You Deserve More Likes and Comments on Social Media
You’re disappointed with the (low) engagement your social media is garnering. I feel you.
You know you deserve better engagement, but it’s just not happening. It’s almost unfair–here you are, working really hard by coming up with fresh concepts, getting the text just right, designing graphics, and… you get nothing in return. Maybe a few likes, but hardly the engagement you deserve.
What’s going on? And, how can you make it better?
What’s going on is fairly simple: your members have a lot more happening in their lives, and when they’re “relaxing” on social media, they’re looking at what interests THEM, not what you want them to view.
And that makes perfect sense, but it’s so easy to forget this basic concept when we get wrapped up in creating incredible, “viral” social media posts.
So, before anything else, ask yourself this question: what do your members find interesting? What would earn their attention when they’re looking to relax or zone out?
I don’t have the answers, because I don’t know your members. But until we start asking these questions, it’s going to be difficult to get their attention. Not only that, will the platform algorithms even make it known to them?
Here are seven things you can do to increase likes, comments, and even shares on your Instagram or Facebook page.
Try them all, and let me know how well they work for you. I’d also love to hear additional ideas that are working on your own social media!Ask your members what they want to see, hear, learn and explore on social media. By involving them in the process and making them part of the creation of your content strategy, you’ll have automatic buy-in–because they helped create it.
1. Ask your members what they want to see, hear, learn and explore on social media. By involving them in the process and making them part of the creation of your content strategy, you’ll have automatic buy-in–because they helped create it.
2. When you’re not getting what you want, ask for it. Members who frequent your branches may be waiting in the line. Why not have a QR code they can scan to follow your page, like it, and comment on posts? You can make it super easy, and reward them in some small way. After having a root canal, my local endodontist asked for a testimonial on Yelp. Because they made it so easy (and I was still under the effects of novocaine 🙂 ) I left a glowing review. If it works post root canal, it shouldn’t be a problem to get this from your members.
3. Get personal. Time after time, we’re seeing that banks and credit unions that show themselves, their members, their staff, and the fun side of their brand, are the ones that get the most engagement. Even a picture of a long-time CU employee who is retiring can go a long way toward getting more likes than a video you invested heavily in making.
4. Original research. When you ask a compelling question or get members to vote on something, you’re giving them an easy way to respond. Then, you can publish the findings of your single-question survey or poll, giving you more engagement with members who are invested, even in a minimal way, because they participated in your survey.
5. Make it an inside job. If your staff is up for it, and they like to have fun, bring the watercooler discussions to your Instagram page. Make it a place where all credit union staff have a voice, share photos, videos of themselves discussing financial topics (you can get the info from any CUcontent article, just use the “casual” version) and it’ll become a fun page where members can learn about the lives and interests of the credit union staff. The likes and comments will happen naturally.
6. If turning your Instagram or Facebook page into a company watercooler open to the public is too revolutionary and not comfortable for your brand, keep posting personal finance info (there’s new content daily at CUcontent) and jumpstart the likes and shares by asking your staff, your children, your board… anyone you know to comment. It’s a lot easier than asking them to come up with posts, and people are more likely to comment if others already have.
7. Like other pages. Comment on other people’s posts, and they may well return the favor. Even if they don’t, as long as you’re commenting as your credit union, your profile will start showing up where your members are, starting the traction you’re looking for.
More ideas? We’d love to hear them!
