Many people believe that huge follower numbers are a good indication that a business is “doing well on social”. But look a little closer and those followers may not be genuine. It can be all too tempting to go for the easy option and buy followers and engagement to bump those numbers up. But this is very much a false economy and can do more harm than good. Fake accounts are becoming increasingly more transparent and if a genuine, potential follower sees that you have a number of fake accounts following you, then they will be less likely to engage with you.

You want to get your business in front of the right people, who might possibly become your customers. You want your audience to engage with your content, but you don’t want to inundate them.

So how do you increase engagement and avoid being spammy? It can be tricky to get the balance right, but with a carefully planned strategy it needn’t be complicated. The following tips are a simple, yet effective way to help increase your engagement.

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Don’t just talk about yourself.

What do you do when you’re at a party and the person you’re talking to talks about themselves incessantly? You make your excuses and find someone else to talk to.

It’s the same on social media. Constantly posting about yourself and your brand is going to completely turn people off.

If you want people to engage with your content, then you need to give them a reason to engage. Ask a question, ask an opinion, or even ask for advice! People love to share their opinions so give them opportunity to do just that. Asking your followers for input and feedback will show that you’re interested in your audience and what they have to say. It goes without saying that you should always reply to comments and questions and addressing your followers by name helps make it more personal. After all, people like to know there’s a person behind the posts, and not just a faceless brand.

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Share other people’s content

No one is an expert in everything and someone else will always be more knowledgeable on certain topics. Search for interesting content relevant to your industry and share on your platforms (giving credit obviously!) This is a great way of engaging with industry experts and thought leaders - everyone gets a kick out of having their content shared! As much as your followers enjoy reading what you have to say, they won’t want to hear the same information all the time! And if you can provide your audience with helpful information from industry experts then they will be keen to hear what you have to say.

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Make your posts visually appealing

This obviously goes without saying on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, but when it comes to Twitter and Facebook, using images will make your posts stand out more. Whether you use, photos, videos, emoticons or gifs, they are all more visually appealing and encourage people to engage.

Facebook posts with images see around 37% more engagement than those without, while adding images to Twitter posts will see an increase in retweets of around 34%

Using a visually appealing image can stop people from scrolling past your post and actually reading what you’ve written. Sometimes, a picture will speak for itself and not require any text, so much so that people will just want to comment on the picture.

I’ve found that I speak in gif a lot on Twitter. It’s such a simple way of replying to someone that sometimes you can have whole conversations without actually typing a letter!

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Utilise those hashtags!

Where would we be without the hashtag?

Hashtags are great for finding certain topics and connecting with other people. A hashtag will help make your content stand out it’s a good idea to capitalise the first letter of each word in your hashtag to make it more readable and ensure it can’t be misconstrued! Remember #susanalbumparty?

It’s important to remember though that hashtags don’t work on every platform. While they are key on Instagram, Twitter, and have now been introduced to LinkedIn, they don’t really serve a purpose on Facebook.

When you do use hashtags, don’t overdo it! You can use up to 30 on Instagram, but that doesn’t mean you have to. While on Twitter, posts with one hashtag tend to get more engagement than those with 2 or 3. You still need to make sure they’re relevant to your content and business – don’t jump on a hashtag bandwagon just because it’s trending. Using a trending hashtag that has nothing to do with your business can do more harm than good.

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Be consistent!

‍In social media, consistency is key. If you want people to see your content, then you need to post regularly and not just once or twice a week. Your audience won’t want to waste their time on an account that rarely posts. The shelf life of a tweet is about 20 minutes, before it disappears into the timeline.

Posting relevant content consistently will ensure that your followers will regularly see your posts and will show that you’re up to date with relevant news and trends. The more they see, the more they’re likely to engage and the more they engage, the more your content is likely to be seen be new potential followers.

So, it’s not that complicated. It may take a little adjustment but if you consistently apply these simple tips to your social media strategy, you will soon see an increase in your engagement. And remember, consistency is key!