• Social Media Marketing
• 7 August 2017

It’s no doubt that we live in a society obsessed with social media. It helps human beings to feel social and affirms our identities and beliefs.

In fact, each month there are around 4.2 billion social media users worldwide. And that’s just for the top eight sites!

So, in a world of aimless scrolling, how do you catch people’s attention and actually hold it?

By actively engaging them.

This is the key to successfully marketing through social media. When a client engages with your brand’s accounts, they experience a memorable interaction that will leave a mark and form a relationship.

Read on to learn about the ten social media solutions that will make your audience stop scrolling, and start engaging.

Let’s dive in!

1. Timing Is Everything

In order to maximize the number of people your social media posts will reach, make sure you keep time zones in mind.

And we don’t just mean Eastern and Pacific. Different times of day have different volumes of traffic.

Think about it. Generally, people have a scroll through their social media accounts in the morning when they wake, around lunchtime, and then in the evening.

Take advantage of these hotspots to get your social media posts seen by more people.

Days of the week matter, too! For example, people are generally in a good mood on Friday because their weekend has almost arrived. Keep this in mind when generating your social media posts.

2. Be Consistent

If you’re not generating a constant flow of content, your audience will quickly lose interest.

This goes for the type of content that you’re posting as well. If you post sporadically and your content is inconsistent and confusing, not only will it get scrolled past- it will get unfollowed.

If it helps, make yourself a schedule outlining when you’ll post on each social media platform, and what content you’ll be posting at that time. This organization will help you stay on track with your social media solutions and consistent with your outreach.

3. Have a Q & A Session

Not only will a Q&A effectively engage your social media followers, it will also help connect them with you on a memorable level.

This is also a super easy way to creatively mix up the content that you’re producing and dominate over other brands’ boring social media posts.

Depending on your business and brand, your Q&A can be as fun and personal or educational and informative as you like. Don’t be afraid to have fun with it!

4. Feature Your Followers

People will engage with your social media posts if themselves and their friends are featured!

For example, if you’re a graphic illustrator and your social media audience base is made of mostly other illustrators and art fans, feature someone in your followership’s work and give them a shout out. Not only will this engage that person, it will engage their followers, encourage them to talk about you to others, and add a supportive and inclusive vibe to this aspect of your social media solutions.

5. Host a Contest

This one is a great opportunity to get creative and have fun with your social media followers.

In fact, the more unique your contest is, the better. Social media contests are fairly common for businesses using social media marketing these days though, so make sure that yours stands out.

Whether people have to repost a photo of yours with a hashtag or generate original content of their own, make sure that they’re actively involved. After all, engagement is the whole point!

6. Don’t Be Afraid to Repeat Yourself

Ever read your favorite book a second time? Or watched a great film again and again?

Well, if you produce amazing content that people love, don’t be afraid to throw it back into the mix!

The key here is to make sure that you’re only recycling your most popular content, and that you don’t go overboard. Wait until you have some new followers who may be seeing it for the first time, and until those who have seen it before have had enough time in between revisits.

7. Keep It Current

Staying on top of the world’s current events will keep people interested and engaged in your content.

Whether it’s a new viral video of a dog swinging in a hammock, or a heartbreaking and tragic world event, posting on your social media accounts with content that relates to these current happenings will stop your audience from scrolling and get them clicking.

8. Get to Know Your Audience

Polls and surveys are a great way to get your audience engaged and excited (who doesn’t love contributing their opinion?), but they serve a couple more purposes as well.

Firstly, you can access information about your followership through these polls. Knowing more about them will help you to better communicate with them and market to them.

Secondly, polls and surveys will keep people coming back. If a follower contributes information, they’ll want to know how the results turn out in the end. This will get them back on your social media pages and back to engaging with them.

9. Curate Content to Access More People

Curating content is easy! Here’s how.

You won’t have to go far for inspiration about what to share. Chances are, if it interests and influences you, it will do the same for your audience.

All you need to do is find someone else’s work that is relevant to your brand, share it on your accounts, and tag them. They will more than likely give you a shout out for the share, and then- voila! You have accessed their followership as well.

10. Use These Social Media Solutions to Raise Awareness

Using social media solutions to raise awareness for a great cause is not only altruistic, it’s also a great business strategy.

The best way to go here is to pick something close to your heart. Whether it’s cancer research, animal rescue, or anything in between, using your social media platforms to raise awareness for a cause is a great way to make a difference and engage your audience at the same time.

It’s That Easy

With these ten social media solutions, you’ll have an active and engaged audience in no time.

Remember to be consistent and genuine, and your relationship with your followers is sure to flourish. Have fun!