Let’s face it, we all want more likes, shares, comments, and website visitors.
Creating valuable content and taking care of search engine optimization are powerful ways to achieve this, but if your content also results in social media engagement, you’ll reach your goals even faster.
When a piece of content goes viral, it creates a snowball effect that can quickly drive visitors to your website. Of course, this is not something that just happens by chance — you can design your content so that it has a larger impact across social media platforms. Simply asking your readers to “like and share” doesn’t always work, so try these tactics to boost your audience’s engagement.
1. Appeal to their emotions
If your post triggers emotions, it will create a special connection with readers, encouraging them to share it. Emotions can be tied into a large number of content topics (like family, relationships, or events).
2. Start a stimulating a debate
People love to discuss trending topics on social networks — especially when the topic seems impossible to solve. Quizzes and tricky questions usually elicit high levels of engagement. One only has to look back as far as the blue or gold dress of 2015 to remember the uproar, which escalated to the point that even the New York Times had to chime in.
3. Try being funny
Social networking is a way to momentarily escape the boring day-to-day, and humor is much appreciated. If you’re looking at something amusing, why not make your friends laugh with you — especially if you see something on the level of this TED Talk about what happens when you reply to spam emails.
4. Surprise your audience
It’s never a nice idea to produce misleading content, but if you have a fun fact supported by research or popular voices, it can become a winning post that really boosts your social media engagement. The Evening Standard, for example, published a piece titled “Drinking three glasses of champagne could help prevent dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.” Perhaps it does, but the fact of the matter is that people couldn’t resist engaging with it.
5. Provide a unique perspective
A classic topic that many people relate to can be a good source of likes and shares if it’s presented in a novel way. Did you leave your job to play Pokémon Go full-time, like the man in this <a class=”SWhtmlLink” href=”http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/articleBBC article? Then, the old trope becomes buzzworthy.
6. Be inspiring
Did you reach a big goal in your life or at work? Don’t keep it a secret! Tell your story and explain how you achieved it. Inspiring stories can encourage people to subscribe to your content and share it with others.
7. Use pictures and videos
As shown in this research by BuzzSumo, the most popular Facebook posts of 2017 were videos. In general, users are more willing to share engaging images and interesting infographics thanks to their readability and immediate impact.
As you can see, there are plenty of techniques to elicit engagement without explicitly asking people to “like and share.”
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