Not Posting Images
Are you posting images to your social media accounts? If not, you are missing out on one of the easiest ways to boost engagement. According to a study of 5,000 Facebook pages conducted by SocialBakers, a whopping 93% of the most engaging posts were photos, followed by status updates with 3%, and both links and videos with 2%.
Users Don’t Trust You
You can’t expect people to share your social media posts if they don’t trust your brand. A 2011 study conducted by Edelman Trust Barometer found that just over half of global Internet users (56%) trust brands to “do the right thing.” When consumers don’t trust a brand, they will naturally feel hesitant to purchase its products or services, and share its social media content.
So, how can you create greater trust with your target audience? Be genuine when communicating with customers and potential customers, speaking to them as if they were a friend and not just another a professional acquaintance. This, combined with a consistent, high-quality service, will go a long ways in capturing users’ trust.
Your Posts Aren’t Interesting
When was the last time that you ‘liked’ or shared a boring post on Facebook? The fact is that 99% of social media users will give boring posts the cold shoulder, neglecting to engage with them in any sort of way. If you want users to share your content, you need to focus on interesting, engaging content that really speaks to your target demographic. Posting content such as this will create a viral effect in which users share it with their friends and family, many of whom then share it with their friends and family — and the cycle repeats.
Here are some tips on how to create engaging social media content:
- While photos are the most engaging type of social media content, you should diversify your content with links, text and video.
- Controversial, heartwarming and humorous posts tend to receive a high level of user engagement on social media.
- Post content about topics that are currently trending.
- Identify the demographic of your social media followers and post content that’s relevant to them.
- Avoid posting content that’s dry, dull and/or lacks excitement.
- Use #hashtags so users can find your posts more easily.
Infrequent Posting
Brands that don’t post new content to their social media accounts on a regular basis will suffer from lower levels of user engagement, and subsequently fewer shares. According to BufferApp, brands should publish two Facebook posts per day. Keep in mind that going beyond this amount results in diminishing returns, meaning you won’t receive the same positive benefits. Stick with two posts per day for Facebook, three posts per day for Twitter, and three posts per day for Google+.
Contact us today for more social media marketing tips.
Image attribution: https://www.flickr.com/photos/jasonahowie/
