Did you know that an impressive 52% of brand discoveries online stem from social media platforms? With a global user base exceeding 4.26 billion, utilising social platforms to enhance brand visibility, engage with otherwise untapped audiences, and drive sales is an indispensable strategy that demands attention.
Unfortunately, growing an engaged and loyal customer base for your brand on social media isn't as straightforward as sharing a few posts and sitting back while a flood of interactions and conversions come in. It requires dedication, comprehensive research, and a data-driven approach to truly maximise success.
To navigate the complexities of social media engagement, it's crucial to understand the common pitfalls that can hinder your efforts. So, what hurts your engagement rate on social media and how can you avoid these mistakes? Let’s dive into it!
What is 'Engagement Rate'?
Engagement rate on social media refers to the measure of how actively involved or interested your audience is with the content you post. The engagement rate metric can be applied to social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
It's typically calculated by looking at the number of interactions (such as likes, comments, shares, and clicks) on a post divided by the total number of followers or impressions, then multiplied by 100 to express it as a percentage. A higher engagement rate indicates that your audience is more interested in and engaged with your content, which can be a positive indicator of the effectiveness of your social media strategy.
Engagement Rate on Social Media: Mistakes to Avoid
Now that you understand exactly what an engagement rate is, let’s look at what could potentially damage it:
Focusing on Quantity Instead of Quality
When it comes to marketing on social media, it's easy to fall into the trap of believing that posting every day is necessary to keep your audience engaged. While maintaining a regular posting schedule is important, bombarding your followers with content can backfire and lead to decreased engagement.
Posting content purely to meet a quota, without assessing its relevance or value to your audience or brand, can dilute the impact of your key messages and discourage future interactions with your page.
Instead, develop a social media content strategy aligned with your primary business goals and informed by audience research, ensuring that every post resonates with your audience and boosts your engagements.
Neglecting Platform-Specific Content
Although you may think it looks consistent to post the same content to every platform, it can actually negatively impact your engagement rate to do so.
Take, for example, a visually captivating reel featuring a trending soundtrack and a casual tone. While it might thrive on TikTok or Instagram, which boast a younger, more diverse audience that embraces trendy, visually stimulating content; it's unlikely to resonate on platforms like LinkedIn.
Why? Because LinkedIn users prefer content that's professional, informative, and industry focused. They're seeking valuable insights, industry updates, and professional development tips. Therefore, content that leans too heavily on informality or follows fleeting trends may miss the mark, leading to lower engagement rates.
When sharing content across multiple platforms, it's crucial to factor in additional considerations that will impact engagement rates such as peak posting times, hashtags, image ratios, video length, and URL linking. This may sound like a lot to juggle but consulting a social media professional can help you navigate the complexities of different platforms more effectively and maximise your engagement and reach.
Forgetting to Humanise Your Content
Research has shown that 64% of consumers want to feel connected to a brand on social media. In addition to this, 70% said they feel closer to brands whose CEO has an active social presence as it helps to give the business a more relatable human face.
This inclination stems from the innate human tendency to resonate with authentic connections and emotions- so reminding your audience that you are a person too can significantly enhance brand loyalty. Whether it's showcasing your team behind the scenes or engaging with current trending topics, such strategies enable audiences to relate to your content and foster trust in your brand.
Consider the approach taken by the language learning app Duo Lingo on TikTok. Instead of focusing solely on sales, they've excelled at captivating audiences through entertainment. Embracing their mascot's playful "do-your-lesson-or-else" persona, addressing the common confusion surrounding the Duolingo owl, and incorporating nods to pop singer Dua Lipa have all contributed to their success. As a result, the brand's TikTok account has garnered an impressive 4.7 million followers and nearly 95 million likes, highlighting the effectiveness of humanising content in building engagements on social media.
Ignoring Audience Interaction
In addition to humanising your content, replying to messages and comments also encourages further engagement. When your audience sees that you're actively involved in the conversation, they're more likely to join in themselves. This can lead to more discussions, debates, and interactions, ultimately creating a more vibrant and engaged community around your brand or persona.
Firstly, aim to be prompt in your responses. People appreciate timely replies, and it shows that you're attentive and responsive. Secondly, be genuine and authentic in your responses. Personalized replies are more likely to resonate with your audience than generic ones. Thirdly, encourage discussion by asking questions or inviting opinions. This can help spark conversations and increase engagement.
Neglecting social media data analysis
Last but most definitely not least is analysing your social stats. Forget this, and you can wave goodbye to improved engagements.
Analysing social data and statistics offers profound insights into your audience's preferences, behaviours, and interactions, thereby guiding you in crafting content that resonates deeply with them. This knowledge will allow you to tailor your content strategy to precisely meet the needs and expectations of your followers, fostering stronger connections and increasing engagement rates.
Social data analysis also enables you to track the performance of your content in real time. By monitoring key metrics such as likes, shares, comments, and click-through rates, you can discern which types of content are generating the most traction and which ones may require refinement. This iterative approach allows you to continuously optimise your content strategy for maximum impact.
Take Your Social Engagement to the Next Level with Bigger Picture
Your social media marketing strategy could make all the difference between being a winning brand or ‘just another business’. So, use these tips to optimise your social engagement rate and watch your business attract visibility and brand awareness among a community of relevant users.
At Bigger Picture, we are dedicated to taking ambitious brands to the next level. Why not get in touch with us to see how we can help you with your social media marketing, and Instagram SEO today?
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