connect with brands on a deeper level.
Making your brand’s posts interactive is a great way to integrate your online audience at the heart of your digital marketing strategy and boost their engagement with your brand.
Here we have highlighted 4 types of interactive posts (social media engagement examples) that you can implement today to boost engagement between you and your customers:
4 Types of Social Media Posts to Increase Engagement
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1) Social Media Surveys
When it comes to boosting engagement, surveys are often the most overlooked options.
Everybody has an opinion, and oftentimes Social Media is used as an outlet to voice it. What makes polling different than trivia questions is that your audience doesn’t have to worry about having the wrong answer, which is something that can make people shy away from contributing. As surveys increase in engagement rate, the algorithm will make sure it reaches even more people organically.
Here are the main benefits that surveys offer:
Surveys Provide Feedback
Polls offer direct feedback from customers, which lets people know that their opinion is valued. 79% of consumers say they want to feel that brands understand and care about them before making a purchase.
One good example of a brand that has made effective use of this is Starbucks, that has created polls in the past to better understand the preferences of its customers. In the story demonstrated below, users are asked about whether they would prefer to decide on a pink or violet drink. With a quick poll, Starbucks is able to figure out these minute customer preferences.
Engaging During Real-Time Events
There’s a real-time aspect attached to polls, which means they can be used as a great way for brands to enhance existing experiences.
For example, polls can be used for upcoming sporting matches to generate excitement and anticipation around the event.
They’re Entertaining And Fun
While polls can be used as a powerful way to gain insight into your customers’ needs, they can also be used for the sole purpose of entertaining your target audience.
For example, on national coffee day, Dunkin’ Donuts boosted engagement from its target audience by asking them how much they like coffee – and you can be sure that those who didn’t like coffee got their say on which beverages they prefer in the twitter comments.
2) Contests And Giveaways
Giveaways and contests can have a significant impact when it comes to boosting brand awareness. It is an amazing way for brands to cultivate a strong and loyal community, which will generate qualified leads that can be turned into sales. According to Hubspot:
- The average percentage of new fans acquired with a campaign is 34%.
- ⅓ of entrants accept to sign up for email updates from brands and partners.
Not only that, contests push customers to talk about your product or company to their friends and family, which according to McKinsey, generates more than 2x the paid sales of advertising. This all comes down to the rule of reciprocation: you offer something of value to your audience and in exchange, they will engage with your brand to garner plenty of shares and likes, improve your reputation and grow your community.
If you want to generate maximum engagement via a social media contest, you are going to need an effective strategy. Here are a couple of ideas to inspire you:
a) Photo Contest
One simple yet effective way to launch a giveaway is through a photo contest: users submit their photos which can then be voted on, and you select a winner based on whatever criteria you specified at the beginning of the giveaway.
One good example is Dominos, that created a giveaway called the “piece of the pie” contest. The task fans had to do was simple: take a photo of your Dominos pizza to prove that you are a superfan. In exchange, the winner would receive $10,000. In the end, around 1000 photos were posted with the hashtag #pieceofthepiecontest.
b) Tag A Friend Contest
In this giveaway, your audience is asked to leave a comment on your post and tag one of their friends for a chance to win the prize.
After reaching the milestone of gathering 100k followers on Instagram, Kopari Beauty offered their followers the chance of winning every single Kopari product and a Koapri beach towel, sweatshirt, and hat. To win, followers had to comment on the post their favorite product from Kopari and tag a friend.
c) Share This Post
“Share this post” giveaways invite your following to share a specific image you have posted and tag your account in the giveaway. This is a simple yet highly effective way of boosting your engagement.
Sunny Co Clothing used this tactic to go viral by giving away a free red bathing suit to every follower that reposted their photo and tagged them. While this may seem extreme to many, the first time they did this their photo went viral with 341,042 likes and 121k comments. Customers who received the bathing suit advertised the brand on their personal accounts and told their friends and families about it, thus boosting the brand’s reputation.
3) Facebook And Instagram Live
80% of customers say that they’d rather watch a live video from a company than read their blog, as it creates more intimacy between them and the brand.
Both Instagram and Facebook Live are gaining traction with today’s social media users, as they can reap high engagement levels for brands and marketers all over the world. Here are the benefits that come with going live regularly with your audience:
- Newsfeed priority: Thanks to the algorithms of Instagram and Facebook, live videos get preferential treatment than other types of content. Live videos get prominent placement on our newsfeeds and alerts, which highlights video events by grabbing our attention.
- Builds relationships: Engaging your audience with face-to-face interactions will create an authentic connection between you and your community, and build their trust. It also requires more participation and engagement from them than passively reading or watching content.
- Increased engagement: Facebook live videos get 14.6X increased reach compared to standard image posts. Going live also permits companies to respond immediately to client issues and to answer questions with their followers.
- Gives you the opportunity of showing your audience something new: Not only will entrepreneurs enjoy higher engagement levels than other traditional forms of content, but they can also experiment with different angles of approaching their live feed. Open discussions, Q&A’s, and product demos are all ways brands can find new ways to bring value to their audience.
- It’s cost-effective: Going live on social media is all about living in the moment, as most users enjoy the live-action and unedited approach to live videos. You don’t have to worry about having a fancy camera, set design or editing skills.
a) Ask Questions To Your Followers Directly
As the old saying goes, “ask, and you shall receive”. Asking your community of followers questions is a great way to build a connection with them. It is an easy and effective way to spark a conversation, harvest a sense of community around your brand and increase social media engagement.
When asked a question, our subconscious triggers a natural answering reflex. That means that even if people don’t engage when they run into your post, questions will still encourage them to stop and read your update to find the answer.
You could ask your audience to provide content ideas, advice and what they expect from your brand or just a general question like “What are your plans for Friday night ?”
Twitter Q&A and Reddit are good places to ask questions for your followers or and get inspiration for a social media engagement strategy. Just make sure to avoid trolls that will try to hijack your brand’s reputation and don’t answer if you are getting unrelated, sensitive questions. Always make sure that your replies are friendly, and avoid all behavior that is more likely to harm than help your brand.
Interacting with your followers is a key to successful social media engagement; keep the conversation going to show that you care about what customers have to say.
These are the best types of Social Media posts to increase engagement at the moment! Use them to gain followers, engage them and expand your brands’ awareness. But what value do they have if you don’t implement them?
Also read: 9 Best Sites with Free Images for Blogs & Pinterest
Pick your favorite method and try it today, then let us know in the comments about your results. Also, we would love to hear if you’re already using any relevant strategy that has brought actual results!
