How To Get More From Social Media + Strategies To Increase Engagement

Let's discuss that King Kong Gorilla we all know and love, and probably also kinda hate at times and that’s social media marketing. 

When it comes to your business marketing...

What role does social media play in your content marketing strategy? 

Social media isn’t just a place for posting funny pre-recorded voice over Instagram reels - although, your strategy should include some of that.

Social media marketing is about:

• Showcasing your brand's unique voice
• Helping you engage with your followers
• Driving traffic to your website
• Getting people to book calls or appointments with you
• Inviting social followers to visit your physical or digital store

In order to accomplish the above you should have a content marketing strategy in place.

A content marketing strategy (which is all about delivering value as Gary Vee told us over and over again in his book Jab, Jab, Jab, right hook)  helps your business:

• Show it's expertise
• Promote and increase brand awareness
• Keeps your business top of mind when it's time for your ideal client to buy what you sell.

If you don't have a content marketing strategy - you'll find yourself just creating things with no purpose, lacking a consistent brand message, over selling, talking about yourself too much, and becoming noisy in an already noisy and busy world.

I'm of the opinion that what I want from your social media goals and strategies are that the majority of your content focus on working like a vehicle that gets social followers into your email marketing ecosystem.

Getting someone onto your email list is gold.

It allows you to continue to nurture the relationship long term. Plus it allows you to control the flow of communication. [You can't control who sees your content on social because Zucks and team are constantly changing the algorithm.] So there's a higher probability that an email will reach your intended audience - and it's not subject to a 24 hour window of time.

So one tip: is to focus on creating content that helps you do that.

5 ways to increase engagement with your social media content

1. Focus on your audience 

We always start with the customer. The customer is the HERO of the story of our business.

The first step in creating engaging social media content is to know who those customers are. Who are they, what do they care about, and what challenges are they dealing with?

Understanding your audience will help you create content that resonates with them and addresses their needs. I’m not saying you should never share or talk about who you are, or your business, but do so in a way that’s important to your followers.

Lead with this question: “What’s in it for them?” If we’re being real here, few of us care about anything that doesn’t involve us.

2. Use visuals 

I know you understand that visuals are more engaging than text-only posts. But maybe you’ve forgotten how important is to use high-quality images, videos, infographics, and other visual content to capture your audience's attention and stop the scroll. Avoid really small text or too much reading. 

Make your visuals relevant, compelling, and on-brand. The easier your brand marketing is to recognize the simple it is to notice and pay attention to.

I’m not saying you can’t branch out and use all the colors of the Crayola box, but marketing is an exercise in memorization. So the more you can do to help cement memorability with your brand the more recognizable you become and the more people think about you and associate certain things with you. **Marketing tip: you want to become memorable for solving a unique problem in your customers minds.

3. Tell stories 

Storytelling is a powerful tool for engaging your audience. Stories are memorable and emotionally deeper than dry facts or statistics.

Operation Underground Railroad is a brand that does this in one of the most powerful ways I’ve seen. They are an organization that works to save children from being exploited from sex trafficking. They have a section on their website promoting the adoption of children who need families.

There’s a section called “Our Impact” and it shows numbers around how many families they’ve helped, children they’ve saved, and the amount of grants they’ve awarded.

But right underneath that section of statistical facts are 3-4 paragraphs of story telling.

I’ll share a quick snippet: “When my husband Tim and I were adopting our two children from Haiti, we experienced first-hand all the forms, government approvals, legal fees, time, and patience it took to finally bring them home. It was a frustratingly long, confusing, and expensive journey…Our family’s wait was long. The process was difficult. But it was worth every form, every penny, and every tear. Not only do Tim and I and their seven siblings adore our beautiful children and receive their pure love in return, but they are now protected from human trafficking and sexual exploitation by the structure of a family who cares for them.”

There’s a lot more to the story, but you can already feel the emotional difference. So dust off your childhood bedtime reading skills and don’t underestimate the power of a good story for engaging your social media followers.
 

4. Ask questions and encourage conversation

Social media is a two-way conversation. Ask your audience questions, encourage them to share their thoughts and opinions. People LOVE to express an opinion because everybody has one. Depending on your niche audience you could ask things like:

• “What are you reading today?
• Is there anything you recommend I read?
• If you didn’t have to sleep, what would you do with the extra time?
• What job would you be terrible at?
• Any advice your childhood self would give to your adult self today? 

One reading recommendation I have for you is Ken Coleman's book titled One Question Life Changing Answers. It will spur your creativity for asking questions.

The right questions uncover truths we might not otherwise know.

5. Finally, don’t forget to Use Humor: (if that’s authentic to you.)

I’m not the funniest person so my content is kind of stale that way, but man oh man do I love to watch content produced by funny people.

There are some personal brands out there doing an amazing job leaning into their talents. I love those brands because they show up on the hard days, in the moments I need to unwind or to forget about the seriousness of life. Right now I’m on a kick where I follow a YouTube creator Stephen He, who creates content about Asian parents. He’s hilarious and I don’t get paid to say this but you should follow him.

I talk about Allstate Insurance so much I swear I should get sponsored, but you’ve heard me mention how they use their character Mayhem to spice up what’s otherwise a worrisome situation and boring thing to talk about (car insurance.)

Creating engaging social media content requires a mix of strategy, creativity, and authenticity. Social media content offers value to your audience (and yes humor is value) - as you deliver that value with consistency, your followers will be more likely to engage with you and share your content.

Ultimately however, don’t get so caught up with creating social media content that you forget its primary purpose in your content marketing strategy. 

The next time you find yourself getting caught up in the endless scroll, remember to stay focused on your goal and that’s to bring those potential clients over to your own digital domain.