Engagement. It’s a word that’s spoken of regularly in the social media realm, but do you really know what it means and why it’s important for your dive shop? To save you some time, we have broken down everything you need to know about engagement on social media. We have also provided you with our top tips on how to increase engagement and take your marketing efforts to the next level.
What is social media engagement?
By definition, engagement measures the public shares, likes and comments on any given social media post. Simply put – the engagement metric will tell you how strongly an audience cares about the content you’re producing. It’s a common metric used to evaluate your social media post performance and is actually measured differently across various platforms. For example, Facebook measures engagement by combining the total number of reactions, comments and shares, while Instagram uses the sum of likes and comments you have received on your post. Regardless of how engagement is calculated, it’s an extremely important metric for any dive shop on social media.
Why is it important for your dive shop?
When we look at our social media metrics, a lot of us tend to obsess over our follower count. While it’s great to have thousands of people looking at your content, your follower number doesn’t actually mean your audience are enjoying your content or likely to convert into one of your students. It’s expected that only a small minority of your followers actually see or care to interact with your content. That’s where the engagement metric comes in. Engagement is a much healthier metric to measure as it is the first necessary step to driving traffic back to your website. While engagement doesn’t always lead to conversions, it’s a great indicator of how interested your audience are in your brand and the content you’re sharing.
What is an ideal engagement metric?
There is no specific ‘one size fits all’ number that you should be aiming for. Depending on your following and what social media platform you’re using, your engagement numbers can vary from one dive shop to another. Instead, you should be focusing on what your goals are for social media. Are you focused on interacting with your audience or spreading a message or topic? Your goals will help determine what social media metrics you should be focusing on.
How to increase engagement across your social media accounts
We know that as a dive shop you generally don’t have a lot of time to focus your business efforts on marketing, let alone social media. That’s why we have come up with six simple tips that even the most beginner social media marketer can implement!
-
Post consistently when your audience are most active
Determine what days and hours your followers are most active on each social media platform with your audience insights. Use this data to ensure you’re posting consistently on the most popular days and times throughout the week.
-
Post diversified and quality content your audience wants to see
This may sound simpler than it actually is – but remember to post diversified and quality content that your audience actually wants to see and engage with. Keep your content unique with 80% of your posts user focused (fun marine life or diving images) and 20% brand focused (course promotions). Don’t forget to also only post when you have something to communicate – go for quality over quantity.
-
Keep your captions concise and include a Call to Action (CTA)
Capture your audience’s attention with concise captions and a clear Call to Action (CTA). Keep your captions under 250 characters in length and encourage your users to take actions on your post such as visiting your website or blog for more information.
-
Ask questions and engage with your followers
Use your post captions to ask your audience questions. Try asking them what their favourite dive site is and why or what scuba course they enjoyed the most. When your audience leaves a comment or a message on your post or page, make sure you respond – even if it’s not a question. Responding will increase your engagement and help foster your online community.
-
Embrace video content
Video is king on social media, receiving almost double the amount of engagement than any other form of content. Try posting more video content either with your own footage or from User Generated Content (UGC).
-
Use location tags and hashtags
Although more relevant to Instagram, adding location tags and incorporating hashtags into your posts are two great ways to increase engagement. Posts with a tagged location receive 79% higher engagement than those without. Similarly, hashtags will allow your content to be discovered by new users. Try including five to nine hashtags (both diving and non-diving related) in either your caption or as a comment.
So now you have a basic understanding of what the engagement metric is on social media and its importance for your dive shop, what next? Try reviewing your current posts and their engagement, implementing our six top tips and seeing if your engagement starts improving!
If you’d like to learn more about social media best practices, view our Facebook and Instagram best practices webinar recording. Alternatively, if you have any questions please contact PADI Marketing.
