It’s been talked about and demonstrated repeatedly how social media is a powerful marketing tool for your business. In our last blog we concluded that social media is a cost-effective tool to promote your business and engage with your customers and prospects.
But, what is social media engagement? That word ‘engage’ can seem a little fluffy and subjective, when in fact it’s quite technical and analytical!
So, what exactly is it? It is the likes, comments and pubic shares on a business’ social media content. It is measured and hence analysed for marketing purposes.
The most typically used social media platforms and their sorts of engagements are:
- Facebook: likes, comments, shares and followers
- Instagram: likes, comments, stories, and followers
- LinkedIn: likes, comments, shares, and connections
And why do we care if people ‘like’ your post or anyone’s for that matter?
Firstly, there are millions of people on social media which means that there will be a lot of noise and nonsense. So, if your follower, customer or prospect likes your content out of the millions of posts and ads they’re exposed to, it’s a good sign.
Strong customer relationship means outstanding customer service.
What value do social media platforms give your business?
- Connect with your community and establish a relationship with customers
- You are given the permission to start a conversation
- You can give the customers the attention they’re looking for instantly
- You’ve gained their trust
Over the years of being aggressively advertised to, we have developed a massive trust issue towards institutions. The only way to tackle this is to come back to being human. Your social media content will show your brand’s personable and genuine side.
Business owners must note that social media platforms are where customers are choosing to review and leave feedback. A savvy business would reply instantly and in return validate that customer’s worries – solving their problems then and there.
- According to Convince&Convert, “42% of consumers complaining on social media expect a 60 minute response time”
Let that sink in…
When you do respond in 60 minutes, the consumer will be impressed. If you provide a valuable solution on top of that, you will have exceeded their expectation and gained back their trust and loyalty. Better yet, this demonstration of care will be out there for your other consumers (and competitors) to see.
Let’s get engaged.
Getting and improving engagement is quite straight forward – use your content. The two things you should keep in mind is:
- Keep it relevant. You must answer their question, “what’s in it for me?”
- Be seen, and be there when they need you.
If the viewer can feel that an actual person is crafting useful content and sharing it to help, they’ll quickly follow you and engage by liking and commenting.
How?
Give them something to talk with you about.
Share a blog, share some news, share a photo – as long as it’s relevant to your business and the viewer. Adding a question to address them directly is effective too.
Keep up to date and stay in the loop.
What’s happening in the world or locally today/this week/this month? Sharing relevant news/articles is a natural way to connect with the viewer. Be sure to check with your team (as a second opinion) that the content is not offensive or works against your brand – a huge reason why political issues are generally avoided.
Respond in time.
If there’s a review/comment/post left on your business page, respond! Respond with useful or helpful information, and do it swiftly (remember, 60 minutes!!). This will demonstrate that you care and you want to offer a solution.
And business owners, let’s say you received a bad review (full of exaggeration, false allegations, you know what we’re talking about) … Please don’t fight back. This is simply damaging. We would recommend keeping it professional and stay composed.
What are you left with? What’s the goal?
Put it simply, you want to leave a trail of positive responses. Your posts and the viewers’ engagement is evidence of how good you are and why you should be trusted. This puts you above your competitors.
As a marketing agency, our job is to create engaging content. We understand that it’s time consuming. For small businesses, it’s common that the owner managers it all! If this is you, our simple recommendation will be:
- Keep your page active
- Respond to comments and reviews with a simple ‘thank you’
- Like back any photos about your business
All of this only takes a few minutes at a time, but it’s totally worth it!
If you’re looking to reform your social media leave an enquiry or book a complimentary 20 min consultation. The digital world is always changing and changing fast, so leave it to us to tame the beast!
