As the online presence has become a necessity for businesses to keep up in the ever-changing technological world, more and more companies are creating social media pages and blogs to share content with their followers. With so many online presences, it is often hard to keep fans engaged with your content. You can find everything about content marketing and how to keep fans involved below.

Photos First

Fans always engage more with visually appealing content, so make sure to include photos on most, if not all, of your posts. It also helps to catch the eyes of potential followers, while a paragraph of text can seem overwhelming and may deter new fans. When you add new images, be sure to optimize them for the social media site where you plan to use them so they will be easy to view in both web and mobile versions of the site. Be sure to upload photos directly instead of linking to them since larger photos get more likes and shares.

Ask Questions

Instead of posting a statement, end your post with a question that will help engage your fans. You may ask about a favorite memory with a product, such as when Skittles asked fans to share the first time they ever opened a pack. Skittles received over 5000 responses to this question. A few tips that can help improve the responses include keeping questions simple and relating them to lifestyles of people who might use your product. You can also peruse your other posts to look for topics of conversation that might lend question ideas.

Share Content of Fans

When it comes to social media, people love to see their own content shared on the page of their favorite brand. With their permission, use photos that fans enter in your contests or captions created by followers on your page. You can also cross-promote these real-life examples on other social media sites to help more people see the new posts. When you engage a fan on your corporate page, you can open the door to creating a lifelong fan.

Request Feedback 

One of the most common ways to ask for feedback on a specific issue is to offer a “like or share” option. For example, Walmart recently shared a post that requested fans like the photo if they planned to ride a bike to work, or share it if they plan to participate in a carpool to lessen their environmental impacts. This can help provoke thoughts with your fans and help keep them engaged when they vote. It also is an easy way to get a large number of people to share your post.

Hashtags


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Image via Flickr by Ron Mader

Hashtags are the newest way to group content and allow users to search. Use common terms that make it easier for fans to find specific posts they want to read or share. You can also search for hashtags that your fans use to describe your product or service, then use those hashtags to keep the conversation alive.

Online and social media marketing are great tools to build brand awareness without having to spend a lot of money.