Brands are getting more personal and actionable on social media. And honestly, the public are here for it.
Stories, challenges, and how-tos flood the feeds of 4 billion social media users daily, who scroll through all of this happily but passively.
So, we’re here to share how instead of chasing algorithm updates, you can get more out of social media by focusing on action.
1. Use FOMO To Create A Sense Of Urgency
”Losses loom larger than gains,” explained the economists Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman. Or to phrase it in a way you and I can understand: we’re driven more by what we’ll lose than what we might gain.
FOMO (fear of missing out) marketing creates a sense of urgency to make people act now or lose out. It’s so impactful that 60% of us make purchases after experiencing FOMO, usually within 24 hours.
Three essentials for any urgency tool kit:
- Scarcity: limited quantity product drops
- Time-pressure: 24 hr sales or even 1 hr sales
- Exclusivity: Join the ‘under 10K gang’
Use urgency correctly, and your sales and shares will skyrocket as followers scramble to get them and their friends in on the deal.
2. Highlight A Specific Benefit To Your Audience
We all love to feel seen, don’t we? Brands can give their audience that warm feeling by getting personal with their features.
It might be something new about your product, like a new sustainability stance. Or just a new way of looking at a known feature – time-saving isn’t just great for students, but busy mums, too.
Use videos to show it in action and animations to draw the eye to specific attributes. Reinforce those benefits in the caption – and top it all off with a product tag to convert those sales. Check out this great example of what we mean from Loop Ear Plugs.
Recommended reading: The Ultimate Guide To Creating Brand Video
3. Test New Content Features As Part Of Your Overall Strategy
It feels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok bring out new features every week, designed to improve the experience and keep users hooked.
Platforms reward early adopters of new features by giving them more visibility on places like the homepage.
Whether you repurpose existing content or create new content, do it fast. While the boost is real, it’s also short-term. So, use new features to gain followers, likes, and shares, and use our other strategies to get them to stick around. Follow Gatorade’s lead and reuse your TikTok content on Instagram Reels.
4. Invest In Video Content
Moving images, colors, and sounds are excellent thumb-stoppers. Videos get two times more engagement on Instagram compared to photos. In fact, video is so effective at getting followers to leap into action that 88% of marketers are happy with its social media ROI.
Test long and short-form content. Use the tools you have available, like Viddyoze, to react quickly to trending topics. Stand out even more with editing that builds momentum, increases watch time and spurs on further action. Just like Glosser, consider using video to turn new product launches into engaging experiences.
Pro-tip: check out our guide to generating video leads
5. Give Them Something To Talk About Off Social Media
Whether it’s down the pub, in the office, or at home, we do a lot of talking. 78% of people rave about their favorite experiences to friends at least once per week.
With the right message on social media, you can get yourself into those “in real life” (IRL) conversations.
You’ll know you’ve found a winner when you can imagine the contents of your post being preceded by a “Guess what I saw today…”. For example, a viral post from KFC that promised customers a Christmas jumper for their bucket of chicken.
6. Get Sincere In The Caption
Did you know that longer captions get more engagement? This happens for a few reasons.
Clicking on ‘read more’ is an engagement signal, already boosting your reach. Reading a long caption will increase dwell time – another engagement signal – and create more time for the audience to develop and post comments.
These signals all help the algorithm to show your post to more people leading to, you guessed it, more engagement.
But don’t just make it long. Craft an action-driving caption using emotional triggers, humor, empathy, and surprise to get more clicks. Then finish up your caption using our 7th tip…
7. Use Short, Powerful Action Words
“Supercharge your engagement” Vs “Get more likes and shares”. I know which I’d click on.
Most of your audience is open to engaging with your posts; in fact, a whopping 76% of Americans bought a product after seeing a brand’s social post. To get a slice of this purchase pie, practice dropping assertive action words at the perfect moment.
To increase purchase, drive your audience’s subconscious ego crazy with explicit call-to-actions (CTAs) such as “Share”, “Click”, or “Shop”.
If you’re in the game of engagement, build their confidence with abstract but clear prompts such as “Create” or “Inspire”. Take this great example from Lush.
8. Create Conversations
We all know the comments section can be a Wild West but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t strive to generate conversation. These posts draw on emotions and niche interests in a way that’s too hard to ignore.
Share discussion-orientated social proof, quizzes, questions, or video to immerse the audience in dialogue. And finally, respond to comments! If you want comments, give comments. Take this post from Netflix, a great example of how to get the comments section buzzing.
9. Make It Irresistibly Fun
Did you know that 71% of people watch videos on social media to laugh? Social media is often a place to kick back and enjoy downtime.
Meet people where they are. Provide fun and entertaining content that isn’t all about your product or service, and you’ll eventually see those comments and likes turn into loyal customers.
A few ideas to get started are comment-based games or using gifs, emojis, and trends. You can even up the fun factor of your behind-the-scenes by using video to show your team joking around. Ryanair has amassed over 1.4 million followers on TikTok by giving people a good giggle.
10. Create Opportunities For UGC (User-Generated Content)
Here’s a way to increase engagement if we’ve ever seen it: 50% of people want brands to tell them what content to create!
User-generated content (UGC) is also considered more trustworthy, entertaining and can increase engagement by 28%.
UGC is all about ideas. Ask for content for a challenge or after a positive experience. And remember to ask for different forms of UGC – 45% of people are happy to leave text reviews, and only 32% of people will post pictures.
Lush show love for their customers with tagged shoutouts
There you have it, 10 ways to turn passive browsers into energized engagement machines. Tempt your audience with emotion-driven content and win their clicks, comments, and purchases with a clear call to action.
Creating engaging video content for social media doesn’t have to be hard.
Viddyoze makes creating beautiful video animations easy, fast and affordable. With our simple platform, anyone can create professional quality video animations in minutes without any technical skills or previous knowledge! Try it for yourself today.
