10 Social Media Hacks To Increase Your Engagement

Whether you’re an influencer or a brand on social media, you should know the importance of engagement. Other statistics are, of course, important – how many likes and followers you have will directly feed into your engagement, after all – it’s all about whether those followers decide to engage with your content or not. Increasing engagement is the end goal for many campaigns, and doing so isn’t easy. Here are 10 social media hacks you can use to increase your engagement.

1. Try a follower service

If your account is new and you haven’t established yourself on a platform yet, you could try a follower service to give you a boost. These services can drip-feed organic followers and likes to your content so that it doesn’t look artificial, thus ensuring that more people see what you’ve created. Followers beget followers, after all. This is perhaps more important on platforms like TikTok; gathering free TikTok followers will be an incredible boon when it comes to building a profile on that platform.

2. Post when your audience is active

Some social media platforms allow you to see exactly when your audience is active and schedule posts based on that time. Instagram, for example, has a built-in analytical tool called Insights. Using this, you can see a graph that shows you when your audience is online. You can also see other stats like a gender breakdown of engagement, how many accounts your posts have reached, and more. Using this information, you can then tailor your content accordingly to catch that audience more often.

3. Geotag content to catch travellers

Geotagging your content on social media comes with its own risks, but on the whole, it’s a good thing, especially if you’re tagging content in areas you’re no longer in. Engagement increases when you geotag content; this is because you can catch people who are looking to travel to areas you’ve been, and they’ll see your content if you tag the location in it. It may not be a great idea to geotag every location you’re in when you post, but if you’re travelling, it can be a great boon for engagement.

4. Share personal details where possible

Engagement will increase if people can see that you’re baring your soul. Sharing personal information about your life is a great way to build trust between you and your followers; they’ll see that you are willing to give them insight into your real life, and they won’t think you’re “just another influencer” who’s building a fake persona for their social media presence. You don’t have to be too personal, but opening up about some of the issues that are affecting you is a good way to help your profile.

5. Calls to action always help

Including calls to action in your content helps followers to feel like they’re being included in your process. Whatever subject you’re posting about, try to think about what kind of questions you could ask in relation to that subject. Ask your audience if they’ve ever been through something similar to you, and they’ll respond with their own takes on your story. Asking them to comment won’t work; you need to directly engage their emotions rather than just hollowly begging for engagement.

6. Check your analytics constantly

Don’t let yourself fall into the trap of thinking you know what kind of videos are going to work for your followers. Sometimes, trends will change, and your followers will start gravitating towards different kinds of content. When this happens, you’ll thank yourself for regularly checking your analytics so you know how to change your approach. There are a range of tools out there to help you understand your metrics, and many of the platforms also have built-in systems to assist you in doing this.Different types of videos work best on different platforms. Be mindful of the variations between video sizes for social media, and cater your content to the platforms you’re using most.

7. Positive posts get more engagement

Try not to be relentlessly negative on your social media feeds. Research has demonstrated that positive posts get more engagement, so try to put a happy spin on whatever it is you’re posting about. This won’t always be possible, of course, and you owe it to your followers to be honest rather than masking the truth behind fake “influencer emotion”. However, if you have some good news to share, it’s a good idea to make sure you share it as quickly as possible with your followers.

8. Post educational or informative content

Another way you can significantly increase your engagement is to post content that’s educational or informative. Think about some of the skills you have. Could you create a tutorial on how others can attain your level of aptitude in those skills? Even better, try to post content that promises users will be able to learn something if they click it. There’s almost nothing more conducive to engagement than mystery, so if you create a compelling sense that followers will gain new knowledge, this will increase engagement.

9. Hold live Q&A sessions and streams

When you stream on social media, it lets your followers know that you aren’t just a canned bot or a series of scheduled posts; you’re a living, breathing human being, and now you’re letting your audience see what you’re doing in real time. This also has the added benefit of allowing your audience to engage with you, meaning you can answer their questions as they come in, which always stands you in good stead when you’re looking for increased engagement.

10. Respond to as many comments as possible

As an addendum to the above point, people like to see you responding to comments. It further humanises you and shows you’re willing to engage with their points or their constructive criticism. You don’t have to feed the trolls; doing so will only make it easier for them to get under your skin, so try to avoid replying to comments that are unfair or uniformly negative. However, if people share their versions of your story with you, engage with them and you’ll see reciprocity from them in future.