Want more social media engagement? New Case Western Reserve research suggests changing the message, not your personality

Want more engagement on social media? Stop repeating yourself. Just don’t change who you are in the process. 

That’s according to new Case Western Reserve University research suggesting that public figures can increase engagement by varying their topics and wording while “maintaining a consistent psychological voice.”

The study, published in the Journal of Marketing, analyzed more than 17,000 tweets from 13 candidates during the 2020 Democratic presidential primary and general election.

Christian Hughes, assistant professor of marketing at Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management, and Jillian Hmurovic of Penn State University, examined three dimensions of consistency: the topics people discuss, the psychological qualities expressed in their language and the meaning conveyed by their words.

The results were striking: People who varied the topics they discussed more than usual received nearly 70% more engagement, measured by retweets. Using more varied language to express their ideas was associated with one-third more retweets.

But there’s a catch: Reducing psychological consistency decreased engagement by 20%. Hughes interprets those findings as the idea that people may respond to fresh topics and different ways of expressing ideas, but they still want a recognizable voice that is a more genuine reflection of the person. That can include consistent patterns in positivity, expressions of power and whether someone focuses on the past, present or future.

“The advice is that you need to be consistent,” Hughes said. “We found that it’s a little more nuanced. It’s being intentional when you’re being inconsistent.” Consistency did not just impact online engagement; they found changes in donation behavior as well.

The research also found that the most effective approach can depend on the competitive environment and whether a campaign is in a primary or general election. During general elections, moderate semantic consistency was most effective.

While the research focused on political leaders and their social media posts, Hughes said the themes of the research are applicable to other leaders and brands. 

She said the findings offer a lesson for marketers, executives, influencers and other people building a public profile: A recognizable personal brand doesn’t require talking about the same subjects in the same way. In fact, varying topics may help appeal to a wider audience, though the researchers did not establish why engagement increased.

Hughes said the findings are especially relevant as artificial intelligence becomes more common in communications.

“AI is being used so much—and the risk is that everything starts to sound the same,” she said. “You have to try to craft the type of message that’s right for your audience.”