How is your business using social media? Is it in a way that benefits your customers (while meeting your marketing goals)? Do your posts encourage customer engagement? Or are you simply broadcasting your sales pitch over and over?
If you spend personal time on social media, think of what makes you follow brands and engage with posts: Deals or coupons? Interesting takes on current events? Educational or how-to posts? Humor or inspiration?
As you plan your business’ social media strategy, consider how your audience will benefit from your posts.
The most successful marketer becomes part of the lives of their followers. They follow back. They wish happy birthday. They handle problems their customers have with products or service. They grow their businesses and brands by involving themselves in their own communities. – Marsha Collier, speaker and business author
Here are a few actionable tips for a better engagement rate with your audience:
1. Post content that helps your audience
Think of the questions they might have about your products or services, and create content that answers those questions.
For more on content strategy, check out these six tips.
Or just ask your followers how you can help them!
If you’re not sure what questions they have, then ask them. Post questions on topics that relate to your business, industry or the lifestyle of your followers. Ask for their feedback/input on new products, ideas or services.
2. Set aside time each day to interact with your community
Make “engagement” one of the tasks you include in your social media activities.
Even if you only have 15 minutes a day to interact in real-time, it can make a big difference to your community.
3. Show the human side of your business
Post photos (of you, your employees, your office) on your social media sites; share some posts that are more “personal” (your favorite quotes or books, milestones in your business, local/community events, etc).
Use sites like Instagram or Snapchat to create some fun, casual posts for your business.
Your goal when engaging with your community should be to build a long-term relationship, instead of just trying to sell your products or services.
4. Get creative in the way you engage with your social media community
Share content from your customers (with their permission of course).
Respond to messages with short videos.
Reply to comments with photos or GIFs.
Use chatbots to start conversations and save time.
5. Respond to questions and comments in a timely manner
Set up a system (and/or use tools) to monitor your sites so you can respond as quickly as possible. Take into account the platform you are using – i.e. Twitter followers generally expect a quicker response than Facebook Fans.
Turn on Notifications so you don’t miss comments or messages.
If you plan your social media with your customers’ needs in mind, you’ll have a much better shot at achieving better engagement rates and long-term success.
Need help creating a social media strategy for your business? Contact us (click here) for a free, 15-minute consultation to learn how we can customize a plan for you!
Top image courtesy of (and derived from) BlueOlive / Pixabay
About Terry League