So you’ve set up your business account on all social media platforms and are feeling quite pleased with yourself. You’ve uploaded your smartly designed logo and cover pictures and all you need to do is post every now and then and watch the numbers grow. Only, they don’t do an Usain Bolt as you expected and the speed is more comparable to a snail’s. You’re beginning to doubt yourself and there is one question looming large – how can I increase social media engagement for my business?

With about 2.307 billion social media users in the world, you naturally want your pages to have good engagement, with people liking, commenting, following and sharing your posts. If you haven’t been seeing the amount of interaction that you’d like so far, don’t worry! Here are 15 ways to increase social media engagement – without spending a penny!

15 Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement

1. Know your Audience

You need to know exactly who your target audience is, so that you can tailor your posts accordingly. Knowing the age, geography and gender can be very critical to maximize user engagement.

2. Be Relevant

The best way to inspire engagement is to post on topics that are currently relevant, like the Olympics was recently. People are more likely to like or share while the topic is still ‘hot’, so make sure you’re abreast of what’s going on!

3. Use proper Hashtags

Using hashtags is a good idea; overusing them is not. Know the popular hashtags in your niche and use them in your posts – but sparingly!

4. Post Frequently

Consistent posting is essential to keep your users invested in your page and business and an editorial calendar is essential for this. Infrequent posts will make them lose interest and eventually decrease interaction.

5. Respond Quickly

Nearly all pages with good user interaction have a high and quick response rate. Be sure to answer questions, at least briefly, and set designated times for it so that your users don’t feel ignored.

6. Use Images

Images work wonderfully in social media, especially if they’re unique and interesting pictures. Post quotes, humor or behind-the-scenes pictures to keep things interesting on your page and encourage shares.

7. Take a Video

Lately videos have been seeing very good response, especially if it’s a live video. Talking about an upcoming launch, answering common questions, or simply saying thanks for hitting a certain milestone – all work wonderfully!

8. Ask Questions

Want your users to say something? Ask them a question! Let it be one that can be answered in a few words. It can be about what they want to see, about some advice or just a fun question.

9. Hold a Chat

Having a chat session with your users is a great way to take engagement to another level. When a group of people are involved in a discussion, it becomes lively and more people are encouraged to join.

10. Run a Contest

A contest is a sure fire way to catch people’s attention and get them to engage on your page. If you hold it in association with another business, you’ll both benefit from the collaboration!

11. Share an Opinion

If you feel strongly about a certain subject, you can share it on your page, provided you follow the rules of social media decorum. It is bound to generate a good conversation, and your readers will want to chime in with their opinions too.

12. Post at the right Time

Just like the frequency of your posts, the timing also matters. Every social media platform has its own ideal times to post, and sticking to those intervals can increase engagement with users.

13. Get Personal

Your audience loves it when you show a little bit of your personal side, like a photo or a quick update about your life. Don’t overdo it though – it’ll lose its charm!

14. Host a Game

Who doesn’t love a game? A quick quiz or a photo contest is likely to get everyone excited about participating, especially if there’s a cool goodie bag to be won!

15. Include a Call to Action

Having an explicit CTA in your post has been shown to increase the likelihood that your users will actually engage. Avoid ‘Please like’, ‘Share this’ and similar requests and try to be a little more creative. “If you have a friend going through this, share it with them so they’re aware” tends to work better.

These steps take little time to implement, but they need to be done carefully and intelligently. With good planning, you’ll soon see those numbers rise rapidly – just the way you want!

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