In a recent analysis of marketers around the world, 64% said that audience engagement was crucial for their strategy. And 90% think social media is important to overall marketing.
They very well should. Social media marketing is important across all consumer industries.
Most industries use social media channels to promote and showcase products and services. But it isn’t quite as straightforward as placing ads on Facebook.
Audience engagement is an often-overlooked element of social media presence. The bulk of users on social media aren’t there to consume advertising. They want to be part of a community and engage socially.
Great engagement starts before the first post is even written.
Social media users are valuable but fickle. It’s as easy to unfollow your brand’s account as it is to follow it. To keep them interested, provide a good mixture of proactive and reactive content on your accounts. Dynamism and freshness engage people.
On the surface, engagement is pretty simple – managing and tracking shares, likes, and responses. But as the world becomes more reliant on social media, engagement is becoming a necessity for businesses.
To maximise the power of social media, forget about spoon-feeding content to users. Think about how to engage with them and make them feel like they’re part of a community. Start with these six tips to stop teaching and start reaching followers.
One of the top reasons people use social media is for distraction and entertainment. If that’s true, then give people what they want.
This can be a challenging task for a lot of reasons. First, humour is subjective. Crafting witty content isn’t easy, especially when it’s meant to have mass appeal.
And humour can clash with a company’s brand persona.
Now, this can be an asset. After all, humour is about subverting expectations. If users see something they’d never expect from a particular account, it makes a big impact.
To prevent this strategy from backfiring, it’s important to keep it relevant to the brand. When a brand laughs at itself, it shows that there are real people behind the scenes. That’s what gets people to think and share as a community.
Attention is one of the most valuable currencies in today’s economy.
Many brands are competing for the same people’s attention. If you can make people feel like you’ll reward their attention, they’ll become loyal followers.
This can mean many things. For instance, giveaways and contests offer a tangible gain for your followers. People are generally more than happy to retweet or share for a chance at winning a prize. Even something as simple as a discount code can be enough incentive.
Providing validation for active users is also important. Replying to user questions shows that you’re interested in what they’re saying. So does responding to mentions of the brand. All this makes people feel like they’re individually appreciated.
In short, if an account provides value to users, it’s easier to create engagement.
By most metrics, posts with images or video content get more engagement than those without.
Some users won’t even give plain text posts a second look. They’re all potential customers you’re not reaching if you don’t have images.
Bear this in mind when making a decision about what belongs on your brand’s account.
There are countless ways to add a visual element to posts. Infographics can underscore data sets and statistics. Memes can inject humour. GIFs are great at catching the eye.
The lifeblood of a social media account is posting. When the posting frequency slows, the account starts to fade away.
No one follows inactive accounts. So it’s imperative to have a consistent posting schedule that coincides with the right activity windows.
You can find a lot of information about the ideal posting times for various channels and demographics. Use that information to your advantage.
There’s a point where posts begin to create diminishing returns. But that point is much higher than you likely think. For some campaigns and audiences, even three posts a day or more is justifiable.
Most people have some reaction or opinion when it comes to trending events.
Even when we meet strangers, we try to find common ground based on current events. Using this in your social media campaigns can be tricky. But the payoff is worth it.
As a rule of thumb, avoid controversy. Placing your brand on one side or another of a heated dispute is risky. Steer clear of arguments most of the time.
Instead, be on the lookout for news and trends that are relevant to your brand.
People are already thinking about big issues and events. That makes them easy avenues for engagement.
One of the best ways to engage with people is to … well, engage with them. Asking for reviews or feedback on social media often gets a great response.
Tread lightly, though. Don’t pester your followers. Instead, gently remind people that you value their input. This will only work if they feel like their feedback makes a difference. Make sure you’ve developed trust with your followers.
You could also engage people through surveys or polls. Followers are usually more than happy to chime in with their opinions. And, of course, calls to action are a great way to show people what to do next.
These six tips are only the starting point. Always remember that the goal is to provide value to customers in one way or another.
If you break your users down demographically you’ll find more ways to engage with them. Emojis work in some situations but not in others. Live feeds are great for certain audiences.
A whole world of social media engagement strategies waits for you out there. And we can help you every step of the way.
Take the next step by registering for a Free Tailored Ad Strategy Session To 3X Your Growth In 90 Days (Valued at $500) today.
by - Blake Micola
Managing Director - Growth Marketing Systems
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