…Or at least your social media.
By Jennifer Paulson
Your social media posting game is strong. You’ve figured out a cadence that works for you. You have a decent number of followers. But you’re still not seeing results. Your likes are low. You only get comments from your mom. (Hi, Mom!) People don’t share or save your content. You’re putting in the effort, but you’re not seeing the results.
Here are seven reasons why your posts are tanking.
Reason #1: You don’t ask enough questions.
Interaction requires an initial move—a request, inquiry, or something else that causes the other person to react. Ask questions in your posts based on the content. Here are some example posts and questions that can drive interaction.
Photo of a favorite horse > What are your favorite characteristics in a horse?
Photo of a flashy-colored horse > What’s your favorite color of horse?
Photo of a different breed > What breed of horse do you wish you owned?
Video of a yearling loping > What do you see that you like in this horse?
Video of a run at a big show > What’s your favorite NRHA event?
Reason #2: You don’t respond.
Interaction and engagement are two-way streets. Replying to every comment increases your interaction and can boost your engagement numbers, and then your metrics will follow in an upward trend.
Answering questions is extremely important when building interaction with your audience. Your fans can come to rely on your expertise and willingness to share your knowledge, which goes a long way.
You can respond with a silly emoji or gif, but a written response can pull in that member of your audience and make them feel like a valued member of your community…who can become a new customer someday.
The same holds true for Facebook Messenger—respond to all messages sent within a timely fashion. (Bonus points if you reply quickly on a regular enough basis to achieve the “Very Responsive” badge.)
Reason #3: Your posts lack variety.
People get bored seeing the same thing over and over. They wonder if they liked or commented on a post already because it looks the same as the last one. Variety of post type is critical to keep your audience engaged.
Videos draw a lot of attention, especially if they’re entertaining. Try a poll—give three or four options on a topic, and let people weigh in. You can use this information to develop future content.
Reason #4: You ignore your insights or don’t use the information.
Facebook provides loads of insights to help you post more of what works. Click the Insights button on the left side of your page, and dive into everything you could ever want to know about your audience, trends for post performance, reach, and more.
Reason #5: You’re phoning it in.
When you use crummy photos or don’t make time to edit your posts, your audience notices. Low-res photos get attention…in a bad way. Spelling and grammar errors make people questions your professionalism. Both discourage people from liking, sharing, commenting on, and saving your posts.
Reason #6: You don’t play tag.
Tagging opens your posts to people who don’t yet follow your page. For example, if you tag Trainer B in your post, that post can appear in Trainer B’s fans’ feeds. The same goes for your sponsors.
Remember the bareback spin challenge of a few years back? That went viral because NRHA Professionals tagged their peers to challenge them to participate—and people paid attention and loved it! Tag your peers. Tag your sponsors. Tag your customers, if they’re OK with that. Let your positive messages reach farther than you expected by leveraging your community connections.
Reason #7: You don’t put yourself out there.
Commenting on other pages gives you great visibility to potential fans and establishes your expertise. Make the effort to comment (as your page—not as yourself) on other pages’ posts and in groups that are relevant to what you do. There are many reining groups on Facebook, but also join and participate in local horse enthusiast groups. The keys are to keep your contributions positive and add value to the conversation. Likes and shares can help, too, but comments really show who you are and incline new fans to follow you.
Putting yourself out there also means showing your face. Don’t be shy—put your mug in front of the camera and smile. Your audience wants to see who you are in all phases of life, not just in the show pen.
Creating engaging content for social media takes time and effort—two things you might be low on when it comes time to work on your marketing. However, it’s well worth the extra time and brain power to promote and grow your business, and it gets easier with more practice. If you simply can’t commit the time to do it yourself, look into your options for hiring someone to take care of it for you.
