By Scott Joseph
Engaging your audience on social media boosts brand awareness, increases loyalty, and encourages word-of-mouth marketing. It fuels business by building a community of informed fans of your brand.
Distinct from traditional marketing, which is a one-way communication, social media marketing offers a two-way conversation. Engaging your audience online provides direct feedback that can deepen your understanding of your audience, improve your reputation, and drive sales.
How Do You Measure Social Media Engagement?
Activity and engagement are the results you want when you post. It’s hard to develop meaningful relationships with new and potential future customers when they don’t see or respond to your posts. How do you know if you are successfully engaging your target audience?
You can measure and track social media engagement by a range of metrics, including the following:
- Comments
- Likes
- Shares
- Followers and audience growth
- Click-through-rates
- Use of branded hashtags
Your engagement is increasing every time someone interacts with your account.
Here are 14 ways you can attract new customers and build a loyal community online.
1. Stay True to Your Expertise
Most posts should be relevant to your business. If a customer follows your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter account, it is because they are interested in what you offer.
At the same time, only a small percentage of posts should be direct promotions or offers. Too much advertising appears self-serving and falls short of social media’s potential. The majority of posts should offer valuable or interesting information to engage or attract viewers.
You want them to feel included, educated, and entertained, but businesses who stray far from their areas of expertise confuse customers and diffuse their authority.
2. Be Responsive
One of the outstanding features of social media is interaction. Your customer service team can speak directly with satisfied, dissatisfied, and potential customers. In a non-stop world, people appreciate easy access to a business and a prompt, informative response.
A quick response shows people you are paying attention to them. Comments, questions, and complaints are all opportunities to increase engagement and build on the relationship. It also serves as social proof as others browse your account and review past conversations.
Complaints can be transformed into a positive marketing opportunity if they are addressed quickly, professionally, and positively. It becomes proof of your quality customer service.
If you ignore customer comments on your profile, you may lose them.
3. Make Content Easy to Repost and Share
What makes some content go viral while other posts languish? According to research amassed by GetResponse, there are seven primary characteristics of shareable content. People share content that is:
- Entertaining
- Ego-Stroking/Socially Validating
- Visually Appealing
- Relevant to a User’s Interest
- Practical (Tips, Tools, How-Tos)
- Valuable (Discount, Access, Contest)
- Affirming of Users’ Causes and Beliefs
4. Ask Questions
Start a conversation by asking questions. Avoid questions with an easy ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer. You want to speak to your customers’ daily experience and ask relevant questions that evoke a response.
For example:
- What is your favorite way to use (product)?
- What is your best story with (product)?
- What would you like to know about (subject)?
- What do you wish you’d known about (product, service)?
People love to share opinions and experiences, and the interaction creates more of a sense of community.
5. Pay Attention to the Headline
The headline is like the front of your shop. If it’s drab or nondescript, people pass it by without looking. The headline is your ad for your post. It should build a clear and accurate expectation of what the buyer will find when they read further.
Here are a few tips for creating a magnetic headline:
- Promote self interest
- Include recent news or developments
- Arouse curiosity
- Make a superior offer
- Explain How-to
- Suggest a quicker and easier way for the consumer to get something they want
- Use Evocative Adjectives
- Include a Number
- Be Specific
- Build Urgency
- Use “You”
6. Post Photos and Videos
Posts with photos are typically more appealing than text alone. Well-chosen images instantly reinforce your message and communicate the style of your brand.
Cisco projects that 82 percent of consumer online traffic worldwide will be directed from videos by 2021. An outstanding marketing video grabs the viewer’s attention and delivers the message in two minutes or less.
Read more https://www.jandlmarketing.com/blog/14-ways-to-engage-customers-with-social-media/
