How to Give Your Social Media Feeds Some Personality

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Managing multiple social media feeds is an essential aspect of running any online business. If you've figured that much out at this point, you're already ahead, but it's not as simple as just posting pertinent/promotional content once a day or a few times a week. If you want to increase user engagement, you have to take it a step further and present a social media presence that's worth following for more than just what your business offers. You have to give your feeds some personality, here are a few ways to do that:

Schedule 'Joke' Posts on a Regular Basis

Keeping your feeds consistently active doesn't necessarily mean having enough of your own content to post something new several times a day. You don't actually need everything you post to be relevant anyway, so why not gather up a bunch of funny pictures and schedule them to go out throughout the week? You can do this easily on both Twitter and Facebook. Even if the content itself is just a silly distraction, it gives the impression of a feed which is always active, and a sense of humor will make it seem more personable. People are far more likely to engage with a page if they think it's being run by actual human beings, rather than algorithms.

Start Discussions with Followers

Equally, using text posts to start discussions has the potential to change your feed from a simple promotional tool to an active community. As long as it's at least vaguely connected to what you do, ask questions and encourage people to answer in the comments, don't be perturbed if it doesn't get a huge result the first few times around, keep at it as your follower count increases and eventually it will start to work. Caption contests for pictures work equally as well. This is particularly helpful on Facebook, since people will be able to see what their friends are commenting on and might well be insentivised to check your page out as a direct result. There is a risk of incurring negative feedback or trolling, but there are plenty of ways to deal with that.

Involve Yourself (and Your Staff) in the Posts

As I've made clear throughout this article, it's important, perhaps above all else to put a human face on your feeds. You know who has a human face? You do (at least I hope you do). So many business and personal pages are completely faceless, only offering the most vague insight into their inner workings, but if you're open about yourself and your staff, provided you have one, you will stand out almost immediately. Obviously only do this if you're happy to have your face linked with your company, but if, say, somebody in the office comes in wearing a silly outfit, Facebook might want to hear about it.

Callum Davies

Callum is a film school graduate who is now making a name for himself as a journalist and content writer. His vices include flat whites and 90s hip-hop. Follow him @CallumAtSMF

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