Has the sound of crickets been following your posts on social media? Before you deactivate your social media accounts and go into hiding, ask yourself if you’ve truly been engaging with your audience. Building a community on social media is more than tweeting links to articles or sharing your brand’s blog posts on Facebook. In order to increase your reach and connect with potential customers, try one of our tips below.

Ask a question

Now you’re probably thinking, “Ask a question? That’s your big idea?!” and in all honesty, yes, yes it is. More often that not, something magical happens when you ask people a question – they answer. If you’re posting on social media to inspire a reaction or persuade people to complete a desired action, asking your audience a question takes you closer to getting your result. Do you want to create a new blog post but aren’t sure what topic will appeal to your following? Ask them. You can create a poll on Twitter or Facebook, or use the “Ask a question” feature on Instagram stories. Do you want to know what your following thinks about a specific news story, a new app, or even a meme? Ask them. Asking questions on social media starts a conversation, which makes engaging your audience easier.

Say it visually

According to a recent study, “visual content is more than 40 times more likely to get shared on social media than other types of content.” This is because visual content catches the attention of your social media users, it draws them in before the text does. And with visual content you’re not limited to just a picture, you can do a livestream, or use a popular meme, a GIF, a Boomerang, or a video to complement your message and boost user engagement. You can share images of customers using your product, or create your own image with easy-to-use tools like Canva or Stencil to announce a sale, a new product, or a discount code.

When using images or videos, try playing around with different frames, filters, hashtags and image orientations, and record the engagement you receive. Over time, you will develop a better sense of what kind of visual content your audience prefers. There is power in visual storytelling and your brand should be tapping into it.

Run a contest or a giveaway

We are in the business of helping brands reward their customers, so we know a thing or two about how much people love to win stuff - and believe us when we say that people really love to win stuff. Not only can you use social media contests to increase engagement, but you can also use it to build your email lists (when you run a contest that require people to opt-in to receive communications from your brand), grow your reach (when you run contests on Instagram that require people to tag their friends in the comment section of a post, repost your image, or share it on their story), and trigger referrals (when you run contests that require people to share a special link with family and friends).

Ask for feedback and reviews

Customer reviews are important to any brand because they are a powerful marketing tool; they can help you make your product better and gain new customers. Many brands have a section on their website where customers can leave a review, or an automated email that goes out after a user receives a product in the mail, asking for feedback. But you can also harness the power social of media to receive feedback and customer reviews. Instead of waiting for your scheduled email to go out or hoping that your customers will stop watching The Office on Netflix and instead go over to your website to leave a review, reach out on social media. Ask your customers to share their feedback with you – you can direct them back to your website or ask them to leave it as a comment (this way you can share it with your audience or pin it to the top of your page for all to see like your 5th grade macaroni art your mother still has on the fridge).

Pro-tip: Don’t offer social media users rewards in exchange for reviews or feedback. It is frowned upon on most sites and can get your account suspended.

Have fun with it

Let loose now and then. Don’t be scared to wish your followers a happy Friday with a meme or complain about how everyone hates Mondays. People go on social media for many reasons, and one of those is to be entertained, so you’re losing out if you spend all your time online trying to sell to them. It’s okay to jump on a popular hashtag or trending topic, or write with of-the-moment pop culture references in order to keep your audience engaged. People respond to humor and that’s why thousands of people like, share, and tag their friends in funny social media posts.

Design effective consumer engagement programs to boost brand loyalty

Whether you’re sending out surveys and polls, experimenting with visual content, or running sweepstakes and giveaways, keeping your audience in mind is key to driving consumer engagement on social media. People often look for brands who share similar values and a similar sense of humor, so marketers need to focus on carefully crafting a social media strategy with a clear understanding of their brand’s personality.

With 3 tier logic’s PLATFORM³, brands can develop and run personalized sweepstakes and giveaways, gift with purchase promotions, and full-scale loyalty programs. Modules like Dynamic Messaging, Social Sharing, and Data Capture & Analytics provide marketers with the tools and information they need to develop effective social media campaigns and expand their brand’s following. To learn more, book a demo with our team today.

5 Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement