12 Unique Social Media Engagement Strategies that Yield Tangible Results

In the dynamic world of social media, engagement is key to growth. We’ve gathered twelve inventive strategies from founders and CEOs, among other experts, to boost your online presence. From hosting themed live social sessions to establishing expertise with educational content, discover unique tactics that have yielded real results in follower engagement and growth.

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Host Themed Live Social Sessions

A unique strategy for engaging with followers on social media is to host interactive and themed live sessions. We saw the wellness industry adopt this trend during the pandemic, and it continues to be a useful building point for them. Recognizing how this can be implemented in your own industry could do the same for you. 

For example, a weekly “Ask Me Anything” session where followers can submit questions in advance or during the live broadcast can create a real-time, direct connection with the audience, fostering engagement and building a sense of community that you hadn’t reached through traditional posting. Doing this with team members and relevant experts can help lift the curtain on your business, giving it more human appeal. The trick is to decide on a theme so that it can more easily resonate with the audience you are trying to reach, such as “Talking about the best tricks in social media for 2024.” 

Make sure to promote your sessions across all platforms, as not only can this widen your audience further, but it can also bring new followers to your Instagram page, who weren’t interacting with you before.

Brett Downes, Founder, Haro Helpers

Share Behind-the-Scenes Stories

At Startup House, we believe in the power of storytelling to connect with our followers on social media. By sharing behind-the-scenes glimpses of our team’s brainstorming sessions, coding challenges, and office shenanigans, we humanize our brand and make it more relatable to our audience. 

This creative approach not only increased our followers’ engagement with our posts but also led to significant growth in our social media following. By showing the faces behind the code, we were able to build a stronger connection with our audience and foster a sense of community around our brand.

Alex Stasiak, CEO & Founder, Startup House

Collaborate for Instagram Takeovers

One unique strategy that has had a significant impact on engaging with followers on social media is through Instagram takeovers. This involves collaborating with an influencer or another brand in the same niche to temporarily take over each other’s Instagram accounts for a day or two.

By doing so, both parties can tap into each other’s followers and expose their brand to a new audience. The key to this strategy is choosing the right influencer or brand to collaborate with—they should have a similar target audience and align with your brand’s values.

During the takeover, it’s important to create engaging and creative content that resonates with both your followers and the collaborator’s followers. This could include behind-the-scenes content, Q&A sessions, or interactive challenges.

The results of a successful Instagram takeover can be seen in the increase in engagement and growth on both accounts. Followers are more likely to engage with new and exciting content, and the exposure to a new audience can lead to an influx of new followers.

Ryan Nelson, Founder, RentalRealEstate

Use Humor in Industry Posts

Be playful, even in a serious industry. I had posted for a couple of years about my industry (software CRMs) on LinkedIn, but only when I got less serious did I start seeing real engagement. I wrote a post comparing slow excuses for CRM implementations to the amazing speed at which the Empire State Building was built, or how fast Joey Chestnut eats hot dogs; it went viral, and I got tons of inbound interest in our company.

Corey Schwitz, CEO & Founder, Skydog Ops

Invite Followers to Content Workshops

As a Marketing Head, one unique strategy for engaging with followers on social media that led to tangible results is hosting collaborative content-creation workshops. In these workshops, we invite a select group of followers to participate in brainstorming sessions and hands-on activities to co-create content for our social media channels.

During the workshops, participants collaborate with our team to ideate and create compelling content, including photos, videos, and captions, that aligns with our brand messaging and resonates with our target audience. By involving followers directly in the content creation process, we not only tap into their creativity and unique perspectives but also foster a sense of ownership and investment in our brand.

The impact of these workshops on audience engagement and growth is measurable. We track metrics such as content reach, engagement rate, and follower growth before and after the workshops. Consistently, we observe an increase in engagement metrics and positive feedback from followers who appreciate the opportunity to contribute to our content creation efforts.

Moreover, these workshops serve as valuable opportunities to strengthen relationships with our most loyal followers and brand advocates. By inviting them to participate in exclusive events and collaborate with our team, we demonstrate our appreciation for their support and dedication, which in turn fosters a deeper sense of loyalty and engagement with our brand.

Overall, hosting collaborative content-creation workshops is a creative and effective strategy for engaging with followers on social media, driving tangible results in terms of audience engagement, brand loyalty, and follower growth.

Alex Taylor, Head of Marketing, CrownTV

Organize Weekly Live Q&As

One thing I did differently was to organize weekly live Q&As on social media, on topics that my followers were interested in. They liked it because it gave people a sense of community, and they could feel like part of this journey. They liked that everything was real-time.

The results are easily measurable: we registered much more follower growth and much more engagement in the posts. Prior to the live sessions, our monthly follower growth was on the order of 2 percent. Then, when we started posting live, within a month we jumped to 10 percent growth, as well as registering a 50 percent increase in engagement on posts.

Zoe Miller, Strategic Business Leader & Market Analyst, Tea Time Facts

Create Monthly UGC Competitions

One strategy that has proven effective in my experience involves leveraging user-generated content (UGC) in a personalized and interactive manner. Rather than simply reposting customer photos or reviews, we created a monthly competition where followers could submit their own creative gift-wrapping ideas. Participants were encouraged to use products from our website, and the best submissions, selected by our team, were featured on our social media platforms.

This strategy had a dual impact. Firstly, it incentivized followers to actively engage with our brand and explore our product range to create their submissions. Secondly, the featured content acted as authentic, peer-to-peer recommendations, boosting credibility and trust among our audience. Measurable results were observed in the form of increased follower count, higher engagement rates, and a noticeable boost in sales related to the featured products.

Furthermore, we took this strategy a step further by incorporating the winning gift-wrapping ideas into our product recommendations and gift guides. This not only provided us with fresh, innovative content but also fostered a sense of community and customer loyalty as followers saw their contributions valued and utilized by our brand.

Overall, this engagement strategy combines personalization, interactivity, and customer recognition to create a unique, engaging social media experience. It has yielded tangible results for us, and I am confident that similar creative approaches can be beneficial for other businesses as well.

Billy Parker, Managing Director, Gift Delivery

Address Community Issues Publicly

One unique way that we communicate with our audiences is to identify an issue that is common within our community. These might relate to product concerns, usage instructions, or steps in our processes. We then go to social media, whether it’s Twitter, Instagram stories, or even Facebook, to ask the general question to our audience and to see if we can help navigate these customers to the answers they’re looking for. We’ve done this a couple of times on our Instagram blog about common questions. 

By offering quick video tutorials and solutions, we’ve witnessed direct sales resulting from this engagement. Being able to pay attention to your community’s questions and being able to understand and find an easy way to address them in a way that doesn’t make it seem so scary allows them to feel comfortable purchasing our products. Social media can help your customers connect and make them feel heard and seen, especially when addressing it.

Lindsey Wolf, Marketing Manager, SportingSmiles

Collaborate with Influencers on Giveaways

Collaborating with influencers is a highly effective strategy for engaging with followers on social media. By partnering with influencers whose values align with your brand, you can reach a wider audience and build trust among your followers. 

One creative approach to collaborating with influencers is to host a giveaway or contest together. This not only encourages participation from both the influencer’s followers and your own, but it also creates a sense of excitement and urgency for your followers to engage with the giveaway post. The measurable impact of this strategy can be seen through an increase in both follower engagement (likes, comments, shares) and growth (new followers). 

By leveraging the influencer’s credibility and reach, you can tap into their audience and gain new followers who are interested in your brand or product.

Keith Sant, Founder & CEO, Sell Mobile Home Park

Launch a Design Contest

One unique strategy we implemented was the “Design Your Own Athleisure” contest on social media. We encouraged our followers to submit their own athleisure designs, with the winning design being produced and featured in our collection. 

This campaign not only boosted our engagement rates by over 50%, but also significantly increased our follower count. It created a sense of community and ownership among our audience, leading to higher brand loyalty and direct customer involvement in our product line.

Nicolas Krauss, Founder and CEO, dasFlow Custom Sublimation Apparel

Incorporate Interactive Polls and Surveys

An effective approach I’ve discovered for connecting with social media followers involves incorporating interactive polls and surveys into my posts. This not only encourages followers to participate and share their opinions but also allows me to gather valuable feedback from my audience. 

For example, I recently created a poll asking my followers which type of content they would like to see more of on my social media platforms. This not only sparked conversation and engagement among my followers but also helped me tailor my content to better meet their interests and needs. Furthermore, incorporating interactive elements like polls and surveys can also have a measurable impact on audience growth. By encouraging followers to participate in these activities, it can attract new followers who are drawn in by the engaging content. 

Overall, using interactive polls and surveys on social media is a creative approach that can lead to tangible results in terms of audience engagement and growth. It allows for direct communication with followers and provides valuable insights that can improve the overall social media strategy. I highly recommend incorporating this strategy into your own social media efforts for maximum impact.

Brian Rudderow, Real Estate Investor, HBR Colorado

Establish Expertise with Educational Content

We’re a supplement retailer, both online and brick-and-mortar. With a lot of supplements, customers have questions about how to take them, when to take them, what products to stack together, etc. We create a lot of content online, i.e., videos, blogs, and on social media. It’s a great way to establish ourselves as experts, but it also encourages questions from people online, which can often lead to sales.

John Frigo, eCommerce Manager, Best Price Nutrition

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