Increasing social media engagement: latest research roundup

Here's a quick roundup of 3 studies published in the past 2 months that give us tips on how to increase social media engagement of our brands.

Pick and choose according to your brand's style and needs.

How to use emojis to increase post engagement

Use emojis to make your social media posts more playful. Playful posts lead to higher engagement (e.g. likes, retweets).

Place emojis right before text that is highly related to the emojis used.

It works best if your brand is hedonic (e.g. food, sport, a celebrity).

3min research summary here

Use words that convey certainty to increase post engagement

Use words that give certainty (e.g. always, all, never, definitely) in your posts.

This is especially effective in cultures with high power distance (e.g. China, Egypt, Mexico, Russia) compared to those with low power distance (e.g. Switzerland, The Netherlands).

3min research summary here

People are more likely to share your video ads if they have a social-related use

The creative of your Facebook video ad should have a social-related meaning to increase the chances people will share it. For example, you can make the ad:

• About community (i.e. “I also do this! Who else?”)
• An excuse to socialize (i.e. “This made me think of you”)
• Altruistic, about helping others (e.g. this famous Thai ad)

3min research summary here

Let me know if you find this helpful! It's the first research roundup I do :)