Through social media, it is easy for people to express their opinions, which, as a result, develop into word-of-mouth advertising for products and services. This is why social media engagement is so important.

Brands have discussed this topic quite a lot over recent years, but few are able to actually understand what social media engagement means and are, therefore, unable to turn it into a successful strategy.

It's important to know how exactly how to engage with your audience. Here's three ways for you to do this effectively:

1. Be responsive

Customers who are engaging on your platform are important to any brand that uses social media. Their reactions will inform you of how the brand is performing, and what your audience likes – and doesn't like – so you'll know exactly how to respond.

Remember to always be responsive (whether it's a comment, a 'like' or even a 'share'). Your audience will appreciate it, and that interaction will be remembered in future communications.

2. Have a great call to action

Your social media engagement goes beyond just liking and sharing posts. You've used a call to action to get them to sign up, and now that they have, you can think of other call to actions on social media in order to promote your brand.

3. Embrace any response – whether it's positive or negative

Sometimes your audience will respond to your posts, and that response can either be positive or negative. They could tell you about why they think your product is a failure or how your brand has fulfilled their dreams.

All this means is that you've posted something that has spurred a reaction strong enough to elicit a real response.

And that response requires engagement. Here are three tactics you can use to increase your social media brand engagement:

1. Develop an emotional bond 

In order to develop an emotional bond with your audience, you have to give your content a touch of something personal.

Take, for example, a car company's launch of an online campaign using the #DriveWithSafety hashtag. People would know that the company values safety. This would be an indirect promotion of buying cars from the brand connnected to the hashtag. The idea is to connect to people on an emotional level by engaging with them through an emotional message, which then leads to sales.

2. Add humour to your content 

Humour is an instant 'thumbs up' in the eyes of audiences. It is not about making your brand fun; it's about sharing your content with either a meme, GIF or emoji, which adds a touch of humour to it.

Viral content is your best option. Use it and add it into your content. Remember to post your news with the 'added touch' every day: Consistency should be at the base of every engagement.

3. Increase your visual content

The visual content you share on social media will add personality to your posts. People are more likely to engage and interact with a business that feels like a friend, particularly on social media. 

For more information, visit www.xongolab.com. You can also follow XongoLab Technologies on Facebook, Twitter or on Instagram.    

*Image courtesy of Vecteezy