Engagement in Social Media

How do you quantify your engagement on social media? Some may say the length of time you spend on a site correlates to the amount of involvement. Anyone who has taken a base level stats class knows that correlation is not causation though. While it is true that you can accomplish more given the opportunity to work longer, how often do you go to media to complete a goal?

My guess is that unless you’re working in a professional capacity, most people would choose to entertain themselves rather than produce content. This isn’t true in all cases, but I would say that the vast majority of users don’t put the effort into building up a profile or scheduling post. I don’t think that focusing on one over the other is better or worse, but it depends on intent.

Ask yourself, “What do I want to accomplish with my [social media platform] account?” If you want to gain followers or engage with more commenters, then there are steps to reach those goals. It’s important to keep a focus on creating quality content that can attract an audience. Open avenues for additional feedback. Polls are a great way to connect with the people and individualized responses increase the likelihood of more interactions.

Beyond the business of social media is the wealth of opportunities to entertain or inspire. Even if you decide to post irregularly or increase privacy settings, that broadens the scope of  “watching” that you can do. Attention isn’t something everyone on these platforms desire and that’s okay. Personally, I like seeing creative things other people can do. It helps motivate me to do more interesting and diverse projects. What do you think? Do you use media as a tool or as a show? Whatever your thoughts are, I’d like to hear from you.