3 Easy Ways to Increase Your Social Media Engagement
Once upon a time your social media marketing strategy was probably largely focused on sharing links to third-party content with your audience. Well, those days are over, and if you want to stand out in the crowded and noisy online environment, you need to focus on content marketing storytelling.
We all love a compelling story. Whether its an adventure, comedy or fairy tale. Stories influence peoples emotions, which we as marketers know can then influence buying decisions and brand loyalty.
According to Jennifer Aaker, a psychologist and professor at Stanford University, stories are up to 22 times more memorable than facts.
Heres a great example of how a passionate story inspires, promotes and increases loyalty and social media engagement. SoulCycle is a trendy spinning studio that entices people to try out a fairly pricey class by using an emotional narrative.
This is also an example of brand positioning, but SoulCycle used it as a content piece across online platforms and on studio walls:
So how can you incorporate story telling into your business marketing efforts? Heres 3 easy ways to get started with:
1. Lights, Camera, Engagement
One of the top ways to tell interesting stories is with video. I recently attended Social Media Marketing World in San Diego, and this was probably the biggest takeaway: you need to be focusing on video if you want to increase your social media engagement.
I know some people hate being in front of a camera, but there are a few ways to make it easier.
For example, if youre a life coach, you could create short videos answering common questions your clients face such as Am I in the right career? How can I be happier in my relationship?
It feels much more comfortable and natural to speak about what you know, and you might find yourself actually enjoying it.
You could sit in your office, outside with a cup of coffee whatever puts you at ease and creates a nice aesthetic for people to look at.
If youre still shaking your head, how about creating videos that feature other experts (who arent competitors) or using imagery and text to tell a short story? A life coach could share graphics with inspirational quotes set to music or shoot a beautiful sunrise and ask followers: What are you grateful for today?
Whether youre using Facebook Live or creating 15-second clips to share on Instagram, use the platforms your target audience does and start shooting!
2. Lose the Links on Facebook
Its now common knowledge that Facebook limits the reach of your post if you include a link. When you share a post without a link, your engagement is much higher. Weve seen his happen and have changed our Facebook marketing ways accordingly.
Its not just Facebook who doesnt want to see a bunch of linksits your audience. People like to engage with a brand and have authentic conversations, not just be fed a steady stream of links to relevant content.
You can limit your links by creating videos with calls to action, focusing more on problems and solutions your product and services offer, and asking your followers questions theyll want to answer.
3. Add More Humanness
I kept hearing the word “humanness” at the conference. It relates to the simple idea of creating a more authentic story by being yourself to connect with your audience.
Warby Parker is an affordable eyeglasses company that focused their brand positioning around humanness. They never marketed to their audience by saying something like “We sell cheap eyeglasses for the whole family!”
Instead, check out the story they used across all of their channels:
“Every idea starts with a problem. Ours was simple: glasses are too expensive. We were students when one of us lost his glasses on a backpacking trip. The cost of replacing them was so high that he spent the first semester of grad school without them, squinting and complaining. (We dont recommend this.) The rest of us had similar experiences, and we were amazed at how hard it was to find a pair of great frames that didnt leave our wallets bare. Where were the options?”
One of the interesting video stories Warby Parker shares online.
Remember, telling a story is not intended to be a sales tool! Your end goal is of course to grow leads and sales, but your intent should be building strong relationships with your customers and online community. If you do that well, the rest will follow.
Dont have a way with words, or the time to juggle all of your tasks, let alone focus on growing followers and engagement?