Consumer engagement can help in setting a healthy base social media promotions and open better possibilities for the brand itself. This writeup focuses on finding the right ways to promote a brand over social media, while keeping the followers happy.

Remember the #IceBucketChallenge?

The global phenomenon that took over social media when 17 million people (celebrities and non-starter) empty buckets of ice-cold water over their heads to raise awareness regarding the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).

The challenge became a rage and one of the biggest social media campaigns of the previous decade. It translated into huge viewer engagement for the brands (participating in the challenge) – and interestingly a boost in the social media followers.

In India (thanks to Digital India initiative by the Central Government and cheap internet data) more than 688 million people are actively using the internet. And, among that internet user, social media surfing is one of the most common online activities. That makes social media marketing an interesting venture for business heads and entrepreneurs.

In the past few years, competition in social media marketing has increased manifolds. The brands are fighting constantly to gain the attention of the viewers. While few can engage with the viewers with average content, on the other hand, many good contents do not get that much engagement with the viewers.

This coupled with constantly changing social media algorithms can make viewer engagement a tough nut to crack.

Right?    

Wrong. Social media engagement is difficult, but not impossible. Let’s take a deep dive into social media engagement and see what can be done to improve it.

What is social media engagement? 

The simplest definition of social media engagement is some type of conversation between brands and consumers over social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, or even TikTok. The conversation could be the foundation of a long-term relationship between the two parties, translating into sales and more social media followers for the brands.

Measurement of the social media engagement differs from platform to platform. On Twitter, the number of likes, retweets, replies serve as a metric for measuring the viewership and engagement. On the other hand, likes, links, comments, views, and clicks, are used to calculate engagement on Instagram.

Here are some of the ways that can help in improving the engagement:

1. Talk to the viewers 

Simply, asking the viewers their thought about certain topics and ideas can boost engagement tremendously. People love to talk about their opinions, and asking your viewers about their opinion can help in increasing the interaction with the brands and the content creators.

Many video content creators ask their viewers about suggestions on what type of videos they (viewers) want to see in the future, or what do think of the current video – these can help in increasing the social media followers for the brand.

Here are some of the common tactics used by social media content creators to encourage dialogue between them and their audience:

1. Play games or trivia with the viewers
2. Post questions and ask the viewers to share their opinion on the topic
3. Run a poll on the social media
4. Q & A sessions can be a great tool for social media marketing and engaging with the audience

2. Encouraging the viewers to produce content highlighting your brand

Public opinions or user reviews can very well help your brand in establishing a successful engagement rapport with new and potential followers. Encourage your users to create posts and 24-hour stories on their social media profile and tag your brand.

Some of the popular ways of creating engaging tagged content include:

1. Conduct social media contests and shoutouts on behalf of the brand. Ask the participants to post original images (tagging the brand) using the products provided by the brand.
2. Using relevant hashtags
3. Show the insider’s story, giving the viewers a peep into how the work is done inside the company. It piques the interest of the views regarding the brand and helps in engaging with the viewers.
4. Post the positive reviews online and address the negative comments to build a good relationship with the consumers.
5. Conduct social media takeovers with the employees so that the brand can establish a more human relationship with the consumers

Many Indian and international brands like Buzzfeed (and their Indian counterpart), Try Guys, Plum Beauty (Indian Brand) more often active on social media to post relevant content to connect with their viewers.

3. Offering the incentives

Everybody likes to win, especially on social media. Offering incentives or prizes to the viewers is a great way to promote the brand and increase the viewership of the brand. Just trigger the competitive spirit of the audience and you might hit a jackpot on social media marketing.

For gifts and incentives, you can offer anything from something massive to small rewards for participating with the brand.

4. Informative posts

Reports from various sources reveal that informative content with that helps in encouraging engagement and boosting social media followers for the brands.

Some examples of interactive and informative contents include:

1. Infographics
2. Downloadable guides
3. Webinars
4. Helpful email
5. Blog posts
6. Mini-courses
7. Offering exclusive discounts

Sale and discounts are one of the most popular ways of promoting a brand, especially on social media. Offering exclusive social media discounts, and membership clubs to consumers can push the viewer and consumer counts to the roof.

For instance, the women cosmetic and lifestyle brand Nykaa runs a membership program, Nykaa Privé, for the consumers who shop beyond a given amount each year. The exclusive offer encourages shoppers to buy more and get into the super exclusive club. Flipkart First also runs in the same way, thus encouraging the buyers to shop more and engage more with the brand.

Overall, communication is the key to increasing social media coverage, encouraging engagement with the consumers and connecting with them. To know more, join with Carney Technologies Services (https://www.carneytechnologies.com/).