Engagement on social media isn’t just about producing content, because while posting is essential for brand recognition and updates, it doesn’t necessarily correlate with seeing engagement in return. Being more involved with customers online shows that you care about their interests and inputs, and can also bring in potential customers in the long run. We’re going to go over some basic tips for engaging with your followers on social media that can benefit your brand recognition, as well as create a solid online reputation for your company. 

Ask Questions

Social media is all about people sharing their opinions with others, whether they’re asked for it or not. So what better way to engage your followers than asking for their opinion! There are a few ways to go about asking questions online. A simple “How are you today?” is all well and good, but the conversation might not go much further than that. Posting a question that invites people to share their opinion or weigh in on something allows for more interaction and depth of conversation. Whether done so in a social stream, blog post, online group or community, asking followers relevant, provocative, and timely questions creates some of the most engaging and thought-provoking social media activity of all.

Have Your Followers Create Content 

A fun way to engage your followers is by encouraging them to create content featuring your brand. Hashtags have become the click-to-connect ticket for bonding with like-minded people online. It shows that you are interested in a similar topic or debate that is trending on social media. Create a unique phrase that reflects your brand positively and invite your followers to hashtag related content. 

There’s a lot of photos going around on social media promoting what people are doing to stay safe during the ongoing pandemic, such as support for hospital workers. If your employees are working remotely, think of having them upload what they’re doing to stay productive. Right now, people are looking for uplifting content in these complicated times, so even something simple such as their pets or new recipes they’re trying out are all good engaging posts. 

Offers and Incentives 

Your engagement strategy doesn't need to be interactive 100% of the time. Your brand can engage customers and prospects the old fashioned way, with attractive offers such as:

• Instant coupons and discounts
• Membership clubs (example below)
• Pick your discount promotions
• Free shipping

Depending on what product or service you offer, you might want to experiment with different types of offers to find out what your customers respond to best. Facebook makes it easy to promote offers with the “offer ad” feature that can be redeemed online and/or be saved by Facebook users to be redeemed-in store. 

Facebook’s Help page offers best practices to follow with ads such as: 

• Make discounts substantial. Offers with free items or discounts of at least 20% off will reach more people. 
• Engaging images. Photos of people using a product often perform better than a photo of a logo or the product itself 
• Set a time limit. The ideal length of an offer is 7 days.
• Promote your offer. After creating an ad, pin it to the top of your page to help it get noticed.