That Bernie Meme I Posted on Instagram Got a Ton of Engagement. But Did I Help My Business?
I wanted to share a question one of Your Social Team members asked me yesterday and many of you must be wondering, too.
Like most of us, she too did a Bernie meme post in the past couple of days and got a whole lotta engagement. In 12 hours she had 694 likes, 64 comments, 74 shares and reaches around 8k new accounts that didn't follow her.
But she says few page views, and more unfollows than follows.
So her question was: is there even a real benefit in this kind of engagement?
Did That Bernie Meme I Posted on Instagram Got a Ton of Engagement. But did I Help My Business?
I want to share my answer to her.
About the unfollows:
Anytime you post anything political or social (even if it's just a meme of Bernie), you will lose followers. But that's not a bad thing. You will be really filtering out those who don't share your values or care about the same causes and don't belong in your audience. On the first week of January and during the elections I lost almost 1K followers each time. We shouldn't worry about those.
About the actual benefit of that kind of engagement:
Engagement for engagement --that doesn't lead to follows, sales, or email list growth right away-- is good to get your audience amused by your business and keep it top of mind. I this happens often, they may see your posts in higher priority on their scroll (this is how the algorithm works). When you do have something to sell, more people will see it (and possibly recommend to others too).
But here's where we talk about jumping into these trends with strategy:
When you see a hot social media trend like Bernie and his mittens, instead of just doing an Instagram post for fun, you can use it to sell your product or services.
I had a launch of my template subscription service on Thursday, and used Bernie to get people's attention and get them to read my captions.
It was my post with the highest reach ever in that account (thanks Bernie) and it definitely contributed to a successful launch (thanks, Bernie!)
So next time you jump on a trend, try to apply it to your business or to show a sentiment that is common and relatable to your audience.
Speaking of our launch, if you’re a social media manager, or a content creator who manage more than one account or use all Instagram feature and know your way around Canva, this is for you:
Check out our subscription service Your Template Club. You will get templates in your inbox each month that are designed to grow engagement for you and your clients, elevate your pretty aesthetic and save you time. Can I hear an Amen?
Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and Done For You content shop to help social media managers and Instagram savvy women entrepreneurs to beat the algorithm and grow their organic engagement (yes, even in 2021). Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2017, Manu started Your Social Team with the mission of helping women entrepreneur and social media managers grow engagement and sales through Instagram without the overwhelm.