There are several different elements that comprise a solid
social media marketing strategy. Content creation, scheduling, peak posting
times, platforms…. Engagement is just one piece of the puzzle. However,
engagement is such an essential aspect that is frequently overlooked or
avoided. It doesn’t matter what sort of quality content is posted if no one is
engaging with your page. It’s extremely difficult for business page engagement
to happen spontaneously or organically without activity from an admin. People
want to engage with a person, not a static page full of posts – even if they
are phenomenal posts.
As if all of that isn’t complicated enough, your company
should really have an engagement strategy developed. Going in and commenting, liking
and sharing other posts is important but, as with any marketing strategy,
determining ahead of time what to engage with will increase your ROI and
results.
Engagement Strategy
WHAT you engage with is one of the keys to drawing your
ideal target audience to your page and motivating them to linger, follow and
interact with your posts.
- Does what your sharing strike a chord with your followers?
- Does what your sharing inspire new visitors to hit the follow button on your page?
- Your business might share common influencers with your readers – do your posts reflect that?
- Do your posts have questions or interactive elements that your readers will want to respond to (quizzes, contests, etc.)?
- Are you sharing content just to share it and remain consistent OR to stand out and be a different voice in your field?
- Are you simply selling to your potential audience instead of inspiring them and giving them the tools to be better?
Influencers
Don’t fall into the trap of being afraid to share quality
content from other companies. Influencer marketing is a buzzword right now
because it works. Make sure you are tagging, mentioning and sharing the work
from your top clients, power partners and favorite influencers. This will
expand your viewing pool to include the networks of those individuals.
Share As Your Page
While there is nothing wrong with promoting engagement using
your personal profile, your business page needs the attention more than you do.
The algorithms make it tough on business pages to get noticed and really
benefit from organic reach. Make the time to engage with other people,
companies and posts AS your business page.
Get Local
Most likely you operate your business, and network, locally
– not on a national level. That’s too big of a pond and there are too many
fish. Social media doesn’t always make it simple to discover and interact with
people directly within your community. Spend some time seeking out local groups
and finding ways to build a presence in those communities without coming off as
only having an interest as a solicitor. Follow the local news outlets and
organizations that already have a built-in audience of people nearby that might
benefit from your work.
Algorithms
The algorithms are mapped to look for specific things.
Engagement is a HUGE piece of this. Links to content not created by you are
eagerly sought out by these formulas, as well as authentic links back to your
work from other people. This is why guest posting is so popular. The more you
engage, prove that you are a real, legitimate business and build a following –
the better your organic reach will be. Your posts will have higher probability
of being displayed to your audience. It’s a win/win/win – for you, for your
readers and for the social platforms. Companies that try to “work the system”
for better reach without investing time in making it a genuine and authentic
experience for people may see some immediate results but will not generate the
longer-term perks that actual engagement creates.
Curation
A positive, and often overlooked, benefit to spending time
on engagement is that YOUR feed begins to fill up with exactly the type of
content you like to see and share. A well-curated newsfeed will save you from
hunting the gigantic World Wide Web for content that resonates with you. It
will be right there every time you open up your social network. Learn how to
unfollow individuals and companies that share content that is irrelevant to you
or that you don’t want to see. Exercise your right to hide sources and block
pages and people. Trust me, it will be worth it. There will no longer be a need
to “take a break” from your social media because you are tired of seeing
negative content AND you’ll have a better pool of posts to share from right at
your fingertips.
Does your company have a social engagement strategy in
place? How often do you go onto your social networks and participate in this
practice? I’d encourage you to set aside a time, either daily or weekly
depending on your schedule, dedicated to nothing but engagement.
Want to know more? The Social Media Advisor can show you how
to #BeAwesome with your social media engagement and really become a powerhouse
when it comes to your company’s social media experience.
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.
Click here for her Social Media Workshops, Classes and Seminars
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