How to Increase Social Media Engagement Across the Top Platforms

What’s the one thing people want to see more of on social media? Engagement!

We all want to see more engagement on the content we’ve worked so hard to create. That engagement can come in the form of likes, shares, replies, and even link clicks. It’s these simple actions that let us know our content is resonating with others.

But how exactly can you increase social media engagement on platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram? Well, that’s what I’m diving into with this post!

How to Increase Social Media Engagement Across the Top Platforms

To help you generate the engagement you deserve, I’m sharing a few tips for three of the top social media platforms so you can start putting them to use ASAP.

Tips to Increase Engagement on Twitter

When it comes to all of the social media platforms, you know that Twitter is my favorite. I’ve actually shared a great piece before with 12 tactics to increase Twitter engagement. You’ll definitely want to check that out for more advice. Meanwhile, here are my top tips for you:

• Incorporate hashtags. If you aren’t adding one or two relevant hashtags to the tweets you’re posting, you’re missing out. Hashtags are a simple way to increase social media engagement because it helps your content get in front of a wider audience.
• Participate in chats. As the host of the #TwitterSmarter chat, I love a good Twitter chat. They provide an amazing way to connect with new people from around the globe. Those people could become clients or even great friends. During a chat, you’ll definitely see engagement spike and those results can continue long after as chat participants follow you and check out your tweets.
• Create Twitter Lists. This might seem like a rather unconventional tip, but trust me when I say it’s worthwhile. When you’ve been on Twitter for quite some time, you’ll likely wind up following a lot of people. Lists allow you to curate a selection of people whose tweets are very important to you. This way, you won’t miss anything they share and you’ll be more likely to spot opportunities to engage with them.
  
• Take advantage of Twitter Spaces. At the time of this post, Twitter Spaces is still a new feature, but it certainly has people buzzing. And some people have already seen great results, like my friend Gabbi. She’s noticed her followers growing and has been able to increase social media engagement. You can see her results above. Spaces provide an amazing way to gain exposure and to share valuable content that positions you as an authority in your field.

Tips to Increase Engagement on Facebook

Facebook has proven to be a tricky platform over the years when it comes to their algorithm. Many creators have found it rather frustrating to discover that, more often than not, their posts are shown to only a small percentage of those who are actually following their Facebook page. However, there are a few things you can do to start increasing social media engagement there.

• Start going live. Facebook definitely seems to favor video content, especially live video. If you can carve out time in your schedule to go live via your Facebook business page, you’re sure to increase social media engagement. Live videos provide an awesome way to share valuable content and to connect with your community.
• Join Facebook groups. These days, you’re actually able to join Facebook groups as your business page. Previously, you could only use your personal profile to join and participate in groups. By opting to use your business page instead, you can generate more engagement for your business as you’ll gain additional exposure. Just make sure you’re adding something to the groups by starting new posts and replying to others.

• Experiment with paid ads. If you really want to increase social media engagement, paid ads are worth considering. The key is to set an advertising budget and to be willing to test your ads to see what is performing the best for you. The reason Facebook is worth considering for ads is because they actually have a good track record of high click-through rates via the app and desktop site.

Tips to Boost Engagement on Instagram

Much like Facebook, creators don’t always love Instagram’s algorithm either. I think it’s safe to say that many still miss the days when the feed was chronological! Not only does the algorithm cause struggles, but sometimes it’s hard to know where to direct your attention on Instagram. There’s the feed, Stories, IGTV, and even Reels.

When there are so many content formats available to us, it can become easy to over-consume and it also adds pressure to be everywhere all at once. That can feel a little overwhelming. So, here’s my advice:

• Don’t feel pressured to do everything. Because there are so many ways to create content on Instagram, many creators feel the need to use them all. And this is totally fine if you have a team helping you create content or if it’s something you’re really passionate about. But for solo business owners, that can often feel stressful. Instead, choose the content formats that most resonate with you and your audience. Then, do those consistently and do them well. At the end of the day, great content will increase social media engagement.
• But do give Reels a chance. I know I just said you shouldn’t feel pressured to be everywhere. However, I’d still recommend testing out Instagram Reels and seeing how it goes for you. This is a hot feature with Instagram right now and is really beneficial for getting in front of your target audience and increasing engagement. Have some fun and experiment!

• Write longer captions. After a little investigating, Later (a tool for Instagram marketing) and Fohr (an influencer marketing platform) determined this was the way to go. Feed posts with longer captions were actually generating the best engagement response. Your captions can be up to 2,200 characters, so make use of more of them!
• Use the right hashtags. Just like on Twitter, hashtags aren’t to be overlooked on Instagram. Take some time to research hashtags that are relevant to your niche and the content you share. Then, you can save your go-to hashtags to easily reuse them for future posts. When your hashtag game is strong, you’re going to generate even more impressions.

The One Constant Piece of Advice to Increase Social Media Engagement

At the end of the day, one of the most important things you can do to see additional engagement is to be consistent with posting new content. You aren’t going to get the engagement you desire if your account is inactive. That means, you want to make sure you’re showing up and sharing fresh content on a regular basis.

Does this mean you need to be present on social media all day, every day? No, absolutely not.

You can utilize third-party tools to schedule content that will go out every day of the week and across various time zones. This will allow you to reach more people without actually needing to be online all the time. Just make sure you’re still checking in at least once per day to view your notifications so you can reply to others. And don’t forget to look for opportunities to engage yourself! You don’t want to wait around for people to come to you.