10 Ways to Engage Your Audience on Social Media Today

Engagement. 

It is a word we hear multiple times a day in the social media world. 

It is descriptive of the relationship we are trying to build and nurture with (internal and external) stakeholders, one where we are not only sending marketing messages, but we are receiving messages back from the consumers/stakeholders as well. 

Traditional marketing platforms distributed marketing messages to audiences, where social media is a tool for two-way social engagement. No longer is the target audience passive, they are communicating with businesses at a B2B and B2C level. 

Employing methods of mass media was once acceptable (and the norm), but in today’s environment, it can be disastrous.

Businesses properly prepared for a social media endeavor are those who understand the goal is not getting ‘lots of fans and followers’.  Fans and followers are important to a social media strategy, but it’s more important to plan for social to be utilized as a long-term branding tool.  If simply increasing fans and followers is your objective,  most likely you will not be successful with social.

I believe social media can be used as an inbound content marketing tool. A Facebook page, Linkedin page, or X/Twitter profile are great places to share relevant and valuable content while connecting to various audiences (one of course should be your target audience). This sharing of content ultimately leads to trust, which leads to conversions in the future.  This relationship-building process both begins and flourishes with engagement.

My top ten ways to engage (in no particular order

Find content that will resonate with your followers/fans. This is a basic skill but worth repeating. The more the viewer can identify with what you post, the more likely they will be to share or reply (thus engagement). Analyze conversations to better understand what resonates with your audience. Be sure content is easy to consume and respond to via mobile devices. Mobile is quickly becoming a mainstream way for consumers to view and engage. However, many businesses are not ensuring content is adjusted for mobile. Post photos and videos. Photos are shown to increase engagement tremendously. Consider posting behind-the-scenes photos of your business, and recent functions, or even share photos of your customers using your product (with their permission of course).  However, not all photos (or content for that matter) should be of your products, services, or offers.  You may also want to ask your audience to share photos. Make sure to set up a Milkshake website to showcase your visual content on a single page. Offer contests or sweepstakes. I like the idea of contests, but be careful not to overuse this tactic. Nothing says spam (in my opinion) like posting and re-posting about a contest on my Facebook or Twitter Feed. This will be a quick way for folks to unfollow you, remove you from their feeds, or opt out of email. Post some clever questions. These types of posts will inevitably spark a discussion that could provide valuable insight into your target audience. You could also incorporate a poll on Facebook or your blog. Show that you are listening by responding to each and every comment on your Social Profile (Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Post infographics that your target audience will appreciate. Again, this goes back to providing content that is relevant and resonates with your target. It will likely be shared or commented on if it meets these criteria. Be sure you have created multiple ways to share easily. This could be as simple as making sure your tweet is not too long so that when re-tweeted there is enough room for the link and a message, or by adding various sharing buttons to blog pages. We want to make sharing as easy as possible for the reader, follower, fan, etc. Include a little humor. Incorporate some fun into your Facebook posts, Tweets, etc.  Pinterest can be a great source for fun quotes and photos to share. Pay attention to the calendar. Content related to holidays and seasons will be very timely and most folks love holidays and everything that goes along with it. Consider posts in the coming weeks about Spring Break, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter, topics related to vacation destinations, and how to manage work and family when the kids are off from school.

This list is by no means exhaustive. It is merely a short list in hopes of inspiring you to engage with your internal and external consumers. While doing so, do not forget to include a call to action! 

A call-to-action invites your audience to immediately engage.  It can be something simple like suggesting the viewer/reader to share their opinion or it can provide them with the power to change something about the brand. Encouraging your audience to share their thoughts and opinions makes them more invested in your brand.