Basics of Social Media Engagement

We all count how many likes, shares, and comments our posts receive. The question is if 10 “likes” is enough or 100 — too low.

If you ask me to rank likes, comments and shares on the engagement scale, “likes” would be on the bottom of the list and the most confusing to interpret. Social media users filter information incredibly fast and don’t remember what they liked a second ago. They often like posts published by friends without looking at the actual content. Comments and shares are more valuable on the engagement scale as users take time to read the post and then write a comment. A “share” can be considered as double engagement, because sharing is usually accompanied with a comment.

Shared content can be original or re-posted (taken from other source). The frustrating part is when funny images or articles, absolutely unrelated to the brand, get 10 times more likes and shares than the branded ones. It can be used as part of the engagement strategy. Unrelated information to post might be industry news, tips, inspirational quotes or articles. Images can be branded with a logo, color, or signature. Rotation of posts will help make content strategy more interesting and keep the community entertained. Don’t forget to keep a balance between fun content and company related information. Remember that 80% of the content has to be related to the main business idea.

Social media channels like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter need different approaches to strategy. Understanding the audience is crucial — who reads the newsfeed and when. The best time to post on Facebook is evenings after 6PM and weekends. Publish unrelated messages once or twice a week, e.g. one day in the middle of the week and Friday.

Information flow moves faster on Twitter, that’s why it’s better to post diverse information more often. Don’t forget about images and short videos. The number of tweets varies depending on the content and audience (sociodemographic criteria). There are different tools to track followers’ activities, like Tweriod, whentotweet.com, su.pr, and others. Another difference is you have to be present at least 12 hours a day and react immediately on Twitter. A day delay may cost you new users or existing ones. Tweets can be scheduled all day long, but mornings (before the workday starts) and evenings (after the main work activities are finished) get most attention. You can re-post tweets in the morning and throughout the day. Twitter feed is so fast that people following many other users don’t scroll far back and don’t read all tweets. Followers have a very short attention span.

Facebook and Twitter communication should be built as a dialogue. If you want to earn likes, comments and shares remember:

· to like others’ pages, posts by the community, industry influencers and opinion leaders

· to mention users by posting Twitter handles and Facebook names

· to share others’ posts on your news feed

· to like comments on our own page

· to answer questions and comments in a timely manner

Facebook and Twitter are also good channels:

· to be aware of technical issues and complaints

· to receive feedback, especially about new products, features, and upcoming releases

· to serve as a communication channel for top management with customers

· to involve other team members in communication with customers, which will help build more trust and transparency

Instagram posts get more attention, but if you don’t have enough of visual content this tool may just misrepresent your brand and distract your targets from the main communication channels. Instagram is good for fashion, photography, illustration, graphic design as well as personal promotion. If you are present on Instagram, post about 2-5 images a day.

If the gap between the number of likes for relevant and unrelated images is big, there is something wrong with the community. It means that the audience is not targeted and you need to work on acquiring new targets. You still need as many “likes” as possible despite the fact that they are controversial. A high number of “likes” ranks a publication to the top and makes it possible to be seen by more followers. More “likes” increases the chance of converting them into comments and shares.

An analytical approach in social media strategy is very important. Seeing what is liked, when it’s liked, who liked and shared, and what exactly has been commented is the key to the right strategy. Pay attention to details.