You’ve attracted some followers and built an audience. Now what? It may seem like the hardest part is over, but the biggest challenge is keeping those audiences engaged and turning them into loyal fans. What would make them want to keep following you or recommending you to their friends?
This is where meaningful audience interactions make all the difference. Knowing what resonates with them and creating content that matters are just the first steps.
Whether you’re a creator who’s looking to build an influence or a brand that wants to foster an engaged community, the right influencer engagement strategies can go a long way. This guide breaks down some of the most powerful strategies to engage your followers and turn them into brand advocates. Let’s take a look.
Content that appeals to a mass audience may increase reach, but it doesn’t always guarantee quality engagement. People may enjoy your content but not enough to engage with it. You stand a better chance of engaging people when you create content that’s specific to their interests.
For example, an account that constantly posts about crafting will attract followers who are interested in the hobby. These followers may engage with the account’s content for crafting inspiration, instructions, and tips.
As a self-proclaimed food enthusiast and a mom, I personally follow a lot of home cooks, professional chefs, and parenting pages. And my Explore is also filled with food-related content and parenting tips. This makes it a lot easier for me to discover influencers and brands in those spaces.
Similarly, content creators need to start with a niche focus. That way, you can build an engaged following made up of people who share the same interests. When you narrow your focus, it’s easier to know what content will resonate with your audience. So you can effectively engage them with content that adds value.
Influencers like Kate Steinberg built their influence off 2000s nostalgia content. Her relatable posts about growing up in the 2000s resonate with the experiences of many Millennials (including myself), helping her gain over 909k Instagram followers.
For brands, working with smaller influencers can help you engage niche interest groups. Micro-influencers and nano-influencers often have an established presence in specific categories. They have thousands of followers who tune into their content and actively engage with it because they share the same interests.
In fact, recent studies show that smaller influencers see much higher engagement than their larger counterparts. On Instagram, nano-influencers boast an average engagement of 6.23%. Statista also reports that nano-influencers see the highest engagement rate on TikTok at a whopping 11.97%.
By getting these influencers to start the conversation about your brand, you can drive engagement within relevant sub-groups. This allows you to build an engaged community of followers who could potentially turn into brand advocates.
Owing to her established presence in the “nostalgic content” space, Kate Steinberg often partners with brands wanting to reach audiences in this sector. When Taco Bell brought back some fan-favorite menu items from the 60s to the 00s, they partnered with the influencer to spread the word. This helped the brand engage a niche community of Millennial audiences wanting to have another taste of their favorite Taco Bell food from childhood.
Platform algorithms play a major role in visibility and engagement. Certain platforms may favor certain content formats, giving them more exposure. And with more exposure comes better engagement.
This is why it pays to know what works best on different platforms so you can create content that engages your audience.
Understand which influencer marketing content formats are most engaging on each platform. Then build your platform-specific content strategy accordingly. For instance, you may focus on carousel posts and Reels on Instagram, while you may use Threads to share engaging text posts.
Additionally, you’ll want to apply platform-specific best practices to boost visibility and engagement on each platform. This may include using trending sounds and hashtags on platforms like TikTok and Instagram. Meanwhile, on platforms like YouTube, creative thumbnails and optimized video descriptions are key to attracting the right audience.
Similarly, you’ll want to adapt your content style for different platforms to make sure you can effectively engage each platform’s audience.
For example, Stanzi Potenza is one of my personal favorite comedy content creators known for her hilarious sketches and satirical videos. The creator uses TikTok, Reels, and YouTube Shorts to share these short comedy sketches.
Meanwhile, on Threads, Stanzi takes a more personal approach to engage her loyal fanbase. She shares short text jokes, snippets of her life, and questions directed at her audience.
Many content creators build their influence through creativity and authenticity. They set themselves apart by using creative storytelling and adding a unique voice to relevant conversations. This is why many of their followers look up to them and engage with their content.
When working with influencers, brands tend to place too many restrictions that make it difficult for the influencer to be their authentic selves. As a result, they end up with lackluster content that fails to truly connect with the audience.
If brands are too involved in the content creation process, the influencer content could lose the very essence that makes it unique and engaging.
This makes it a MUSTcrucial to prioritize creative freedom in your influencer partnerships. Although it’s important to share campaign goals and basic guidelines, let influencers be in charge of the ideas and execution. They know what speaks to their audience and how to engage them. So trust them to come up with something that aligns with your goals while still engaging their audience.
Your biggest priority should be authenticity. Give influencers the freedom to be their unique and authentic selves if you want to drive genuine engagement.
When Monopoly Go partnered with influencer Jeenie Weenie on TikTok, they left her in charge of the idea and execution. She put together a creative and hilarious storyline based on the typical “Asian” angle that she often uses for her videos. This received tons of comments from viewers who enjoyed the video and found it funny.
Personally, this type of content makes me feel positively connected to the brand. It tells me: “Hey, this brand has a sense of humor.” So I’m much more likely to remember the brand or even try out their product.
Similarly, for influencers, it’s important to maintain your authenticity even when you’re creating promotional content for brands. Avoid brand partnerships that don’t align with your values. Instead, focus on promoting brands and products you truly believe in. And maintain transparency about your paid partnerships.
That way, your audience will know that they can trust you to share your honest opinion about brands and products. This will encourage them to keep engaging with you even when you’re creating promotional content.
People love it when you give them the opportunity to share their own content. It makes them feel seen and appreciated, especially when you repost the content to your own socials.
For me, it’s a sign that the brand is proud of their community. And I’d jump at the chance to share my new purchases or my positive experiences if the brand would reshare my post or Story.
So encouraging user-generated content is one of the most impactful influencer engagement strategies. In fact, social media campaigns that incorporate UGC get 50% more engagements than campaigns that don’t use UGC.
You could launch a branded hashtag challenge around a specific campaign, such as a major holiday or a new product launch. UGC campaigns also work particularly well with giveaway contests where users submit their content for a chance to win a prize. Then invite people to share their own content using the hashtag. Have influencers kickstart the challenge and encourage more people to participate.
Additionally, you could also have an evergreen UGC strategy where people can keep sharing their experiences using your branded hashtag or by tagging your brand. This encourages them to actively participate in your brand community and become loyal fans.
Spoonflower regularly shares user-generated content from the brand community. This includes content from influencers, interior designers, seamstresses, and other artists who make use of their wallpapers and fabrics.
Whether you’re a brand or an influencer, audience engagement thrives on two-way communication. People love it when you respond to their comments, answer their questions, and reply to their DMs.
People may still comment on your posts even when you don’t respond. But they’re much more likely to keep commenting if you interact with them. This is because it makes them feel seen and appreciated when you acknowledge them.
When I see a brand or influencer responding to comments, I feel more comfortable engaging with them. Whether this involves sharing my thoughts or asking questions, I don’t stop to think, “Why should I bother commenting when they won’t even respond?”
Plus, getting a response helps them feel more personally connected to you. This helps you foster a stronger connection with your audience. So you can build a thriving and active community of followers who jump at the opportunity to interact with you.
Even for brands that partner with influencers, consider checking out the comments when an influencer posts about your products. Then find an opportunity to interact with meaningful comments. Notice how Garnier responds to comments in the following promotional content created by Ilana Glazer. Their creative and witty approach to positive comments helps to further hook in customers to try the product being advertised.
For large brands and influencers, it’s not always viable to respond to each and every comment. But take the time to go through the comments that are meaningful and deserve a response.
In fact, influencer platforms like Influencity can help you sort this out. One of our most popular social media management tools is our centralized inbox, where you can see all of the comments, DMs, messages and more and reply from a single dashboard without missing any important conversations!
There’s nothing wrong with curated images and edited video footage. But sometimes, real-time candid interactions can feel refreshing and more authentic.
This is why live streaming is one of the most effective influencer engagement strategies. Brands and influencers can make use of Instagram Live, X Spaces, and TikTok Live to host interactive Q&A sessions and product launches.
Brands can invite influencers to host a livestream, demonstrate how their product works, and answer pressing questions about their products. This gives your audience the opportunity to get immediate answers to their questions and see just how well the product works. So you can effectively eliminate barriers to purchase while building trust with your audience.
Live is also a great way to make exclusive announcements and make your audience feel like a part of a close-knit community. Use the opportunity to share news about product updates, sales and promotions, upcoming products, and more.
As an influencer, you could even use livestreams to take your followers along on influencer events. This is a great way to make your audience feel included and encourage real-time interactions. Brands can also encourage this type of livestream when hosting influencer events to generate more buzz about the event.
On platforms like TikTok, brands can even host live shopping sessions with influencers. This would involve having an influencer demonstrate the product while viewers have the option to instantly buy it using an in-stream product link. This type of live shopping influencer campaign is a great way to engage your community in real-time while driving sales.
Beauty influencer and entrepreneur Michelle Phan regularly hosts TikTok Lives to promote her products. She also creates videos to build anticipation for the live sessions.
Sometimes, two influencers are better than one, especially when the goal is to reach more people. Encourage influencer collaborations that involve two or more creators working together to co-create content and cross-promote it to their respective socials. This helps you get your brand in front of twice as many people and significantly boost your engagement.
Consider creating Instagram Collab posts with multiple influencers. That way, the post instantly shows up in the respective feeds of each collaborator. This exponentially increases your reach, helping you attract more people who might want to engage with the content.
For example, Betty Crocker partnered with “Love is Blind” star Jessica Vestal to promote the brand’s brownie mix for Galentine’s Day. The influencer co-created a Collab post featuring her friend and fellow influencer, Micah Lussier. With the Collab post showing up in the profiles of both influencers, they managed to generate plenty of engagement from enthusiastic fans.
Alternatively, influencers could also create Duets where they join another influencer in a fun dance or song. Or they could add a unique take on another influencer’s video. Both Instagram and TikTok offer several features that allow creators to easily collaborate on content creation.
Even outside of brand partnerships, influencers can collaborate to tap into each other’s followers. This is a great way to maximize reach and get more engaged followers. Look for fellow influencers in a related space who create content that you love. Then reach out to them for an opportunity to work together – whether this means featuring them in your video, creating content together, or hosting a giveaway together.
Finally, data can provide you with actionable insights to inform your influencer engagement strategies. You can use AI and analytics tools to analyze engagement trends in real time and understand how to adapt your strategy accordingly.
For instance, you can use social media analytics tools to get an overview of your best-performing posts. These tools can also analyze engagement patterns over time and make AI-powered suggestions on the best times to post. Then schedule your posts to reach your audience at times when they’re most likely to engage.
Meanwhile, influencer marketing tools can analyze the top-performing influencer posts from your campaign. These insights can then show you which content trends are taking over based on which types of posts people are engaging with. You can then focus your efforts on creating more engaging posts based on those trends.
Similarly, you can use influencer analytics to identify your best-performing influencers. Track performance metrics related to engagement, reach, and more. Then refine your campaigns to focus on influencers who can drive the most engagement for your brand.
Having an active and engaged community requires making an active effort to engage your audience. This could start with something as simple as responding to their comments. Or it could require more detailed planning, such as hosting a live Q&A session.
Either way, the key is to actively work on engaging your followers and fostering meaningful interactions. Make the most of the influencer engagement strategies shared above to build a thriving community.