So now you have a website...how can you increase sales and grow your following on social media?
Remember that social media is meant to be a community- engagement platform and your engagement rate is an indicator that your community (AKA your followers) are engaged with and focused on your content- so much so that they comment, share, save, or like it.
There are a few ways to boost your engagement:
Leaving meaningful comments on your followers pages. If you don’t know who to follow, look at who you are currently following to see their followers. Any common interests? If so, follow them! You can also look at the hashtags you are using and see who else uses those hashtags. Try to find accounts with high engagement and a variety of content (i.e. lots of meaningful comments on each post, reels, stories, and posts)
These comments may look like:
- “Wow, this composition is so rich, I love the way you did __” (about an art piece)
- “This is a really interesting point. I’ve never thought about ____ this way”
If an account has a call to action in their post such as a question, answer it! They want to know more about you!
Do NOT comment generic messages such as:
- “Love this” “Great work” “Interesting”
You want these comments to be meaningful so that the author of the post can respond. Ideally, they will feel compelled to look at your page and your content- thus strengthening your community.
2. Spend 10-15 minutes a day on engagement. You can browse through hashtags that relate to your business, like/comment on photos in your direct feed, and browse through stories.
Most of the time, stories are used for behind-the-scenes content, so get to know the person (people) behind the account or brand! Once you have exchanged a few messages, you can direct message them.
3. DO NOT direct message accounts you have not engaged with previously- this comes off as creepy and spammy. Get to know their account, like/comment meaningful thoughts, and really engage with the account before promoting yourself. No one likes a cold call (or message).
4. Post personal as well as brand-specific content. People want to see who is behind the brand and social media is an excellent opportunity to be creative, show off your unique point of view, and be your authentic self!
Ultimately, you want to nurture your audience so that they will want to purchase your products and/or services. By following these 4 simple steps, you should be on your way to creating an engaged audience!