Social media reactions have become a staple across all platforms, as a new way to engage with content from brands and friends.

These reactions give better context to how you feel about the content and a deeper understanding of what works and what doesn’t work. Gone are the days you could only just like a photo; you can now clap, cheer, care or even be angry about a picture of a cat you saw.

More recently, we have seen reactions used for more practical and engaging means. There has been a flurry of recent posts asking users to react in a specific way, to ‘vote’ for what they agree with most, removing the barrier of creating a poll. I have seen these posts garner a wealth of engagement on LinkedIn, having them popping up in my feed because one of my connections clapped in agreement to the question of ‘How would you like to see your work-week in the future?’, their answer being 50% in the office and 50% at home.

These types of posts are easy, quick and straightforward to create and can reach people who may not usually interact with a post – but react to get their view across. This type of content is what we like to see on social media, content that engages, provokes and stimulates us into interacting with it.

Sometimes the simple answer is simplicity. You can spend all of your time crafting the perfect post with stunning visuals, excellent copywriting and a great CTA to have no engagement at all… While on the other hand, you can ask users to react to what they agree with most, with a simple graphic and see heaps of engagement. It’s a balancing act of creating engaging content that screams for attention, looks effortless and delivers a message.

I didn’t say it was easy… Done right, it can yield outstanding results.

This type of user engagements brings us back to the fact that users are now active participants in their social consumption rather than passive spectators. This trend is creating a more engaging and enriching experience for users, where they feel as though they are genuinely reacting.