13. Use Instagram Stories
Instagram stories paved the way to what is now a popular feature on almost all platforms. Stories are a great way to interact with your audience, and they can be a straight path to lead generation.
Through this feature, you can host a Q&A, give teasers of new products, share user-generated content, and much more. Stories support a variety of widgets such as questions, polls, ratings, quizzes and votes, all with the potential to engage viewers.
For example, you can view Stories as a way to gamify promotions for your audience.
Having people guess brands, vote favorites, and comment their opinions will expose them to your products while making the process enjoyable and easy to engage with.
14. Get started with Facebook and Instagram Reels
Facebook and Instagram Reels can bring a boost of personality to your brand. It is an opportunity to hop on trends and show that you are not a one-dimensional presence. Now it is your chance to be more relatable and incorporate a little bit of humor into your strategy.
Reels allow you to create tutorials and jump on trends, as we’ve discussed previously with video content. They are more engaging than static posts and have the potential to go viral due to platforms’ algorithms.
When creating your Reels, take into consideration that the person who stumbles upon it might now know your brand. Think of ways to capture their attention, through the content, thumbnail, and even the music.
15. Use Social Media Shopping Features
Instagram, Facebook and Tiktok make it easy for businesses to sell their products to more customers with the online shopping feature. If your customers are interested in one of your products, they will have a smooth buying process on all these platforms that will save them precious time.
Instagram Shopping
Instagram Shopping lets businesses showcase their products through posts, stories, and the Explore tab, making it easy for users to shop directly on Instagram.
It’s a seamless way for brands to turn engagement into sales, giving followers a fun and interactive shopping experience.
Facebook Shop
Facebook Shop and Instagram Shop are pretty much the same given that the platforms are both owned by Meta.
Facebook allows brands to create digital storefronts and shoppable posts, making the shopping experience easier through the app.
TikTok Shop
TikTok Shop, like Instagram Shopping, allows users to shop for products directly from the platform.
It allows brands and individuals to add product listings in posts and livestreams, creating a shorter path from interaction to purchase.
16. Leverage X (Twitter) to Engage Your Audience
X (formerly Twitter) is one of the platforms where it’s easiest to spark conversations with your audience on various topics. While various platforms are sought out more for visual inspiration and video content, X has maintained its place as a dialog starter.
The platform’s design, combined with its features (such as polls, for example) make it easier for social media marketers to interact with followers and engage them on relevant topics. Moreover, X is a perfect place for sharing quick updates on products.
By doing this, you not only get insightful information about your customers, but also get to share thoughts and views that reinforce your vision and mission.
However, that does not mean visuals are not important on X as well. Accompanying your text with a relevant and eye-catching image could make the difference between a failed and a successful conversation starter.
Visual elements can increase your engagement by three times. Always have in mind an element that can add a humorous take on the information shared, provide more context, or just make the post more attractive. Humor can boost your content if done right.
17. Build Authority and Connections on LinkedIn
LinkedIn is a social media site built more for professional purposes, different from Facebook, Instagram, and X (Twitter) which are more focused on entertainment and recreation.
In fact, 65 million people use the platform each week to search for jobs, and 6 people are hired through it every minute.
People have a clear goal in mind while on the platform: posting content that will bring them closer to business opportunities, or discovering educational content that will elevate their knowledge in a certain field.
LinkedIn is a great platform for communicating and building relationships with other people interested in your industry. To do that, you have to prove yourself as a reliable source of information. Don’t be afraid to link to sources other than your business because it will help you gain credibility.
Business content thrives on LinkedIn, so don’t hold back on posts that relate to your industry. Furthermore, it is a platform that allows you to build your brand by sharing business goals and plans.
18. Schedule Your Content at the Best Times
Any social media marketer knows that, for the best engagement, you need to post consistently and choose the right times based on when your audience is online.
Sounds understandably scary – after all, you need to consider not only the industry but also your audience’s demographics and psychographics when determining your schedule.
As a general guideline, follow these social media best posting times:
- The overall best times to post Facebook content are Monday through Friday in the mornings from 9 AM to 10 AM and in the early afternoons around 1 PM to 4 PM.
- The best times to post on Instagram are on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays in the morning (6 AM – 9 AM), at midday (12 PM – 2 PM), and in the evening (5 PM – 6 PM).
- The best times to post on Twitter tend to be during the workweek, Monday through Friday during morning to early afternoon hours, specifically from 9 AM to 3 PM.
- The best times to post on LinkedIn are Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, within business hours, particularly from 9 AM to 5 PM.
- The best times to post on Pinterest are Fridays between 1 PM and 3 PM.
- On Google Business Profile every day is a good day to post around 7 AM to 9 AM (before work), between 12 PM and 2 PM (lunch breaks), and from 5 PM to 7 PM (right after work).
- The prime times to post on TikTok are Friday and Tuesday afternoons (12 PM to 3 PM) during lunch breaks and evenings (6 PM to 9 PM) as users relax and browse content.
- The best times to post on YouTube are on Fridays, closely followed by Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays, during the afternoon to evening hours, specifically between 2 PM to 4 PM on weekdays and extending to 8 PM to 11 PM on weekends.
While these are good general tips, they are not perfectly tailored to your specific audience. That’s why using social media analytics tools to determine the best times to post is a much safer bet.
