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#ContentWritingChat Recap: Social Media Engagement Strategies

by | Sep 15, 2017 | ContentWritingChat

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Social Media Engagement Strategies

This week, we had another community chat hour during #ContentWritingChat! We previously had our participants vote on topics they wanted to see for future chats and many voted for a chat on social media engagement strategies. It’s always a hot topic and we knew everyone would have some amazing advice to share!

If you’ve been wanting to step up your social media engagement, get ready to take some notes and keep reading for our recap!

#ContentWritingChat Recap: Social Media Engagement Strategies

Using social media as a way to engage your audience is crucial when you’re building a presence online. It’s a powerful tool to build relationships and establish trust. But if you’re struggling to make those connections, we’re here to help! The tips in this recap will help you boost your engagement on every platform you use.

Q1: What does social media engagement look like to you?

What are you tracking when it comes to social media engagement? There are a few things that are important to measure in order to see results. Here’s what our participants look out for:

Julia doesn’t measure success on social media in terms of vanity metrics. She focuses on real conversations and clicks on the content she shares.

Conversations are key to measure when on social media! Pay attention to your comments and take the time to engage with others.

It’s all about the replies! There’s no denying that it’s a good feeling when people respond to the content you share online. Make sure you give them the courtesy of replying and getting the conversation started.

As Erika said, it’s all about being engaged WITH your community, instead of broadcasting AT them. Conversation is a two-way street, friends!

Lexie agrees that it’s about talking with the people in your audience.

Bill knows that you can’t self-promote all the time. You need to put effort into engaging with others through real-time conversations.

Not only is engagement about interacting with customers, it’s also about showing them you care.

Meaningful conversations are what really matters when it comes to social media engagement.

Take the time to interact with your audience. Ask questions. Reply to them. Make sure you’re adding value with everything you do.

Q2: Why is it important to measure social media ROI?

Are you tracking your results on social media to see how your content is actually performing? If not, you should be! Here’s why it’s important:

When you track your ROI, it tells you what’s working and what’s resonating with your audience. As Lexie said, this is important when crafting your overall social media strategy.

Track metrics to know that your time and money is being well spent! You need to track in order to do more of what’s working for you.

When you’re part of a larger team, you’ll often have to give proof that your efforts are working to those who are higher up. Track ROI and record the results in a way that’s easy to read.

When you keep an eye on metrics, you’ll be able to see if the social media campaigns you created are effective.

Javier knows you want to measure the productiveness of your time, efforts, and money when it comes to social media.

Q3: What are the right KPIs to track social media engagement?

Now that you know the importance of tracking your efforts on social media, which metrics should you be paying attention to? This is what you need to know:

Simply Measured shared a great graphic to help answer this question!

Tracking your social media mentions is very beneficial because it provides plenty of feedback.

Max likes using Facebook’s analytics to see what’s not working well for him and what is. This will help you create more content that resonates with your audience so you can see better results in the future.

Lexie knows that what you measure will also depend on the content you’re sharing. Your goal can differ, so know what you’re hoping to achieve.

Q4: What types of content track the most engagement in your experience?

So, what kind of content reigns supreme when it comes to encouraging social media engagement? That’s going to depend on your brand and your audience! However, here are some suggestions straight from our chat:

Creative, multimedia, relevant and of value, concise, emotional, and consistent are the essentials according to Gaby.

Julia has seen great results from visuals we’ve shared, especially infographics. She even notices collaborative content that features others has gotten plenty of engagement.

It’s all about creating great copy and eye-catching visuals if you want your post to stand out in a busy social media feed.

Polls and questions are another great way to spark engagement with your audience.

Visual content is a must on social media! Andrea also feels humor is a nice ice breaker.

Make sure your content solves problems your audience is facing to provide tremendous value. Martin also said content that engages asks questions. It’s a great way to get people talking.

Address the needs and problems your audience is struggling with by getting to know their needs.

Q5: Quality visuals can increase engagement on social. How can you create strong visuals that resonate?

Now that we know the importance of visuals on social media, we need to learn how to create ones that stand out. Check out this advice from the chat:

Visuals should supplement the message you’re sharing, as Jason said. Make sure visuals and copy work together, otherwise it just won’t make sense.

Zala said to know the platform you’re using. You want to make sure you target your image to the platform you’ll be sharing it on.

Gaby certainly has a winning formula for creating great visuals!

Erika suggests using Canva, whether you’re creating graphics with your own images or stock photos.

Lexie is also a fan of Canva because it makes designing easy for those who aren’t artistic.

Ken feels the same about Canva! He collects the imagery for this content and uses Canva to find the perfect layout.

Another great tool to try out is Adobe Spark.

Q6: How do you manage engagement across multiple social media platforms?

Considering most of us are using numerous social media platforms in our daily lives, it can be a lot of work to manage them all. How can you get the job done with minimal stress? Take a look at this advice to help make your social media tasks a little easier:

Make sure you focus on the platforms your audience is using. You don’t have to spread yourself too thin or get overwhelmed by trying to be everywhere.

As Logan said, the best platforms are the ones your target audience is actively using. Make sure you are where they are so they’ll see your content.

Sarah and the team at ThinkSEM rely on Hootsuite, Buffer, TweetDeck, and Google Analytics.

For Erika, Hootsuite and SproutSocial are her go-to tools!

Buffer is another great option for scheduling content and measuring analytics.

Here at Express Writers, we rely on MeetEdgar to keep our social media queues filled with great content.

Q7: Where are brands going wrong on social media in terms of engagement?

Unfortunately, a lot of brands are still getting it wrong when it comes to social media engagement. Make sure you avoid making the same mistakes by reading this advice:

Don’t try to be everywhere. Focus on where your audience is and invest the time and effort into those platforms.

Ignoring your customers and messages you receive is a huge mistake. Use social media to communicate and get to know them.

Jason feels brands need to share content that actually drives conversations and feedback. If you’re not, you’re missing out on value information! He also said to reply back when you receive responses to get the conversation going.

If you aren’t interacting with your community, you’re doing it wrong!

Ken knows that self-promotion is fine, but you can’t forget about engagement. Engagement should be something you do on a regular basis to build relationships with your audience.

Be human and show genuine interest! Listen to what people are saying, ask questions, and take the time to respond. Gaby knows that being social is a must on social media, after all!

Q8: What are your favorite resources for learning about social media?

In order to step-up your social media engagement, you should stay updated on what’s going on in the field. There are plenty of resources you can turn to for this! Here are some great ideas:

As Ken said, Twitter chats are a great place to learn more about social media engagement strategies, as well as many other topics.

Julia relies on Social Media Examiner, Social Media Today, and Content Marketing Institute.

Lexie is also a fan of Social Media Today and Social Media Examiner.

We have another fan of these two websites, so they’re worth checking out if you haven’t already.

Content Marketing Institute, Social Media Examiner, Tech Crunch, VentureBeat, and Pinterest are go-to resources for Carla.

Sarah knows being present on social media is really the best way to learn about social media. Be active on the platforms you use and don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things to see what works for you.

Join us for #ContentWritingChat every Tuesday at 10 AM Central Time! Be sure to follow @ExpWriters and @writingchat for the latest!

express writers cta 2017

Tags: social media | social media engagement | social media strategies