Why no one is engaging with your content (and 6 ways to fix it)

So, you spent hours crafting a post.

The copy is sharp, the visuals are pristine, and you even threw in an emoji or two for personality. You hit publish, sit back, and wait for the likes, comments, and shares to roll in. Crickets. You refresh. You check your Wi-Fi. You consider calling your mom and asking if she saw it (she didn’t).

If this sounds painfully familiar, you’re not alone. It's harder to get engagement than it is to get your Gen Z colleague to respond to your email. But before you assume the algorithm just freaking hates you, let’s talk about why no one is engaging with your content—and, more importantly, how to fix it. (Don’t worry, I’m going to hold your hand while I say this.)

1. Your content is about you, not them.

Listen, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but no one cares about your brand as much as you do. If your content is a never-ending highlight reel of your latest product launch, company milestones, or generic "we’re so excited to announce" posts, people will scroll past faster than you can say "disruptive innovation."

How to fix it: Instead of talking at your audience, talk to them. Create content that solves their problems, entertains them, or makes them feel something. If your post doesn’t answer the question "why should they care?"—rewrite it.

2. It’s giving beige.

Safe content is boring content. If your posts feel like they were generated by a risk-averse committee of middle managers, they’re probably not sparking engagement. People don’t interact with things that feel sanitised and soulless.

How to fix it: Have an actual take. Be bold. Inject humour, personality, and perspective into your content. Nobody shares things that are "fine"—they share things that make them feel something.

3. You’re not hooking people fast enough.

Attention spans are shorter than ever (thank you, TikTok). If your opening line doesn’t grab people, they’re gone.

How to fix it: Open with a compelling question, a hot take, or something unexpected. If your first sentence sounds like a LinkedIn post from 2017 ("In today’s fast-paced digital world…"), delete it immediately.

4. You’re posting and ghosting.

You can’t just throw content into the void and expect engagement to magically appear. Social media is, well, social. If you’re not engaging with your audience, why would they engage with you?

How to fix it: Respond to comments, ask follow-up questions, and engage with other people’s content, too. The algorithm loves a two-way conversation.

5. You’re not encouraging interaction.

A post with no call to action is like a party with no music—awkward and uninviting. You gotta bait them, baby. If you’re not giving people a reason to engage, they simply won’t.

How to fix it: Ask questions. Create polls. Encourage comments. Make it stupidly easy for people to interact with your content.

6. Your content strategy = throwing spaghetti at the wall.

If your content approach is "posting and hoping," you’re playing yourself. Engagement comes from knowing your audience and what they actually want.

How to fix it: Look at your analytics. What’s performing well? What’s flopping? Adjust accordingly. Social media is one big experiment—pay attention to the results.

If no one is engaging with your content, it’s not a personal attack—it’s a fixable problem.

The good news? With a few tweaks, you can turn things around. The bad news? You have to be willing to get uncomfortable, take risks, and actually care about what your audience wants. But hey, if all else fails, at least your mom will always like your posts. Probably. Now go forth and create something worth engaging with.

-Sophie, Writer