Your audience, following, fans –whatever you want to call them– is the backbone of your business. Think about it, Walmart wouldn’t exist without their customers, bands wouldn’t tour without their fans, influencers wouldn’t sell ads without having their loyal following to promote to; and without your audience, you too probably wouldn’t be where you’re at today. Followers are an invaluable source of support for your business, and that’s why it’s so necessary to engage with them –not only will doing so drive up your interaction rates, but most importantly, you will learn more about your audience and how to better serve them.

The thing is, getting engagement –especially online– is easier said than done, and when you rely so heavily on your audience’s interactions, doing so can quickly become a necessity. Fortunately, there are a few life hacks you can use to increase your chance of engagement, and what’s more, they don’t take much time or effort and can be utilized in both real life and social media situations.

Ask Questions

Doing something as simple as asking a question like “how’s your Monday going?” in your post could make all the difference for interaction rates. It’s been proven that asking questions can build rapport and trust, more so, they give your audience a chance to organically engage with you by answering your question! Asking your audience for their personal opinions on the way you’re running things, how they feel about your new product, and so on, can give you suggestions on how to do even better, while your fans will leave feeling like their opinions and suggestions are appreciated.

Respond

Responding to your fans, even if it’s just once in a while, is another solid way to increase interaction. Even if you’re not going back and forth having a full-blown conversation, a simple response may just be enough for them to know you are reading their comments and listening to them. When your fans feel heard, they’ll be more likely to comment or respond again in the future.

Follow/Support Back

Do you know how exciting it is to be followed or supported by someone that you adore –be it a movie star, musician, other public figure or business? Some of your fans will undoubtedly feel that way about you, and when you support them back it’s another appreciable way to make them feel special. Don’t be afraid to overuse the “follow” button!

Host Giveaways

If you want to have a high engagement rate and potentially bring in a wave of new fans, consider hosting periodical giveaways. Have your followers tag 3 or more of their friends to be entered, and hopefully, this will be enough to start a chain reaction of tags, likes and new follows.

Get Personal

Getting personal can make you more approachable and may spark reactions from others who share the same (or different) views as you. Try not to be controversial, but instead, vulnerable, inspirational and personable. We all started somewhere, we all have struggles we overcome, share your journey to inspire others and perhaps your audience will want to chime in on what your message means to them.

And that’s it!

So, next time, before you post that “Monday morning grind” caption, think of how you can make it a little more engaging. Will you add, “What does your morning grind look like?” or maybe you’ll host a giveaway of your favorite “Morning Grind” coffee mug, or perhaps you’ll talk about how you got to where you are and how others can too –the power to be engaging is in your hands.