Today, it’s not enough to just have social media platforms. In order to truly see a ROI in your social media marketing strategy, engagement is important. Plus, in slower times of business, social media engagement is the most affordable and effective solution to staying relevant in your industry. With audiences traveling, it’s valuable to stay connected with them and become the top-of-mind brand for when they are ready to start buying again. This means focusing on your digital marketing strategies. Take advantage of the increased social media action by engaging on Facebook and Instagram.

Why is social media engagement important? To engage means more than just posting occasionally. Your effective social media marketing plan should involve commenting, liking, sharing, posting, asking questions and staying on top of trends. Engaging with followers creates a strong business-to-consumer relationship, leading to an increase in sales and brand loyalty. Your customers are at the tip of your fingers, spending hours of their day on social media. It’d be a waste not to take advantage of that!

In order to effectively engage on social media, it’s essential you have a social media engagement strategy. Set goals based on previous posts, understanding what’s relevant and how to captivate audiences. The social media engagement theory is to address your followers with hopes they engage and their network takes notice, influencing additional engagement. The more a post is shared, liked or commented on, the further the reach extends. There are a number of ways to do this as social media trends are always evolving. Most importantly, your posts must stay organic and genuine. This is how you’ll be successful in getting interaction from viewers. Let’s look at some of the most popular and effective social media ideas.

Video marketing has grown tremendously in the last few years and continues to soar. 92% of mobile users share videos with others which means video is a huge opportunity for spreading your brand’s content organically. Not only can video be easily placed on your website, it can also be placed throughout the Google and YouTube advertising platform to drive traffic to your website. Social media advertising is also very important to your online marketing strategy. Facebook advertising is still holding its ground as an effective and affordable strategy. With a Canvas or Like Campaign, you’re able to reach audiences directly and increase traffic. Additionally, Instagram Stories are an increasingly popular way to reach users. For summer months in particular, Waze advertising is great for reaching local travelers. Below are some social media examples of how Epic’s digital marketing services have helped brands improve their marketing plans. For more inspiration, Facebook and Instagram offer this link, providing new ways to continue to engage while growing your audience.

As gas prices rise, so do Waze audiences. A social network consisting of quick navigation routes and live traffic conditions. Just recently it has become a great tool to shop the lowest gas prices nearest you. This geo-targeting social media strategy allows customers to see your location.