10 Buzz Worthy Engagement Techniques for Social Media
Be honest—are you actually building a community on social media, or just shouting into the void, hoping someone notices? If your posts are getting crickets instead of conversations, it’s time to rethink your strategy.
Boosting engagement isn’t as complicated as you think. With the right engagement techniques for social media, you can create a brand community filled with active participants who are meaningfully interested in your offerings, instead of settling for passive, unengaged followers.
What Is Engagement on Social Media?
Social media engagement takes your quiet audience and turns them into involved contributors eager to hear from, and be heard by, your brand. And the more people interact with your content, the more visibility and influence your brand gains.
Engagement includes meaningful social media interactions like comments, shares, saves, profile clicks, and direct messages. These actions signal to social platforms that your content is valuable, helping it reach even more people. A strong social media engagement strategy ultimately leads to stronger customer loyalty and growth.
10 High-Impact Social Media Tips to Boost Engagement
If you want your audience to interact with your content—give them a reason to! Here are 10 proven marketing strategies to increase engagement across your social platforms.
1. Get to know your target audience and brand personas.
Before you can create engaging content, you need to understand who you’re talking to. Who is your ideal audience? What problems do they have? What type of content do they respond to?
Start by analyzing your current followers, industry trends, and competitor strategies. Then, craft a content plan that aligns with your brand’s voice while addressing your audience’s interests and needs. When your messaging resonates, meaningful engagement happens naturally.
2. Use stunning, creative visuals and videos to grab attention.
People scroll fast, so your social media posts need to find a way to stop your audience in their tracks. The goal is to create content that entertains, educates, or inspires—that’s what gets people to engage.
Here are five types of visual content that drive engagement:
Videos: Short-form videos (like Reels, TikToks, and YouTube Shorts) are highly shareable; they’re also favored by users, and hence by the algorithms.
Memes: Relatable, humorous content encourages likes and shares.
Infographics: A great way to simplify complex information in a visually appealing way. (Please, note the ‘visually appealing’ part of that sentence!)
Images: High-quality photos, branded graphics, or carousels perform well.
GIFs & User-Generated Content: Encouraging your audience to share their own content featuring your brand boosts credibility and engagement.
3. Tell authentic stories.
People connect with stories. Instead of just promoting your business, share behind-the-scenes moments, personal experiences, and customer success stories. When your content feels real and human, engagement increases naturally.
Tell the “why” behind your brand to make your content more relatable.
Create shareable content about real-life moments such as struggles, wins, and lessons you’ve learned, to build trust with your audience.
Feature user-generated stories to highlight your community and show appreciation.
4. Repurpose blog content.
There’s no reason to reinvent the wheel. Repurpose blog posts into bite-sized social media content. You can break down an article's main points into different forms of content like:
A carousel post summarizing the blog’s main points
A short video or Reel highlighting a tip
A poll or question based on the blog topic to spark discussion
Bonus: throw a link to the full blog in your stories and drive organic traffic to your website!
5. Use interactive content formats.
Engagement thrives when your audience is given opportunities to actively participate in your content. If your followers feel involved in what you are doing or discussing, they are much more likely to engage with your brand.
Instead of just posting and hoping for likes, use interactive formats to encourage conversation:
Polls & quizzes: Quick, fun ways to encourage responses.
Question stickers: A great way to invite DMs and real conversations.
Contests & giveaways: Incentivize engagement by offering a prize.
Live Q&A sessions: Go live and connect with your audience in real-time.
6. Post seasonal content.
Your audience is already talking about trending topics, holidays, and seasonal moments—so why not join the conversation? Timely, quality content feels fresh, relatable, and naturally drives more engagement. Here’s how to tap into seasonal content the right way:
Create holiday-themed promos or graphics that actually resonate with your audience (not just another generic holiday post).
Jump into seasonal trending hashtags and conversations—but only if they align with your brand. Authenticity always wins.
Reflect on the season or year with your audience. Share lessons, wins, or behind-the-scenes moments that make your brand more human.
7. Post content on a consistent schedule.
Social media engagement relies on consistency. If you only post sporadically, your audience—and the algorithm—will forget about you. But this doesn’t mean posting every hour. Instead, create a realistic posting schedule that prioritizes quality over quantity. It's important that your social media presence feels intentional.
Use a content calendar to plan posts in advance.
Find a posting frequency that works for you, like 3 times a week, or every other day.
Keep your brand voice and visual style consistent across platforms.
8. Use the stories feature.
Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn Stories are high-engagement zones because they appear at the top of the feed and create a sense of urgency. Since they disappear after 24 hours, users feel more compelled to watch and engage. Here are some ways to boost engagement in Stories:
Use stickers like polls, questions, and quizzes to interact.
Running a promotion or a giveaway with a deadline? Use stories as a way to remind your audience.
Post countdowns for upcoming events or product launches.
9. Put your messaging pillars or services in the highlights.
When new visitors land on your profile, this is their first stop to learn what you’re all about—so make it count. Instead of random story archives, use Highlights to showcase your core messaging pillars or services. Here’s how to structure your Highlights with purpose:
Who You Are: A quick intro to your brand, mission, and what makes you different.
What You Offer: Break down your services, products, or key programs so visitors instantly know how they can work with you.
Testimonials & Wins: Share success stories, client feedback, and transformations to build trust.
Tips & Insights: Educate your audience with valuable content that aligns with your expertise.
Community & Behind-the-Scenes: Show the real people behind the brand and the connections you’re building.
10. Engage with other brands and accounts.
Do not post and ghost. It’s literally one of the biggest mistakes I see brands make. Social media is meant to be social—duh! Take time to respond to comments, interact with other accounts, and start conversations. The more you engage with others, the more they’ll engage with you.
How to Analyze Your Social Media Engagement Metrics
If you want better social engagement, start by tracking follower count, reach, views, and click-through rates (CTR) with analytics tools like Sprout Social or Metricool.
Not sure of the difference between reach and views, or what a click-through rate really measures? Let’s quickly knock these definitions out so you can know what you’re measuring:
Reach refers to the number of unique users who have seen your content at least once.
Views tell you the number of times a reel or video was played or the number of times photo or text posts were on screen
CTR (click through rate) measures the percentage of people who click on a link after seeing it.
It’s important to know what these metrics look like so you can pinpoint your areas of improvement within your own social media and strategize on the right ways to grow.
Engagement Techniques for Social Media: FAQ
What is the 50 30 20 rule for social media?
The 50-30-20 rule for social media suggests that 50% of your content should educate or inform, 30% should engage or entertain, and 20% should promote your products or services. While typical media strategists will tell you the 50-30-20 rule is ideal, I have found that the 80/20 rule is best. 80% value-based content (educational, entertaining, inspiring, engaging) and 20% promotional content. This method focuses on building relationships and trust before making an ask.
What are the three E’s of content?
The three E’s of content are educate, entertain, and engage. You want your content to rotate through these categories. Content that teaches, makes people smile, and encourages interaction will always perform well in any algorithm.
What is the 5 5 5 social media strategy?
The 5-5-5 social media strategy focuses on engagement and community building. It involves interacting with five new accounts, engaging with five posts from existing followers, and responding to five comments or messages daily.
What gets the most engagement on social media?
Content that gets the most engagement on social media is short-form video, interactive posts, and relatable storytelling. Posts like Instagram Reels, TikToks, memes, polls, and behind-the-scenes content tend to receive high interaction because they are entertaining, personal, and encourage audience participation.
How do people engage in social media?
People engage in social media by liking, commenting, sharing, saving, and messaging. They interact with brands and creators by responding to questions, participating in polls, joining live discussions, and resharing content that resonates with them. Engagement happens with relevant content, valuable content, and content that encourages conversation.
Build a Social Strategy with Queen Bee Jackie
Tired of posting into the void and getting zero engagement? If you’re ready to attract the right audience, spark real conversations, and drive business growth directly through social media, it’s time to stop guessing and start growing. Let’s build a social media strategy that actually works—together.
