Social media is supposed to be a great tool to reach people…but it might feel like you’re talking to no one. How can you get your message to more people?

It’s not about likes, it’s about reaching.

What is reach? It’s how many people your message is getting to, how many are seeing your posts. This number is far more important than likes.

Likes are great and they are part of the process to get more reach, but they aren’t the real goal. The real goal is to get your message to more people, especially new ones.

So how can you do that?

As with most social media marketing, it rarely happens quickly. Brands need to cultivate a community on their social media pages, not simply post information or sales.

The key to reaching lies in engagement. Likes are part of the engagement, but so is commenting, sharing and even slowing down to read a post (yes platforms like Facebook, Instagram etc. track when a user slows down to read a post).

Increasing engagement only happens when a brand is posting content that brings value to their audience. Which is rarely sales-related and is more often helpful tips, inspiration or something entertaining.

It can be quite difficult to know what your audience finds valuable, start with figuring out who your ideal client is and figure out what they like and more importantly what they need. Then experiment with different types of content and see what works.