Part 1: How to Increase Your Social Media Engagement in 2022
Social media marketing allows you to build relationships by providing an interactive way for current and prospective fans to engage. However, social media audiences continue to grow rapidly each year, making competition to reach new, and even current fans, fiercer than ever. For reference, Facebook has 2.41 billion monthly active users in 2022, a 12% increase year over year, and over 424 social media users have joined social media platforms as a whole in the past 12 months!
So, how do you break through the noise and inspire engagement from people on social media in 2022? First things first, you need to gain a good understanding of the social media landscape as it relates to your industry and brand. Our social media experts break it down with important tips to help get you started.
Develop a social media strategy
In 2022, it’s important to think strategically about what you’re posting if you want people to engage. This involves creating a well-rounded social media strategy that includes your goals for each platform, target audience, content buckets, paid campaigns, and more. Most modern social media strategies include a mix of organic posting, boosted content, and paid ad placements to maximize engagement and attract new fans. Growing your social media following is an important step to grow your engagement, and that’s why most marketers recommend integrating a paid component to your social media strategy. In fact, usage of Facebook ads is expected to surge 15.5% year-over-year in 2022 for this reason!
Analyze competitor social media activity
It’s a good idea to keep tabs on your competitors on social media to see what is and isn’t working for them. Perform a social media audit for each platform your competitors are active on and pay close attention to what topics they post about, how often they’re posting, what their engagement levels are, types of media they post (i.e., links, still images, videos, etc.), and whether they’re utilizing paid advertising options. On Facebook, you can check to see if your competitors’ are running ads by accessing the Ads Library. Evaluating your competitors’ social media approach and engagement will help as you refine your own social media strategy and increase engagement in the long run.
Monitor what your audience is talking about online
Social listening is all about keeping your finger on the pulse with what is important to the social audiences you’re trying to reach. You can learn a lot about your social media audiences by paying attention to what people are commenting on your social posts. If you notice there are topics that are consistently coming up, consider addressing this topic with your audiences in your social media posts, and consider running paid advertisements around the topic to spur more engagement. Social media is a two-way street, and if you show people that you care about the things that they do, you can expect them to reward you with more engagement.
Developing a social media plan and strategy built on thoughtful research and strategic thinking is the best way to increase your social media engagement in a lasting way. Our staff has experience in social monitoring, social listening, strategic development, content strategy, and more to help you make an impact with social media. Stay tuned for part two of this series for more helpful tips to increase social media engagement, and please reach out to us at info@affirmagency.com to learn more about how we can help you achieve your goals this year!
