Companies like ours constantly remind small business owners to post on social media platforms consistently. We recommend it at least once a day. If you post content daily, but your audience doesn’t find your posts useful, entertaining, or interesting, you will not gain any traffic. Impressions and engagement of your posts can indicate the quality of the content. Start putting yourself in the shoes of your target audience. What do they want to see?
Personally, when I scroll through social media, an eye-catching photo gets me to stop and 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 get the viewer's attention, your captions must be meaningful, or you won’t get the engagement you seek.
Growing your organic following on social media can be a slow process that 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 to your content.
Ways to Increase Engagement and Reach on Social Media
1. Useful Posts
You want your following to use 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 its benefits 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 shows your followers what you and your family do outside your 9 to 5. Were you lucky to take some time off and 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 ones for obvious reasons, but I think others should! This is a great way to get people engaged in your post.
3. Controversial Posts
A political post is the easiest way to get people engaged in your posts. I always suggest keeping politics off your business page. Shockingly, there are more ways of stirring up 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 to be a troll and watch people argue and fight on your pages. Please 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 are an excellent 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,
Tennessee Social
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