Social media is the new ‘it girl’ of marketing for businesses. Through social media tools and resources, businesses can now market to individual customers while also giving their businesses a personality, continuously aiming to improve social media.
For small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), social media can be a great cost-effective way to get connected with existing and potential customers. However, for this to happen you need a proper social media strategy that also addresses social media engagement strategies.
Social media engagement is a factor that measures how your audience interacts with your social media content. The engagement is measured through likes, comments, shares, clicks and other measurable actions.
In this article, we look at social media engagement as a concept and give you tips on how to improve your own.
The 50-30-20 Social Media Engagement Rule
The 50-30-20 rule is there to help you balance out your content. The breakdown of the rule is as follows:
- 50% of your social media posts should be about your audience
- 30% of your posts should reflect your brand
- 20% should be dedicated to promotional materials
This rule will help you shift your perspective about your social media posts. Instead of only focusing on pushing promotions, you need to consider the people who see your content.
The 50%
The 50% is all about your audience. This means you will create content that resonates with your audience, makes them think and maybe makes them laugh or smile. Your content needs to tell a story to your audience. This can be done with new, recycled and user-generated content.
If you have done proper research into your target market, you will be able to curate your content so that it fits their interests, challenges and all the little things that make your audience unique.
The 30%
The 30% is about your brand. This section should outline your brand identity, values and what makes you tick. When posting your brand, you should integrate personality and ethos into your posts.
The goal with the 30% is to make your brand relatable. You can share content such as behind-the-scenes looks, stories on how your product came to be or what motivates you on a daily basis.
Creating a narrative around your brand encourages followers to invest in your cause through interest, admiration and community involvement.
The 20%
The smallest slice of this pie is the 20% dedicated to promoting your offerings. Use your small slice to tell your audience about what items or services you have, the latest promotions or any sales/discounts they should know about. However, be careful not to turn your feed into a sales catalogue.
When posting about your promos, think about framing them in such a way that they still align with other posts. Invite your audience into your promotional ‘circus’ by presenting them with irresistible deals, a limited-time offer, or a giveaway that aligns with 50% of audience-focused content.
The 50-30-20 rule is such a great guideline for your content strategy. Before you are ready to start implementing it, you need to ensure you have a comprehensive content calendar.
Tips for Improving Your Engagement
Here are some tips you can use to help you improve your social media engagement.
Tip 1: Grow Your Following
Social media is all about the numbers. If you have more followers, your posts will receive more engagement. Focus on attracting quality followers who not only boost engagement but also provide the opportunity to convert those followers into loyal customers who make purchases.
Tip 2: Authenticity Goes a Long Way
Social media users will (sometimes) base their likes and support for a brand based on their attraction to its voice and personality. This means to increase your engagement; you need to be more authentic. Find a social media marketing voice that aligns with your brand and use it to interact with your online audience.
Tip 3: Respond to Your Followers
You need to reply to your followers to create a conversation with them. You can do this by replying to incoming mentions, comments and direct messages (DMs). This shows you care about your customers and want to talk to them about their issues or queries.
Tip 4: Share Good Quality Content
Social media is not just about sharing content but also about sharing quality content. You should use the 80/20 rule when creating social media content. This means 80% of your posts are there to either educate, entertain or help your followers with their problems. 20% should be focused on promoting your business.
Tip 5: Use Visual Assets
Social media is a fast-paced game. When posting you need to use content that will grab the attention of your followers. You can capture attention by using visual assets such as videos (at the ideal length), photos and infographics. This will help you stand out amongst your competition and improve overall engagement.
Tip 6: Follow Your Post Schedule
When and how often you post will have a significant impact on your social media engagement. To ensure you maximise engagement, you need a content schedule that outlines the best time of day to post and the right content to post.
Tip 7: Track Everything
To see if your content is working, you need to track key performance metrics. This means tracking everything from likes, and comments to shares and saves. You can use analytics tools (most platforms have them built-in) and social media listening tools.
Using these tips you can fully improve your social media engagement and overall conversion rates. Social media can be such a great way to increase your sales revenue and connect with your audience in a more personal way.
For more information on leveraging social media for your SME, read about the social media app features you must try. Remember to purchase your SME South Africa Funding Summit tickets today!
