7 Ways to Authentically Engage With Your Social Media Followers

Get real!  

Social media followers are the lifeblood of any brand trying to cut through on social media and cultivate an audience.  

In the vast landscape of social media, where billions of users connect, share, and engage, standing out requires more than just posting content.

Authentic engagement with your social media followers is the key to building a loyal and vibrant community.

Let’s explore strategies to authentically connect with your audience and foster meaningful relationships with social media followers beyond the superficial metrics of likes and shares.

1. Know your audience

First, authentic engagement begins with understanding who your audience is. Take the time to analyse your follower demographics, interests, and preferences.

Use analytics tools provided by social media platforms to gain insights into your social media followers’ ages, locations, and online behaviours. This information is crucial in tailoring your content to resonate with your audience personally.

Your audience’s demographics and interests will also differ across platforms. Your demographic on Facebook is likely different than your audience on TikTok. Understanding the age and interests of your various audiences will help you know how to interact with each audience.

2. Use Meta Business Suite to track your comments and messages

Meta Business Suite helps you track audience engagement across your linked Instagram, Facebook and Messenger accounts. When someone messages you or comments on a post, it will appear in the “inbox” tab, and you can reply from there.

Meta Business Suite ensures you don’t miss any critical questions or messages from your followers. It’s also a free tool!

3. Respond to messages promptly and thoughtfully

Once you see comments, messages, and mentions, put your customer service hat on and reply quickly, kindly and thoughtfully.

Responding to messages and inquiries promptly shows that you value your followers’ input. It’s also great to start a bit of back-and-forth to create a sense of community and encourage more interaction in the future.

4. Utilise the interactive features on Instagram Stories

Instagram Stories have increasingly diverse features, including polls, quizzes, question boxes, countdown stickers, interactive emojis and URL stickers.

Use these features to interact with your followers, get their feedback, or start a conversation. For example, you could use the question box to ask which topics they’d like to see more of or seek input on recent content

5. Collaborate and tag other users

Collaborations with other creators or businesses expand your reach and introduce your followers to new perspectives. Tagging others in your posts and giving credit where it’s due builds community and reciprocity. It’s a two-way street – engage with others, and they will likely reciprocate.

When posting a Reel, you can request another user to be a “collaborator, ” meaning the post will also appear in the other user’s feed. Having your content in more feeds means more users will engage with it.

6. Share content of real people

Sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of your life, work, or content creation processes can create a more genuine connection with your audience.

Don’t be afraid to introduce the faces behind your company. Posting content of people shows that there are real people on the other end of your social media – not bots!

A Georgia Institute of Technology study found that “pictures with human faces are 38 per cent more likely to receive likes than photos with no faces. They’re also 32 per cent more likely to attract comments.”

Why not introduce each team member or create a “what we do in a day” Reel?

7. Be genuine

If you share your genuine thoughts, experiences, and values with your audience, they will be more likely to relate to you and interact with your content. Avoid adopting a tone that feels robotic or detached.

Try speaking to your audience as if conversing with a friend. Showcasing vulnerability and authenticity in your communication fosters a sense of connection and relatability.

Final thoughts on how to engage with your social media followers

Authentic engagement on social media goes beyond follower count and likes. It’s about building a community that genuinely cares about your content and feels connected to you.

Authenticity is not a one-time effort but an ongoing commitment to building and nurturing connections.