.png)
I’m Not Getting Engagement on My Content — How Do I Fix It?
Updated: Mar 13
There’s nothing more frustrating than pouring your heart and soul into a post… just to be met with a cricket reception 😑🦗
If you’re reading this post, chances are you’re dealing with the hair-ripping frustration of “low engagement” with your content.
And I totally get you…
If I were to be completely honest, it‘s a phenomenon that still happens from time to time for those of us who feel like we’ve “figured it out”.
But before I get ahead of myself, let’s quickly first cover the basics.
What does it even mean to have “engagement” on your content?
In the world of digital marketing, the term “engagement“ refers to an action that someone takes on your content. This action can come in many forms, but the ones that are the most easily quantifiable are:
Likes
Comments
Shares
But not all “engagement” is created equal
Any good digital marketer will tell you that the “quality” of engagement depends on how much time (and energy) someone is willing to spend interacting with your post.
For example, likes are the lowest form of engagement. It takes less than a second for someone to tap the “like” button as they scroll past your post in their social media feed.
The truth is, most people who like your post probably haven’t taken the time to read it. They just saw it in passing, and felt like they got just enough from it to show you a small gesture of their support.
I personally like to count the number of comments on my posts because that’s where the real magic happens.
Comments show me that someone saw my post, read through the entire thing, and felt compelled to spend some time typing up a response to what I shared.
Now, we’ve got a conversation! Now I know what part of the post resonated with what type of person. Now I have an opportunity to personally reach out over DM’s to start a meaningful conversation.
I hope you catch my drift here!
The last form of engagement that is equally as valuable as having someone respond to your content, is when someone “shares” your post.
This shows that they saw your post, read through it, and resonated with it SO much that they felt compelled to share your content with their own audience… either because they felt that their audience would really benefit from hearing your message, OR because they feel like your post accurately communicates something that is really present for them in their own life.
(That’s basically how memes work, because they make you go, “OMG ME TOO!!”, and get you to share it with your friends who would react the exact same way).
So now that we got that out of the way…
What counts as “low engagement“?
The first question I often ask someone when they tell me that they have "low engagement" is this:
"What do you mean by 'low'?"
We often forget that the amount of engagement we get is always proportionate to the number of people in our circle.
So if I have 250 followers and have 10 likes on my post, that is actually an amazing amount of engagement! On the other hand, if you have 1000 followers and have 10 likes on your post, then we might need to dig a little deeper into what is happening.
According to a Hootsuite:
"A good engagement rate is between 1% to 5%"
And while these are good benchmarks to keep in mind, I want to pose an important question that people often miss...
What does this engagement mean for your business?
The answer for me personally, is that engagement leads to meaningful conversations, and builds lasting relationships. And if you're in business, you'll understand that your relationships are the currency of your brand.
Simply put, if people don't trust you, they won't give you their money.
So in my mind, "low engagement" can even be a post that get a lot of likes, but sparks no follow-up conversation with anyone in my audience. It tells me that what I put out didn't quite connect with the people that I'm speaking to, and shows me that I probably need to revisit the following things:
Is it that the topic didn't resonate?
Is it because the visuals didn't catch peoples' attention?
Is it because my message wasn't communicated in a way that connects with my audience?
Is it because what I shared is redundant or repetitive in the grand scheme of what I've been sharing?
At the end of the day, it's SO important to remember that the purpose of this whole mindless game of "content creation" is to build a meaningful relationship with your audience.
You have no idea how many people I've talked to who have literally no idea who is among their list of followers, who likes their content, and what really speaks to them... and it's because they don't have a relationship with their audience.
So how do we fix this "low engagement" problem?
While there's no one-size fits all solution, one thing that I always recommend people to do is to do an "audit" of your own social media. Things that I like to look out for are:
What kind of content have you posted up in the past 3 months?
What are the posts that get the LEAST amount of engagement?
What are the posts that get the MOST amount of engagement?
What are the common factors for each of these types of posts? (i.e. what was the topic, the accompanying visual, and language used on the post)
Who tends to interact with your content?
Do you see a pattern in who likes which posts?
Who has reached out to you regarding your content, and are there specific themes or patterns in the conversations that follow?
How often do you take initiative to interact with and engage with your audience?
After you get a better understanding of what is and isn't working for you, then you get to test and refine your content strategy.
Oftentimes, I find that what is most effective strategy is often the simplest
Treat your audience like your group of friends. Follow them, talk to them, get to know them and be GENUINELY interested in what's going on in their lives.
When you show people that you are interested in them, they'll reciprocate and show up for you as well.
Too many people use social media as a one-way broadcast tool to "vomit" their expertise over any poor person who stumbles their way, and frankly speaking... no one is interested in being friends with someone who feels a constant need to prove how "professional" they are.
Seriously, don't be that person.
Just find opportunities to create connection, and you'll be pleasantly surprised with what happens!
Still feeling a bit stuck with everything?
Book yourself a quick call with me to learn more about how I can be supporting you with your branding and see if we're the right fit to be working together! 👇