These days, everyone knows the major buzz words of social media: reach and engagement. For small business owners who are focused on a myriad of responsibilities, not the least of which is social media management, determining how to increase these metrics can be daunting. Before jumping into how to increase reach and engagement, let’s first discuss their definitions.

Reach

              Reach is the number of people that see your content. This could include your existing followers and friends on your respective platforms, but it can also include accounts that are not currently in your social circle. Each individual account that sees your content counts towards your reach.

Engagement

              Engagement is the crown jewel of social media. It measures the interactions that other accounts have with your content. This includes likes, shares, saves, and comments. Engagement shows social media platforms that your existing followers (or other accounts that may have newly discovered your account) like your content so much that they are no longer just passive social media observers but instead active participants.

Increasing Reach & Engagement

              Depending on your social media strategy, you may want to focus on increasing reach, engagement, or both. If you’re a new business or brand-new account, reach may be more important so you can grow your number of followers. If you’re looking for “the algorithm” to show your killer content to more of your existing followers as well as potential followers, you’ll want to increase engagement. Here are 3 quick ways you can increase both:

1.       Use more relevant hashtags. Hashtags are crucial for reaching your target audience. Using hashtags that are relevant to your product/service will catalog your content for the social media platform, so it can show it to more people who are interested in that topic. Make sure to take inventory of the hashtags you’re using every few months to ensure that you’re using the best ones for your account.

2.       Respond to comments & messages quickly. When you’re just focused on the likes, you may miss bigger opportunities for engagement like comments or messages. When someone comments on your post, like the comment and write a reply that encourages conversation. By keeping the conversation going, you will also increase engagement and build strong relationships with your key audience.

3.       Create content pillars. Content pillars are the main things your account focuses on. I suggest choosing 3-5 things that your page stands for and build your content around those things. It will help you streamline content and help new followers know what to expect from your channel even when you incorporate new forms of content.

There you have it – 3 ways to increase reach & engagement on your social channels. If you’d like more help crafting a strategy, calendar, or pillars for your social media accounts, reach out to lauren@bitesizedconsulting. Your first consultation is always free.  

Talk soon!

Lauren