Most organizations place big chucks on their time towards increasing the extent of their social media presence. However, they often fail at taking into close consideration the engagement levels of those followers.
Truth be told, depending on your brand’s target audience, you might only need to be engaging with just a couple thousand users, sometimes even less!
Problem is that we’ve been told that the more followers we have, the better it will be for our business – WRONG. What’s truly important is to have quality and relevant followers.
When you engage with these type of followers on social media you can then turn them into customers. Social media is a powerful tool for any business. The time devoted to building relationships with your target audience can then lead to:
- Boosting sales numbers
- Increasing customer loyalty
- Growing the number of positive reviews
Posting content that’s worth engaging with
What exactly does that mean? Well first off, consider building content that creates a positive reaction from your audience. Engaging content can come in many forms:
- A poll to assess your followers’ thoughts on a specific topic
- An inspiring story that pertains to your industry
- A photo that is relatable to your follower base
As you continue to build engagement, consider steering clear from sensitive subjects that could potentially cause conflict amongst your audiences!
Responding to comments
Social media implies that you need to be social! Yes, creating posts is not enough, responding to your followers is key – whether comments are positive or negative. In fact, the best way to address a negative comment is by responding to it.
Show appreciation to your audience and suggest resolutions to problems that they might have encountered with your brand.
Ask them to comment, like, or share!
It might sound counterintuitive, but people are more likely to do something if you ask them to.
Always include a call to action at the end of your posts – this call to action doesn’t always have to be related to buying something. Simply by asking your followers to like or share your posts goes a long way to building both, engagement and loyalty.
Contests and giveaways
These are incredibly popular amongst followers nowadays.
Contests have the power to boost your website views, increase your followers, and overall engagement, if you do it right.
On a contest you can have your audiences visit a specific site, like or comment on a post, follow a specific brand or account, and have other people follow your account via this campaign – granted, you will have to gift something away, but the investment will be worth the while as the results from it can be outstanding.
Posting, posting, posting
Having one amazing post is not enough to keep audiences engaged. The social media landscape is highly competitive. Make sure you are constantly engaging with followers and posting content that is relevant, captivating, and positive.
Do you have any stories that you would like to share? What steps has your company taken to increase its social media presence? We’d love to hear from any positive or negative experiences you’ve had in the comments below!
Feeling like you want to propel your social media game to a new level? Check out our services HERE and send us a note!