Engagement rate is the key performance indicator (KPI) we inspect to understand what content is working for our audience and which content is not. It also helps to identify possible opportunities for improvement in your customer journey, your call-to-actions (CTAs), and your pitch. A good engagement rate is anywhere between 1 - 3%. A great engagement rate is anywhere between 3 - 6%. This benchmark varies based on the platform and your total number of followers. Here are five ways to increase your engagement rate across all platforms.

1. Align with your Brand Guidelines - This internal document includes everything from colour codes to logo design and tone of voice; it is the backbone of how your brand behaves and should be given to every single employee during onboarding. This ensures brand salience and strengthens the reflection of the company. The best way to consistently increase your engagement rate is by being genuine and staying authentically aligned with your brand guidelines. So have them written down wholeheartedly and implement them throughout the entire company. Having a consistent persona and tone of voice across all channels will build trust with your audience and increase your engagement rate.

2. Create Varied Content - If you remember the 60/30/10 rule, then you’ll remember that 60% of your content should be engaging, 30% should be sharing third-parties content, and 10% should be promotional/direct sales. This ensures that you’re spending more time being genuine and less time being pushy. Additionally, make sure you are creating different formats of content (i.e. Reels, Videos, Lives, Podcasts, TikToks, YouTube Shorts, Emails, Blogs, etc.). If you find a winning piece of content, you should still be experimenting with new types, even after you’ve repurposed your most-engaged assets. This ensures you are continuously testing, learning, and making room for improvement. This also keeps your audience from getting bored, which can be detrimental to engagement rate.

3. Arrange Collaborations Regularly - Collaborations are social media’s way of expanding your audience, building a third-party network, and increasing exposure. This includes, but is not limited to, collaborating with macro and micro-influencers, celebrities, and related brands, hosting competitions, lives, and giveaways. When deciding who to collaborate with, do your research to confirm that their audience and objectives align with yours. This is key to increasing the engagement rate and success of an entire campaign. Whether you want to host one per quarter or one per week, always be organising collaborations with value, meaning, and purpose for your audience.

4. Speak to your Audience - High engagement rates are most often a direct result of using the right copy, at the right time, in the right place. Speak to your audience genuinely with the sole intent to engage, entertain, or educate and you will see improved engagement rates. Read the room on a daily basis; understand what your audience wants to hear and how they need to be spoken to. Always stay on the same page when it comes to personality, mood, and self-awareness, and constantly ask the question, “what will my audience relate to most?”

5. Consistent Monthly Reporting - Data is key to everything when it comes to your digital marketing, so structured reporting should be standard practice. If you want to increase any of your key performance indicators (KPIs), you’ll need to be using a clear, consistent tracking structure to strengthen data collection and minimise dark social. Analysing content on a regular basis, across all platforms and communications, including your website and your email marketing, will allow you to create benchmarks and actionable insights to help your brand succeed and increase your engagement rate. Analysing individual emails and paid advertising engagement rates can also offer an incredible amount of insight for improvements.

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