If you’ve paid attention over the past year, you likely noticed that overall engagement is down on many social media posts. There are exceptions like Instagram Reels and TikTok, but standard posts and advertisements are struggling to break through. There are a couple of reasons for this—here’s what you can do to stimulate your posts and ads for better results.

Bring the scroll to a screeching halt with engaging creative.

Let’s discuss why you might be noticing this dip. First, people are primarily utilizing mobile devices and scrolling much more. It was reported that the average person scrolls 300 feet of content every day. That is the equivalent of scrolling the height of the Statue of Liberty every single day. It is getting harder to create a post that will get noticed.

Second, more people are advertising on social media than ever before. The average user sees more ads as a result. As you can imagine, this creates a situation where the ads being shown are tuned out unless they do something to stand apart from the crowd.

I have assembled three tips to help energize your social strategy moving forward.

1. Stop the Scroll—The first thing you need to do is stop a person from scrolling past your post. This is accomplished primarily through the post, ad creative or visual element. Whether it is a picture, graphic or video, the creative needs to be such that someone would stop or slow the scroll slightly to take a closer look.

2. Stimulate Interest—If you have been successful in stopping or slowing the scroll with your creative, you now need to stimulate interest quickly. This is done through the headline of the post. If the creative got their attention, most users will scan the first line of text. If this line does not stimulate their interest, they will typically continue scrolling past. It is critical that the first line of your text engages the person scanning it.

3. Use Sub-Text to Pull Them in and Drive Action—If you have successfully used creative and copy to get to this point, you must now attract the viewer. This subsequent text should build on the headline and give direction on what you would like them to do. If you would like them to click a link to get more information, say that. If you want them to call you, spell that out. You must use this to accomplish the objective of the post or ad. Without this step, you have gotten the user’s attention and left them hanging.

You can still achieve solid results using social media posts and ads, but you must take steps to stand apart from the noise and give the viewer something worthy of engagement. Otherwise, you will continue to see the engagement and effectiveness of your social media strategy dwindle.