During the last couple of years, social media marketing has become an essential part of every brand’s outreach strategy. Still, engaging users and starting an interesting online relationship isn’t an easy task.

There are no perfect manuals — every brand attracts different audiences and goes by different standards, but there are some things that can help you effectively engage your audience. Here are five essential marketing tips to do just that.

1. Do your share of social listening

Regularly read all the comments posted on your Facebook page and other social media channels to see what people are talking about. Use social media monitoring tools like Hootsuite, TwitterDeck or Topsy to follow the mentions of certain keywords or hashtags.

In order to join the conversation you’ll need to have a clear idea about what people, industry and your competitors say about your brand. All those insights will help you to understand your audience better – and that knowledge is crucial to boosting user engagement with your product.

2. Post high-quality visual content

Visuals capture users’ attention like nothing else. This study showed 87% of shares on a Facebook page are of posts that feature photos or videos, in comparison to those with links (4%) or text only (2%).

Every time you post a photo, you’re sure to get users’ attention – and therefore it’s a good idea to invest some time into getting high-quality, professionally-looking visuals to boost the image of your brand.

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3. Start a conversation

The best way to do this is to ask a question. But not just any question – it should be meaningful and thoughtful. Don’t ask just for the sake of asking, but inquire about things you’re genuinely interested in. Make your questions relevant to your industry, open-ended and positive.

Another way of starting a conversation on social media is by answering questions posted by your audience. Address these issues even when you’re not sure how to answer them – it simply shows that you’re paying attention to what users have to say and this in itself is valuable.

4. Promote quality content

Your social media channels shouldn’t be devoted exclusively to your own content. Feel free to share content created by others – this is the best way to build a community surrounding a particular segment of the industry. And once you post something of your own, members of your community are more likely to share it back.

 5. Use your own voice

Don’t go for meaningless corporate slogans that have nothing human about them. Social media are very personal and require a certain tone and style to work. People will be more willing to interact with your brand once they can sense that there’s a real person behind the account.

6. Mix it up

Don’t get too repetitive with your content. If every piece you deliver looks the same and sounds the same, users will soon look for things that are different and perhaps more exciting. Take a Facebook page for instance – you can experiment with photos, videos, questions, links and then see which of them generate most engagement.

Consider how your posts look together – a newsfeed full of identical content pieces will feel generic. And lack of personality is the worst sin on social media!

Developing content that drives engagement takes some time. Don’t expect user engagement rates to rise quickly – you’ll need to spend a lot of time building and implementing your strategy before you start to see its results. Still, great content shared in the right way will generate more engagement, drive new users to your brand, spread brand awareness across the web and boost your online business profile.

Author: Tess Pajaron is a Community Manager at Open Colleges, an online learning provider based in Sydney, Australia. She has a background in Business Administration and Management.

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This article is published by Will Sherwood | The Sherwood Group |Website Design | Graphic Design | Marketing Communications: The Sherwood Group has over 30 years of experience working with all sorts of companies, small and large. Our clients range from entrepreneurs to Fortune 500 firms, in nearly every business sector, from across the street to around the world (and yes, even Europe, China, and South America). Our goal is to create advertising,  graphic design, website design, and marketing communication that still looks fresh and relevant 10-15 years later. Our mission is to stir your imagination and leave your competition shaken and wondering,  Now what do we do?”  We are located in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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