3 Reasons You Aren't Getting Engagement on Your Social Media Posts
You’re posting regularly. You’re creating custom content. You’re using hashtags. But your follower count isn’t growing and people aren’t interacting with your posts as much as you’d like.
Sound familiar?
It’s a predicament many brands and businesses find themselves in.
Even companies that have experienced high social engagement in the past aren’t immune. The likes, comments, and shares on their posts can plateau (or worse, begin to decline), leaving entrepreneurs scratching their heads.
It’s a situation I’ve heard business owners discuss more frequently in recent months. Companies have accepted that social media marketing is an essential promotional tool in today’s world, so most brands are on major platforms (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc). And now that they’ve joined the club, they’re looking for results.
Unfortunately, however, the more saturated the social media marketplace becomes, the harder brands have to work to outshine their competition and capture the attention of users whose feeds are constantly flooded with marketing content.
The good news?
It is possible to achieve your social engagement targets.
The bad?
You’ll have to revamp your current strategy and take on a fresh, innovative approach to creating content for social media.
If you’re up for the challenge, this blog post is for you.
The Top 3 Reasons You Aren’t Getting the Engagement You Want on Social Media
1) You’re Not Asking For What You Want
As entrepreneurs and marketers, we must always remain cognizant of the fact that our followers aren’t mindreaders. They’re just people. Busy people, at that. And their attention is constantly being pulled in a million directions— especially when they’re scrolling through social media.
If you aren’t telling your followers what you want them to do after viewing your post, you’re inadvertently hurting your own online performance.
Most users take less than 5 seconds to decide if they want to click on a social media post or keep scrolling. Instagram has one of the lowest attention spans, with users deciding to in as little as two seconds.
The Fix:
Include a clear, compelling call-to-action (CTA) in every post. On Instagram, elicit feedback from followers by adding a “Poll” sticker to your Instagram stories, or add a link in your bio and direct followers to it (a YouTube video, blog post, etc).
Businesses can add polls to stories on Facebook as well. And Twitter has a similar function (click here to learn more).
2) You’re Not Prioritizing Organic Follower Building
Despite what paid follower websites will tell you, there’s no magic wand you can wave to instantly gain hundreds of quality followers. Publications who include using these paid sites in list articles featuring social media tips are overlooking how bottom-of-the-barrel these “followers” typically are. Most of them are automated fake accounts (aka “bots”) who will never purchase a product or service, or bring any value in terms of engagement.
And the reality checks don’t end there. Brands also shouldn’t rely on paid advertising to gain followers. They can, of course, but doing so will burn through social media budgets like wildfire.
Lastly, captivating and compelling social media posts won’t be enough either. Don’t get me wrong— top tier content should always be a priority. But if you want to see your engagement rates skyrocket, you’ve got to start being the change you want to see.
The Fix:
The solution here is to start setting aside designated time for organic follower building.
What is follower building?
It’s a strategic approach to interacting with like-minded individuals (and potential followers) on social media platforms.
Below are some of the most valuable follower building tactics brands should be using:
Regularly “liking” and commenting on posts made by followers, industry experts, and local businesses.
Adding a location to social media posts so nearby users who aren’t yet following you can discover your content.
Collaborating on posts with other brands who share a similar vision and sharing the post on both accounts to double your exposure.
Running promotions and contests that encourage followers to engage with your content as a means of entry.
Responding in a conversational and supportive manner to all follower questions and comments on your social media posts.
3) You’re Not Analyzing As You Go
When is the last time you reviewed your social media posts to determine which types of content are resonating most with your target audience?
This is one of the most critical lessons a brand can learn about how to use social media for business.
If you’re not using verifiable data to guide your social media strategy, you truly are shooting in the dark.
By split testing how different types of posts perform, monitoring your analytics, and tweaking your content to match trends, you’ll be able to generate ideal social engagement rates much more quickly and effectively.
The Fix:
Start by examining the content you’ve posted over the last three months.
As you study the results of your most successful posts, make note of the following:
Which platform the content appears on.
The date and time of the post.
The hashtags you used in the post.
The call to action (CTA) you included in the post.
The types of visual elements used (if any).
Whether or not the post was promoted (paid advertising).
The type of content shared (educational, entertaining, inspirational, promotional, controversial/edgy, etc).
After you have documented these characteristics for each of your highest-performing posts, begin replicating these characteristics in your future posts. Compare your results again in three months time.
How I Can Help
I take a bold, progressive and highly-imaginative approach when providing social media management Edmonton services for my clients.
As a digital content creator and copywriter with 10+ years of industry experience, I have a proven ability to craft results-driven content that aligns with overarching brand and marketing strategies.
Driving growth and motivating target audiences to act are my two greatest priorities.
My clients choose to work with me because I have an innate ability to get to the heart of a message and convey it in a way that has a lasting impact.
If you are looking for a seasoned specialist offering social media management in Edmonton, I encourage you to get in touch.
I’m confident that together we won’t just reach your social engagement goals— we’ll improve upon them!