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    How to Increase Social Media Channel Engagement

    by Sam Olsson on
    Marketing

    9 Ways to Increase Social Media Engagement for Your App in 2025

    For consumer apps and digital brands, social media is the primary battlefield for user attention. A high follower count is nice, but a fan base of any size must engage; whether this involves clicking, sharing, commenting, or liking. Engagement breeds further growth, deepens the connection with your audience, and signals to algorithms that your content is valuable.

    With over 5.2 billion global social media users in 2025, your customers are active. However, competition is fierce. If you can’t generate engagement, your brand will get lost in the feed. In this article, we'll outline 9 ways to boost your engagement, using real-world examples from our work with clients like the UK's leading parenting app, Bounty, to show how these principles drive real growth.

    Why is social media important?

    Many brands pay lip-service to social media, but an unguided approach won’t reap rewards. A goal-oriented philosophy is essential to generate ROI. Social media must be pursued to meet tangible business objectives, such as driving app installs, building a loyal community, or increasing user retention. Engagement is something you need to boost, but engagement in itself is not the end goal. It must contribute to these critical business goals.

    First and foremost, you need to determine which channels to use. Consider:

    • Where does your target audience spend their time? (e.g., Instagram, TikTok, Facebook)

    • What are your competitors doing, and what’s working for them?

    • What kind of content will you create, and which platform is the best fit?

    Once you’ve set a strategy for each chosen channel, it’s time to boost engagement.

    1. Build Authenticity and Trust

    You’ll need to put in some legwork before expecting a mass of engagement. This means building trust through authentic interactions. For our client Bounty, whose audience consists of new parents seeking reliable advice, authenticity is paramount. Their strategy focuses on fostering genuine connections at scale, positioning the brand as a trusted resource rather than just another product.

    2. Focus on Storytelling

    Our brains love good storytelling. It’s a fact. Your social strategy must tap into a narrative that resonates, and above all, this story must be relatable, real, and compelling. A powerful way to do this is by letting your users tell the story. For Bounty, we implemented a content strategy featuring 'day in the life' videos from real parent creators. These unscripted, authentic assets allowed us to highlight community-driven narratives and created a level of trust that polished ads never could.

    3. Engage Proactively in Your Community

    Social media mustn’t be a one-way broadcast. The strongest brands are active participants in their community. Put simply, don’t sit on the sidelines… you need to get involved! For Bounty, we deployed a targeted comment engagement strategy on TikTok and Instagram. Instead of generic comments, we focused on conversational interactions on posts from creators and users, humanising the brand, increasing relatability, and expanding organic reach in algorithm-driven feeds.

    4. Collaborate with Authentic Creators

    Influencer marketing has evolved. Today, it's about collaborating with creators who genuinely love and use your product. Rather than just paying for promotion, focus on building long-term partnerships. We worked with Bounty to identify and partner with trusted UGC creators who were already active users of the app. We incentivised them with meaningful value—a subscription to Bounty Plus—which provided tangible support and enhanced their first-hand experience with the brand, turning them into powerful, long-term advocates.

    5. Master Short-Form Video

    In 2025, video, particularly short-form video, dominates social media. Platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts are where user attention is focused. The key to success is authenticity. As we discovered with clients like Bounty, the most effective approach is to "create TikToks, not ads." Lo-fi, user-generated style content that feels native to the platform consistently outperforms polished, corporate-style ads. Your brand must incorporate a video strategy that feels real and provides value, whether it's educational, entertaining, or inspiring.

    6. Share Curated Content

    Be humble and show that you’re not the only authority on a topic. Your followers will appreciate the honesty. Become a valuable hub for your community by sharing relevant news, insights, and even entertaining memes from other creators in your niche. This builds trust and gives your audience more reasons to follow you, as you're providing value beyond just promoting your own app.

    7. Use Impactful and Attractive Visuals

    HubSpot research shows that posts with images get significantly more engagement. We are visual creatures. On platforms like Instagram, having a consistent and attractive brand aesthetic is crucial. Don't just rely on stock photos; showcase high-quality User-Generated Content (UGC) from your community to build social proof and make your feed more vibrant and relatable.

    8. Get Your Timing Right

    Timing is everything on social media. You must be active when your audience is. This is critical not just for customer service but for real-time engagement and trend-hopping. Forget third-party guessing games; use the powerful native analytics tools within the Meta Business Suite and TikTok Business portal. These platforms will show you exactly when your followers are most active, allowing you to schedule your posts for maximum impact.

    9. Craft Compelling Hooks, Not Deceptive Clickbait

    Clickbait has a bad reputation for a reason: it breaks trust. However, the principle of a strong opening hook is more important than ever. You have three seconds to stop the scroll. Whether it's the first line of your caption, the text overlay on your video, or the question you ask in your image, it needs to be compelling and generate an emotional reaction. The critical rule is that your content must deliver on the promise of the hook. Grab their attention, but earn their trust by providing the value you promised.

    Summary

    Engagement is key for social media marketers. Without it, there won’t be any measurable benefit to your business objectives. It takes time to develop a following, and today's social landscape is competitive. A mix of paid and organic social media will often yield the best results—it’s certainly quicker to allocate a budget for paid amplification to accelerate your reach.

    Regardless of whether an ad budget is in play, you need to engage your audience with high-quality, targeted content. Tap into authentic narratives that resonate with your followers, and build trust over time. By applying these 9 methods, you can build a thriving community and drive sustainable growth for your app.

    Building an engaged community takes time and expertise. If you want to apply these strategies to drive real growth for your brand, learn more about how our expert social media team can help.

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