Have you used techniques within social media to establish engaging content with your followers? As we evolve to different platforms of social media, we also need to evolve on how we use those social media platforms while interacting with our followers. Companies have started to take to social media in a more personal/fun way, having conversations with their followers.

Audience engagement is one of the most important indicators of your social media performance, and here’s why it is so vital to do it correctly and on the right platform:

• The amount of time adults use social media across all platforms is now higher than ever — 95 minutes per day.
• 1 in 3 adults regularly consume news from Facebook, signalling the popularity of timely (and often controversial) content on the platform.
• Instagram dominates social streaming services in terms of engagement (hint: 81 % engagement versus Facebook’s 8 %).
• Engagement rates on Instagram are approximately more than six times higher than those on Facebook (0.83 % to 0.13 %).
• According to LinkedIn themselves, Elevated shares on the platform earn 53 % more engagement and twice the CTR of employee-shared content.
• Influencers with less than 5k followers see the highest engagement rates on TikTok (17.9 %) vs macro-influencers with up to 1 million followers (13.48 %) (Source).
• 71 % of consumers who have had a positive experience with a brand on social media are likely to recommend the brand to their friends and family (Source).
• The 2021 median average engagement rate per post (by follower) on Facebook is 0.064 %, across all industries. Sports Teams see the highest engagement, achieving an average of 0.27 %, followed by Influencers with 0.23 % and Higher Education with 0.15 %.
• At the lower end of the spectrum, Health & Beauty, and Tech & Software receive an 
• average 0.02 % engagement rate.
• According to LinkedIn, Images typically result in a 2x higher comment rate and Video gets 5x more engagement on LinkedIn, Live Video gets 24x more (Source).

Let’s take a look at a few US companies that have used this method to create more of a personality for themselves that their followers can connect with. Not only is it beneficial for companies to be connecting with their followers, but it also gets their followers talking about the company and getting brand awareness. There are different types of interactions that companies are using to interact with their followers, such as Twitter replies, going live, and stories. 

1. Twitter

Here is Wendy’s, an American fast-food restaurant, using Twitter to boost its brand by replying to a follower. In a fun and creative way.

Notice how their replies are also to promote their business. They do this in a fun way! They are using creative methods to reply to the follower. As you do this, you’re creating a brand for yourself that your followers will remember you by. In this example above, Wendy’s is pointing out that Burger King freezes their beef unlike theirs which are “fresher”. That’s a burn at Burger King for sure! As companies go back and forth with each other and their followers, they create fun, engaging, and memorable content for their followers!

2. Going Live

Now let’s look at how companies are using social media platforms to go live.

Going live from your company’s page can strengthen your company’s image. If you have a major announcement, event, product release then going live is right for you. You can go live, using the live feature on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Going live helps you build connections with your followers on a more personal level where they can ask questions and you can answer them while being live. By going live you can reach a much larger market of followers and attract new potential followers. You can give a more “behind the scenes” feel to your followers as you go live into your company’s culture. But remember, you are live, no editing what you are saying or showing. So be fun but cautious 🙂

3. Stories

Lastly, let’s look into stories on social media platforms. You can use stories on Facebook or Instagram. On stories, you can post “in the moment” content to your followers that will go away after 24 hours. So, what is the difference between stories and posting on your feed? It is all about what you are trying to share. If you are at an event and want to post how the event is going throughout the day, then you can use stories. If you have a new product release you could have a daily countdown on your story. A feature that is different from stories is the way to get your followers’ feedback. You can post a poll question about a specific topic you have, and they can vote right in the story. The follower can also use the story to “swipe up” if they want to Direct Message (DM) you.

Using stories, going live, and interacting with replies can give your company the fun and engaging brand image and the personality that it may need to set itself apart from other companies on social media! Hopefully, as you read this you are eager to get onto your platforms and start getting more interactive with your followers! If you ever need any social media guidance, feel free to reach out to us!