Search engine algorithms and your target audience are thirsty for engaging content. But take a look at your Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and LinkedIn. Are your social media channels as barren, dry, and unwelcoming as a baking desert?
If the answer is yes, then your social media strategy is failing you. But fear not; we have the answer. Your social media account needs to be a fountain of engagement amongst the endless dry dunes of the content marketing desert.
This blog will provide you with the most engaging social media content ideas to quench this insatiable thirst and ways to measure their success. The types of social media content that will increase engagement, promote brand awareness and lure in potential customers. So, take a seat and let us reinvigorate your digital marketing with the best social media content engagement ideas.
- Hashtags
- Giveaways
- User-generated content
- Infographics
- Live video content
- Memes
- GIFs
- Humanizing your team
- Quuu Promote
- Hashtag campaigns
- Video content
- Repurposing content
- Industry news curation
- Frequency of posts
Key takeaways
- Hashtags are an engagement powerhouse; using one hashtag on a post can increase interactions by 29%.
- Giveaways with a prize worth over $1,000 have a 5.8% growth in engagement rate per 100 followers.
- Marketing campaigns that use user-generated content can increase brand engagement by up to 50%.
- Social media posts that use images, such as infographics, have a 650% higher engagement rate
- 66% of small businesses state that video content has more engagement than any other type of content.
1. #Hashtagit!
The humble hashtag is an unsung hero in social media marketing. Often overlooked, it has incredible potential. In fact, on Twitter, brands who use 1-2 hashtags on posts will experience a 50% rise in engagement and a 55% chance of being retweeted.
Using a hashtag at the end of a social media post automatically categorizes the content.
For instance, say we owned a Taco restaurant. If we end a post with #TacoTuesday, then we are categorizing our content as about fast food and tacos. Anyone who follows or searches this hashtag is much more likely to discover our content.
This kind of hashtag helps the right demographic find your content fast. Your target audience doesn’t want to endlessly search through thousands of social media posts to find your new content. Channeling the right audience will further encourage engagement and new followers.
But creating the right one is a complicated art form. Here are some top tips to make that perfect hashtag.
- Make it brief and catchy
- Be relevant to your brand
- Consider adding humor
- Try to be topical
- Make your hashtag unique
- Research other brand’s hashtags in your sector
2. Host a giveaway
A competition or a giveaway is a surefire means to boost engagement. This type of post is a must-use in content marketing; Instagram giveaways alone generate 64x more comments and 3.5x more likes. While it has also been suggested that contests can speed up the growth of an account by 70% more than your average post.
But how do you run a successful giveaway? A Facebook and Instagram combo would seem the perfect platform to launch a campaign, with 45.5% of brands running their giveaways on this combination of platforms.
Next, you need to select the type of prize. Make it something worth winning whatever your budget. A free year of your service, free upgrades, or a new product are all ideal candidates.
Now, it is important to know that most social media platforms will have their own set of guidelines for giveaways which you must adhere to. Here is a brief overview of some of the main ones.
| Social media platform | Guidelines |
| Do not encourage the inaccurate tagging of content. Acknowledge that the contest is not affiliated with Instagram. Instagram can not advise on competitions. You must abide by federal competition regulations. | |
| You are in charge of all legal obligations of the competition. Make it clear that your giveaway is not endorsed by Facebook. There must be no element of gambling in the giveaway. You may not request entrants to share or tag people in your posts. Do not run contests from a personal page. Permission must be acquired to use user-generated content. | |
| Do not encourage people to create multiple accounts. Do not ask users to repeatedly post the same content. Read and abide by The Twitter Rules. |
Once this is selected, you need to consider the terms and conditions to enter the competition. Make these worthwhile for your brand by encouraging consumer engagement with interactive criteria for entry. Some of the best entry requirements are:
- Like or share the social media post
- Like or follow the brand
- Post a picture or video
- Comment on the post
3. Embrace user-generated content
User-generated content should be a part of any social media management strategy. This type of content will ensure users will not scroll past your posts by providing honest, trustworthy word-of-mouth marketing from real people.
But what is it? Content that is created by your user base for free. This method organically increases brand awareness by using real customers to advertise your product or business to your target audience. This can come in many different forms.
- Reviews
- Images
- Testimonials
- Social media posts
- Video content
This sounds like a dream, doesn’t it? Content you don’t have to create or pay for that performs better than branded content. There has to be a catch. Not at all, it seems. The statistics suggest that user-generated content is incredibly effective.
It is estimated that twice the amount of sales is made with this kind of word-of-mouth marketing rather than traditional advertising. At the same time, engagement with a brand rises by 28% when user-generated content is introduced alongside standard marketing content.
The infographic below also details numerous statistics highlighting the many benefits of this kind of content.
One of the most unique, innovative, and extraordinary examples of user-generated content, can be seen with the clothing retailer SHEIN.
SHEIN is a social media behemoth. On TikTok, it is believed that there have been over 6.2 billion views of #shein. And the company’s Instagram account has reached 26 million followers. But how?
SHEIN is the master of user-generated video content. Over TikTok, Instagram Stories, and YouTube, thousands of bite-sized SHEIN haul videos exist. In fact, on YouTube alone, the term ‘SHEIN haul’ will return over 24,000 results.
SHEIN’s target audience has three fundamental needs for its clothing:
- Affordable
- All-inclusive
- Fashionable
These user-generated videos show real people trying on SHEIN’s products and providing positive feedback. With these videos, consumers can see the quality of their affordable clothing for a range of body types. This provides the reassurance that these three needs are being met by a trusted source, other customers.
These haul videos are often shared via SHEIN’s social media channels, including Instagram Reels and TikTok. No wonder the channel has a TikTok engagement rate of 4% compared to the industry standard of 1.45%.
However, despite its successes, user-generated content is underused, with only 16% of brands including it in their marketing strategy. So, be one of the few to stay ahead of the curve and let your user base create free, engaging content for you.
4. Don’t overlook the infographic
An infographic is a means to condense complex information into a visual medium. But let me tell you a little secret; it is also one of the most engaging types of content around.
In fact, 42% of marketers believe that an infographic will create the most engagement of all types of content. Evidence supports this claim; website traffic can rise by 12% with infographics. While consumers like and share this type of content three times more than any other social media posts.
So, how do infographics work? Let’s take, for example, the history of the Jeep. Fun, I know. Now, we can read the 192 pages of the book titled; Jeep: The history of America’s Greatest Vehicle. Alternatively, we could take five minutes to look at the infographic below.
I think I know which is easier to digest. And so do thousands of bloggers who want to provide their audience with condensed, high-quality information. That is why content with infographics can create up to 178% more backlinks.
So, the accessibility and digestibility of these types of content make them perfect for others to re-share. Take, for example, the YouTuber that is known as Jerma985. He posted an infographic called ‘The 2022 Jerma Consensus’, which explored the average viewer of his content. Incredibly, on Twitter alone, this has garnered 1,834 retweets and 10.5k likes introducing thousands to his content.
How do you replicate this success? Well, here are three top tips to get you started.
- Share your infographic on the right social media platform. Some topics perform better on different channels; see the infographic below for what works where.
- Select the correct type of infographic to gain the most engagement. A sheer informational infographic will perform considerably better than one depicting a process or comparison.
- Make sure to consider the word count of your infographic. The less wordy infographics tend to be shared the most; visual media with about 230 words can achieve 20k-500k shares.
5. Say hello to live video content
The idea of putting yourself in front of a live audience can seem incredibly intimidating.
But live video content is a massive deal in content marketing and is guaranteed to boost engagement. In fact, between 80-82% of consumers prefer live videos to social media posts and blogs. Moreover, Facebook live videos create six times more social media engagement than standard video content.
Well, what type of content are consumers actually watching? Here are the top three:
- Ask me anything(AMA) are real-time videos where influencers, business owners, and even celebrities can answer questions from a live audience.
- Product tutorials show your target audience how to use a new product live.
- Webinars are live seminars about a chosen topic for an exclusively online audience.
English Like A Native owner Anna Tyrie hosted a live YouTube stream in June 2021, answering the personal questions she receives in her comments. This live stream was viewed 17,086 times and received an endless stream of responses from her target audience in the live chat.
Now, with all this information, you might be wondering where to host a live stream. The prime platforms are:
- YouTube
- Twitch
- Snapchat
- TikTok
- Periscope
6 & 7. The power of memes and GIFS
Oh, memes and GIFS. We have all used them in our everyday lives. How many times have you been in a similar situation as this? Derek tells the group chat that he has spilt coffee all over his husband’s new shirt and is building up the courage to tell him. Then Roger, the mischievous scamp he is, posts this.
The GIF and meme are often seen as the ultimate punchline. But have you ever considered that these types of content could make engaging posts for your business? No? Well, you should. 60% of consumers would rather conduct business with a brand that uses memes. At the same time, tweets that use GIFS have an outstanding 55% more engagement than those that do not.
Netflix’s Instagram is a champion of the meme. Most of their social media posts are memes of their TV shows. Take a look at the below example.
This is a clever piece of content for a marketing campaign, reflected in its 376,892 likes and 610 comments.
- The subject matter of the meme taps into current affairs. Netflix posted this meme on 24th December, a time when Christmas was on almost everybody’s mind.
- This content promoted a newly released Netflix-own intellectual property. The film Glass Onion was released on 23rd December, which means this meme was a guaranteed way of getting people talking about this new product.
- It is also a relatable, humorous take that is understandable to the masses, making this content easily shareable.
But where can you find the perfect GIF or meme? The top 3 places for your business to look are:
Dang it! You have searched high and low but to no avail. There just isn’t the right meme for your social media post. Have no fear; hop onto Canva, or another basic graphic design program, and create your own.
8. Humanize your team
You are not a robot. Your team are not robots. Therefore, your marketing strategy should not seem like a Dalek created it. It needs that human touch.
Pam Moore, CEO of MarketingNutz, stated:
“Humanizing your brand is a requirement, not an option, if you want to survive in business today.”
In fact, 88% of consumers say that authenticity is one of the most important traits when considering which brand to support, like, and engage with. While 60% believe that transparency about the work environment is one of the most desirable attributes of a business.
Let us look at an example of a company humanizing its team through social media channels. Meet The Farm is a restaurant in the middle of nowhere. Their social media feed is packed with content from team photos to charitable events, reinforcing their brand’s human nature. This could be one of the reasons why this small business has a relatively impressive 8.3k followers on Facebook.
So, how can your social media marketing campaign show your brand’s human side? Here are a few post ideas that are guaranteed to succeed.
- Make sure to post team pictures from events, including Christmas parties, team-building exercises, and product launches.
- Shout out to your employees and biggest fans. If an employee has achieved an incredible feat, then shout out about it. If you have a fan who continuously supports you or is very vocal on social media, shout out to them. If you love how a customer has used your product, you guessed it, shout out about it.
- Take some time to reply to comments from followers. Don’t worry; we know you can’t reply to them all, but replying to a select few shows you care about your target audience.
- Show your brand’s personality. If your team is a bit kooky, unique, and weird, then you need to show that on your social media channels.
- If you support charities, inform your audience on social media channels. 67% of Millennials and Gen Zers think it is vital that a brand they engage with supports charity.
9. Let the professionals at Quuu Promote handle it
Phew, let’s take a breather for a moment. All these incredible social media content engagement ideas have worn me out.
If only there was a more automated, stress-free means to boost engagement? Sounds like heaven, doesn’t it? Well, Quuu Promote is the answer.
Simply create some fantastic content with our handy guidelines, and we will do the rest. We will promote your work in over 500 categories to over 39,000 users who want to share high-quality blogs on their social media channels.
Here are three key benefits of using Quuu Promote.
- Promote will gain hundreds of social shares for your content, increasing your SEO ranking.
- It will allow you to engage directly with your target audience who have interacted with your content.
- We will direct the relevant target audience to your website, increasing desirable traffic.
Countless case studies illustrate Quuu Promote’s success. Take, for example, how Eu Natural used the power of Quuu Promote. Before using our service, Eu Natural’s content marketing approach was ‘creating new posts and hoping [they] get picked up and found naturally’. However, by promoting 4 to 8 posts a month, they generated a staggering 40,000 shares and 6,000 link clicks.
10. Create a hashtag campaign
Following on from the earlier hashtag; we have its obvious evolution, hashtag campaigns. Hashtag campaigns are another facet of marketing strategies that are often underused but incredibly effective.
For instance, Coca-Cola’s Share a Coke campaign was an ingenious type of content marketing. In 2013, they released countless beverages with different names plastered on their labels.
The company encouraged people to post a can or bottle with their name on it with the hashtag #ShareaCoke. This led to an incredible 1.25 million more teens trying Coca-Cola for the first time in the USA. As well as this, #ShareaCoke was hashtagged 585,000 times on both Instagram and Twitter.
So, find a hashtag-worthy slogan for your brand and a way for your followers to engage with it. For instance, a dog food brand could start a campaign with #mybestfriend. Then simply ask their followers to post a picture of their canine bestie along with this hashtag. It is that simple to come up with an engagement-boosting campaign.
11. Utilize video content
Video content is crucial to any social media marketing strategy. Do you hear that banging at your door? No, it isn’t a horde of hungry zombies looking for brains. It is the 3 billion digital video viewers clamouring for more video content.
So, let’s give the people what they want. After all, video content is incredibly beneficial for engagement; shares of social media videos are 1200% more than text and image content combined. In fact, 36% of marketers state that the main benefit of video content is generating more engagement.
But, surely, creating viral video content must be hard work. Well, actually, 59% of marketers have managed to make a viral video, and 44% of them would describe the process as relatively stress-free and easy.
One of the most influential video content campaigns was the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge. Wow, do you remember that? It took over the world in 2014, with over 17 million people posting YouTube videos of them pouring an ice-cold bucket of water over their heads.
The Best Ice Bucket Challenge ||Compilation|| ✔ – YouTube
The impact of this challenge was astronomical, with the ‘ice bucket challenge’ being mentioned 4,483,726 times on Twitter. During this marketing campaign, 4.5 million website visits were recorded in a single day (which dwarfs their average daily volume of 17,500.)
12. Repurpose your old content
Brush the cobwebs off that content from months ago and breathe fresh, new life into it by recycling. 94% of marketers say they are already content recycling, while the remaining 4% are considering doing it in the future. In fact, a staggering 46% of marketers believe that reused content is more effective than new content.
The owner of Social Triggers, Derek Halpern, says
“You don’t have to create content day in and day out. You just have to work on getting the content you already have in the hands of more people.”
So, instead of creating endless new streams of content, repurpose the old stuff instead to gain more engagement. Do you have glowing testimonials? Then use them as social media posts. Why not twist that long informational blog into an infographic? Or even turn a successful case study into a podcast? Maybe even create a YouTube video from a how-to guide. The list of possibilities is truly endless.
Repurposing content is about using a single piece of content to create countless opportunities in different mediums.
Brian Dean, the founder of the Backlinko blog, posted this article about on-page SEO in 2013. In 2017, he used about 75% of this content to create a YouTube video that generated 273,224 views, 583 comments, and 6,700 likes.
Are you ready to repurpose your content? Here are our top 3 tips for recycling:
- Always repurpose evergreen content: What is evergreen content? It is content similar to Ant-Man star Paul Rudd; it does not age. Seriously, have you seen the man recently? He looks like he is still 22. No matter what happens, evergreen content remains relevant and up-to-date.
- Use your most popular content: You should already have some metrics on your older content about the levels of engagement they have received. So, find your most popular and repurpose it.
- Adapt to format: Make sure to fully adapt content to new formats, matching tone and style. Imagine viewing a YouTube video that focused on only the results of a financial survey without any entertainment value. Yawn.
13. Be the go-to for industry news
If you want to boost engagement, become the one-stop shop for your target audience’s niche. The best means to do this is to curate content that tackles the most up-to-date industry news.
Let us take IGN, an entertainment website, as an example. Their social media feeds are packed to the brim with the latest news. And by providing the most up-to-date industry news, IGN has ensured its target audience does not need to stray to other websites for the newest content.
To see the full effect of this on content engagement, let’s look at a Facebook post about Angela Bassett dedicating her Golden Globe to her deceased co-star Chadwick Boseman. IGN put this post on their Facebook page a day after the Golden Globe ceremony took place.
Let us take a closer look at those metrics; there were a staggering 92,000 likes, 7,500 shares, and 1.600 comments. And, if we compare that to the Golden Globes official Facebook post about Bassett’s win, we can see a distinct difference in engagement.
But why the difference in engagement? Well, it is most likely because IGN’s 6.4 million followers know that they can find the latest industry news on their social media channels.
IGN has truly cornered the market on entertainment news, and their engagement metrics reflect this. There is no need for their target audience to visit the Golden Globe Facebook page, as they are reassured IGN will distribute any relevant news to them.
So, let your social media platforms become the number one news curator for your niche to really boost engagement. If you need some help finding it, try Quuu.
14. The golden ticket to creating engagement
The first rule of creating engaging content is we don’t talk about engaging content. But, a close second is to post on a regular basis (but not too much).
Neil Patel says:
“If you post too infrequently, your audience will forget that you exist, and you will quickly fade into the deep dark recesses of their minds. However, if you post too often, you will become a complete nuisance, and they will dread seeing your posts overcrowding their feed.”
This is true; posting frequently is extremely important. But too many posts can be detrimental to engagement. Facebook pages with less than 10,000 followers can expect engagement to drop by at least 50% if they post more than once daily. In fact, brands posting too much content is one of the top three reasons why consumers unfollow their social media.
So, it seems crucial to find a balance with post-frequency. Here is a handy table highlighting the ideal post frequencies for each social media platform.
| Social media platform | Frequency of posts |
| 1-2 times a day | |
| 1-2 times per day | |
| 1-5 times per day | |
| 1-5 times a day | |
| TikTok | 1-4 times a day |
| YouTube | 1-3 times a day |
So, be consistent, not persistent with the frequency of posts. Don’t bombard your consumer’s social media channels with an endless stream of content. Instead be a pleasant, daily surprise for them to unwrap.
How to measure your social media content engagement
Now that you are armed to the teeth with some of the best social media content engagement ideas around, how do you measure their success? That is a great question, and here is a great answer—metrics, lots and lots of metrics.
You don’t have to drown in an ocean of statistics. Instead, here is a table demonstrating some of the most-used metrics to measure engagement.
| Metric | Description |
| Reach | How many individuals saw your content |
| Impressions | Number of times people saw your content |
| Audience growth rate | The percentage of new followers as your total audience |
| Shares | Amount your content has been shared |
| Likes | How many times a post has been liked |
| Comments | Number of comments on a post |
| CTR | The number of links that are clicked for additional content |
| Conversion rate | Social media engagement that leads to sales, downloads or subscriptions |
| Engagement rate | All forms of engagement divided by the total amount of followers as a percentage |
Conclusion
Wow, that was a lot of incredible ideas to boost brand engagement and revitalize your marketing strategy. But what next?
Well, start implementing these ideas into your content marketing as soon as possible. Whether that be utilizing the power of the meme or humanizing your team, you can use these ideas to create next-level engagement right now.
Most of these ideas are not time-consuming or complicated. In fact, we believe you could make an engagement-boosting meme or infographic in the space of an afternoon. By dinner time, you could have a social media platform bursting with engagement.
So, what are you waiting for? Get started now. Whichever of these surefire social media content engagement ideas you choose to use, we wish you the best of luck. But to be honest, we are confident you won’t need it.
