By Amy Irvine
Engagement rate is one of the most important metrics on social media today. It’s used to track how actively involved with your content your audience is and is crucial for measuring success, especially if you are working with healthcare brands on sponsored content.
Lickd’s team of social media experts and pro creators have put together their 5 expert top tips to help you maximize your audience engagement and land lucrative brand deals.
Be your authentic self
People want to see the personality behind social media accounts, not just faceless content. Create genuine connections with your audience and they’ll be more likely to engage with your posts and find value in the content you’re creating.
If you’re partnering with brands, make sure you believe in the products you’re promoting and they’re of interest to your audience. People will quickly unfollow if ads feel irrelevant or forced.
Consistency is key
Consistently posting high-quality content on social media helps to attract followers and boost engagement. Don’t focus on going viral, focus on always providing your audience with content that is relevant and of value to them. This approach is much more likely to get your audience showing up for your next post or video. We suggest posting once or twice a day (minimum) to keep your feed fresh and your audience engaged.
The algorithmic structure of some platforms means that the time that you post can be crucial to maximizing engagement. The recommended time to post varies from expert to expert and also depends on when your audience is most active. To find out your perfect time to post, use insight and analytics features on socials to uncover when your followers are most engaged.
Experiment with different platforms
TikTok and Instagram Reels are starting to dominate the online space, moving video content firmly into first position when it comes to the most popular content formats. This kind of short-form content is a great way to show off your personality, build connections with your audience and attract new followers. The younger generation is very much curious to use TikTok to create a strong presence there. TikTok users are also looking for growth tools like Tikfuel and other alternatives to grow their accounts rapidly.
Remember when Instagram stories were the latest new trend? Now over 500 million people use the feature daily. Embrace new features and platforms, especially if your audience is engaging with them, early adopters can often have the best success with new platforms.
Know your audience
This is an important one. It’s hard to engage people if you don’t know who your audience is. Understanding them will help you to determine what networks to be on, when to post, tone-of-voice, and type of content.
Your community of followers are the ears on the ground. They may see and engage with trends way before you, so listening to them is a great way to stay relevant.
Create valuable content
Think of content as a two-way conversation. You start the conversation by posting a video, image, or text and your audience responds through engagements; comments, likes, shares etc. But this will only happen if your audience finds something of value in your content.
Built-in platform features have made it easier than ever to go further than the standard post – create polls, hold competitions, and do live Q&A sessions. You can also now embed Instagram feeds, Twitter posts, or your Facebook stream on your website to further help with engagement. These kinds of interactive formats create value for your audience and in turn, can help you understand your target audience better. It’s a cyclical process that can lead to better engagement and growth.
Eleana Overett, Social Media and Community Manager at Lickd comments: “The best piece of advice I’ve ever been given is “Don’t optimize for ‘The Algorithm’. Optimize for people, because the algorithm is trying to work out what PEOPLE like to watch. The more you tweak your thumbnails, your titles, and your content to tug at the heartstrings of real people, the more successful you’ll be at ‘beating the algorithm’.”
To view the full expert guide, please click here.
The Editorial Team at Healthcare Business Today is made up of skilled healthcare writers and experts, led by our managing editor, Daniel Casciato, who has over 25 years of experience in healthcare writing. Since 1998, we have produced compelling and informative content for numerous publications, establishing ourselves as a trusted resource for health and wellness information. We offer readers access to fresh health, medicine, science, and technology developments and the latest in patient news, emphasizing how these developments affect our lives.
