Tired of crickets on social media? Here's what to do.

If there’s one thing in online business that stands out as the most frustrating and imposter-syndrome-inducing, it’s crickets for reactions and engagement on social media.  If you’ve been there, and more likely than not, you have - then you know the feeling. Sure, some people LIKE the lives with no watchers because they feel it’s less pressure, teehee.  But if your business is online, and you want to make money with it, you’ve got to get people on board with you. Read on for 5 super-specific and easy ways you can boost social media engagement across your posts and live videos.

Tell people you’re going online

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Simple enough, the first of our social media engagement tactics is--you should tell the people you’re interacting with that you’ll be online ahead of time.  Just like an invitation for any event, make a big deal out of it! Send an email to your list, or use ManyChat to remind them that it’s time for you to go live.  You can post on all of your social media platforms with a juicy headline and get people interested in what you’re talking about. Most of all though, if you want people to show up, you have to be consistent!  Consistency is QUEEN when it comes to online marketing. If you’re inconsistent, people don’t look for you. Yes, exceptions happen, you’ll get sick, or you’ll have something come up once in a while that you can’t get out of.  No big deal! If you are going live regularly, people will look for you, and actually start to check up on you when you’re gone. Yes, Miss Popular, they will notice that you’re NOT online when you’re really consistent.

Schedule it

Along those same lines of letting people know, and treating your appearances like true media events, feel free to schedule them AS events.  You can use Facebook Events (make sure it’s set to PUBLIC, not private), or even an off-social-media event platform such as Eventbrite. You can also host your live events via a platform like Zoom.  There’s nothing that says you have to treat each event as if it was a webinar, but webinars or ‘free trainings’ do often draw a crowd.  Of course, if you’re extra and all that, you can host an actual webinar using webinar jam. Make sure you’re providing really great content if you go this route, as many people are webinarred-out.  Too much me-me-me-me-me in your presentation will cause a loss of attention from your participants.

Ask Questions

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Show your followers a little love and that you care about them by asking about them.  What are THEIR stories? Don’t only post stories about you and brag, brag, brag. People want to be able to share some of themselves with you too.  Being a friend is not a one-sided relationship. If you’re seeking true connection, it’s gotta be a two-way-street. Along those same lines, don’t only post promos.  That’s about the fastest way to lose people. Feel free to sprinkle a few in there, but you’ve gotta have valuable and helpful content. If you’re selling a product, you can post ways to use it, without the posts screaming BUY IT.  If you want mass-engagement, try posting a really juicy secret story that shows a vulnerability in you, and then ask for your readers to share a similar experience. Maybe even run a contest around it. See who has the worst story! Or the best story!  You choose. People love to feel heard. If you can create the space where people around you feel seen and heard, you will grow your following.

Offer Up the BONUSES

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And remember, people always want to know - WIIFM (what’s in it for me).  Don’t be afraid to give people something. You don’t have to give EVERYTHING away.  Give things like a random shout-out, a free download, an extra bonus when they buy your new program.  When you’re creating a piece of content, like a live video, give your watchers a REASON to stay tuned in.  Drop a Coupon code into your live content, that’s NOT posted in the comments. Nothing’s better than a secret coupon code.  Didn’t you ever play video games? The secret cheat codes are the best! Mention that you have a secret code somewhere in the beginning and then unannounced, drop it in your content.  That’s a reason to listen in - and keep listening! Give your loyal followers something for being loyal.

Be Long Enough, but Not Too Long

If you go live, people who follow your page, or are friends with you (depending on where you are live) on Facebook, will all get a notification that you’re live.  You’ve gotta stay live long enough to to get people’s notices popping up, and give them a chance to join in on your video party. The ‘right’ length is somewhere between 8-18 minutes in length.  Now, this will depend on your target audience. Sometimes you’ll need to be shorter and get more replays. Other times, people will want to stay and hang out with you. Just keep in mind if you start to ramble, people will tune you out, and may not come back next time.  

OK, so what are the 5 things you’re going to do next time you plan to go live?

  • Tell People

  • Schedule It

  • Ask Questions

  • Give Bonuses

  • Watch Your Clock

And speaking of BONUSES, here’s yours - a free Printable PDF for your wall to make sure you’re doing these 5 things to get massive engagement on your social media content.

 
 
Jessica Hansen