Social Media Engagement Is Where the Magic Happens for Your Business
Social media can pay off for your business, but simply being present there isn’t enough. Here’s how to engage to get more from your efforts.
Social media has become a must for most businesses. Why are more brands than ever interested in engaging on social media? Because more than half of the world’s total population now uses social media. 3.96 billion people use social media today, accounting for roughly 51% of the global population.
This means that more people now use social media than do not, and that number is growing.
There are almost 12 new users signing up for social media accounts every second.
Perhaps because more people are working from home, we’re seeing more interaction on social media. Clients want to do even more on social, because they see a connection between increasing visibility, engagement, and sales.
To be successful, it’s not just about posting. It’s also about actually engaging — you know, being social. That’s a GOOD thing, because when you engage with your followers on social media, that’s where the magic happens. That said, you can’t always measure the value of social media, and brands need to get comfortable with that.
A lot of the value comes from lurkers. Some studies say up to 90% of your audience may be lurkers.
One of my clients measures the value of its social media program based primarily on the fact that the executives at its parent company have noticed its efforts there — without “liking” or “sharing” a thing — and that makes it stand out from the other companies it owns (who aren’t active on social media). It’s a differentiator for my client.
If you’d like to be more active on social media, what can you or your brand do to be more engaging?
Post consistently
It’s not enough to just have an account. You should post regularly. It’s disappointing to look up a company on social media only to find it hasn’t posted in a year. If you need help with consistent posts, consider making use of our services. We have a dedicated team who can look after your account.
And remember that you don’t need to be active on every social media platform. That’s just setting yourself up to be overwhelmed. Choose the ones where your audience spends most of its time and focus on those.
Interact with others on social media
Be sure to follow other colleagues and industry leaders on social media and respond to their posts. If they comment on yours, be sure to acknowledge that. Remember, if someone tags you for your services on a post – the proper thing to do is A – acknowledge that and B – comment with your details for a prospective client to get in touch. Our packages do include this service for whenever we see someone asking for an industry related reference, but if you as the person (behind the brand) also comment, it sends out a whole new message. Try it sometime!
Curate content
It’s better to curate some of the content you post from other sources. If you only post content created by your organization, your followers are bound to get tired of you constantly talking about only yourself. Instead, spend a little time each day or week checking trusted sources of information like blogs, trade publications and news outlets for stories that might be relevant to your audience. Add your brief take on each, and voila, you have some great content to add to your feed. Some of our packages include posting industry related content to your page – taking the burden off you.
Be part of the process
Tons of information can be posted every day, with good results, but adding your personal touch to it, will make a world of difference!