All the work put into your social media marketing strategy
this month will be in vain if you forget to incorporate the last essential
element of the plan. Many small businesses and entrepreneurs end up failing to
get any ROI on their social media because they are missing the most vital aspect
of their strategy – social engagement.
Sure, investing in boosting and creating ads will help get
more followers or viewers, but once you have their attention – how are you
planning to keep it? The creation or curation of consistent content is
appealing, and even necessary, but it’s not the answer either.
The whole purpose of social media is
to be… social.
Followers are not ignorant. They can spot a sales page from
miles away. If you are scheduling content and not checking your social
platforms for engagement, it will be readily apparent to anyone paying
attention.
Twitter is all about the conversation and no one wants to
have a conversation with themselves. If you do not have a plan in place to
monitor and respond to messages and comments, you are missing valuable
opportunities to develop a connection and build a business relationship with
your audience.
Sharing posts on Facebook means little if there is no one
around to see it. In fact, if you aren’t actively engaging on the pages of your
partners and clients – they won’t even see the Facebook posts you are working
so hard to create and schedule. They will simply be a wasted effort.
To grow a following on Instagram, you need to be actively in
there commenting on and liking the posts you are tagged in and following the
people who have taken the time to follow you.
LinkedIn is a networking site. What is the point of
connecting with hundreds of people if you have no plan in place to communicate
with them?
Now that you can see the need for engagement,
what should your social media engagement plan entail?
Monitoring
Be certain that on whatever platforms you are using that you
have notifications
set up, both on your computer and on your smartphone. That way you are sent
information when your audience is attempting to engage you.
Don’t assume that people will tag you. Google Alerts are
handy for rooting out your brand mentions and notifying you. Set up alerts for
your company name, your personal name, and the names of your major branded
products.
Response Speed
Not only does the public pay attention to how quickly you
respond, the platforms will often track and display your response rate and
time. 75%
of social media users are expecting companies to respond in an hour or
less. This could mean the need to be constantly connected unless a plan is
developed.
Not a Solo Effort
Keeping up with everything happening online can be daunting
task. You don’t have to do it alone. Get your team involved. Make social media
a group function. If you don’t have
team, it might be time to hire a social media
manager to assist you with engagement.
Many companies understand the importance of social media
marketing but neglect the essential nature of engagement. Having a plan in
place for this is just another element of developing your social media
marketing strategy. Need help or advice? That’s what we specialize in here at The Social Media Advisor. Let
us help you #BeAwesome with your engagement!
~ Social Media is changing the way people do business.
Don't get left behind ~
Be sure to Follow us and Let's Engage!
Hollie Clere of The
Social Media Advisor is a “#BeAwesome” Developer, Social Media Brand
Builder, Content Manager, Trainer and Author in LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Google+,YouTube, Pinterest, Instagram and the tools to manage them.
No comments:
Post a Comment