Companies like ours are constantly reminding small business owners they need to be posting on social media platforms consistently. We recommend at least once a day. If you are posting content daily, but your audience doesn’t find your posts useful, entertaining, or interesting, you are not going to gain any traffic. Impressions and engagement of your posts can be an indicator of the quality of the content. Start putting yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What do they want to see?
Personally, when I am scrolling through social media, an eye-catching photo gets me to stop scrolling and to view a post. As a small business, your images are extremely important. Are your viewers constantly scrolling past your post because nothing caught their attention? If you’re not seeing the reach you’re expecting to get, there is a good chance your images are not catchy. Once you do get the attention of the viewer, your captions must be meaningful or you won’t get the engagement you’re seeking.
Growing your organic following on social media can be a slow build and requires a lot of time and effort. Always ask yourself “What would my audience want to see?” or “What would get my followers to engage?” I will go over a few categories that will likely help you gain traffic on your content.
Ways to Increase Engagement and Reach on Social Media
1. Useful Posts
You want your following to get some kind of use out of your post. What is the purpose of your post and what do you want the viewer to get out of it? You might show a picture of one of your products or services, and pair it with a caption that tells you about the benefits it has to the people viewing your post. Your following already knows you exist, now start showing them how your products and services can be useful to them.
2. Personal Posts
Have a balance of your business posts and pair them with personal posts. People aren’t going to want to see call-to-action type posts every day from you. It’s effective showing your followers what you and your family do outside of your 9 to 5. Were you lucky enough to take some time off and go on vacation somewhere? Show people that you have a life outside of work. Do you have a favorite recipe you’re willing to share? I wouldn’t be putting out any of my personal ones for obvious reasons, but I think others should! This is a great way to get people engaging on your post.
3. Controversial Posts
The easiest way to get people engaging on your posts would be a political post. I always suggest keeping politics off your business page. Shockingly, there are more ways of stirring up a controversy. I’m positive you can get some back and forth going on something as simple as “Does pineapple belong on pizza?” By controversial posts, I am not saying be a troll and watch people argue and fight on your pages. Keep it clean so you don’t end up being the moderator.
These are just a few types of posts to keep in mind when creating your content. The impressions and engagement you get on your posts is a great indicator of the quality of the post. Be creative, and always put yourself in the shoes of the people you are trying to reach.
Justin Cahoy,
Minnesota Social