Inbound Social Media Engagement vs. Outbound Social Media Engagement

Natalie Henley

• Social Media

Social media engagement has become a hot topic in recent years. With social algorithms like EdgeRank giving higher visibility to brands with high engagement scores, it’s more critical than ever for brands to inspire reactions & comments with their social content.

To help brands try to improve their engagement metrics, we developed a proprietary process & checklist they can follow. Click here for our full social media engagement guide.

However, as a first step to improving social engagement, it’s important for brands to realize there are two major types of engagement on social media. To help our clients work through this, we coined a few terms:

1. Inbound Social Media Engagement
2. Outbound Social Media Engagement

What is inbound social media engagement?

Put simply, inbound social media engagement is responding to consumers who are communicating with the brand on your social channels. Good examples include responding to a DM or a comment left on your Facebook page.

Why is inbound social media engagement important?

This encourages your followers to continue engaging with the brand, and also can become an important channel for your customer service team.

What is outbound social media engagement?

Outbound social media engagement is any activity where you are going out and putting your brand into a conversation they might not have been in otherwise. A good example of this is participating in a trending hashtag conversation.

Why is outbound social media engagement important?

Outbound social media engagement is critical for brands who need to get the wheels on engagement turning and also build their follower levels.

Need some support boosting engagement for your brand? Volume Nine is a Digital Marketing + Social Media Agency based in Denver, Colorado and we can help!