Social Media has sent you a message: “You’re doing it wrong.” So how do you keep this message from appearing in your inbox?
With endless social media platforms, constant buzz about new apps or the next big thing, our time spent considering social media engagement needs to be efficient. Our posts are in jeopardy of being scrolled through, overlooked, viewed, not liked, read, not engaged, or worst of all, not seen by the right people.
Seventy-four percent of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchasing decisions (Sprout Social).
You can’t afford to be “doing it wrong.”
Set Goals and Measure Results
In order to be “doing it right,” you need goals. Attainable goals. If you start a Facebook page and decide you want one million likes in a week, unless you made a viral video featuring Zack Galifinakis and President Obama that week, it’s not going to happen.
Set measurable goals for yourself, and understand that it takes a lot to get a like, a follow, or a subscriber. So how do we make attainable goals? Testing your theories is the best way to figure out your goals. Set a schedule for your posts, post them at different times of the day and see which posts get the most engagement. Use free tools like Google Analytics to see which post brought more traffic to your site. After you identify what works, stick to the high-performing posts for a couple of weeks to see real results.
Understand Your Audience
Understand your target audience. Have you looked into how your target audience uses social platforms?
Many of us use social media in our personal lives as consumers of products, so we don’t consider the differences in using platforms in a business-to-business realm.
We may think that if something is amusing to us, it will be amusing to our potential clients.
Study up and see how other successful companies with similar target audiences interact with their followers. Social media engagement means different things on each channel. Each social media platform has a different tone, target audience and usage pattern. For example, Instagram has different uses than LinkedIn. Understanding how a given platform is used and who uses it is key to your success. Although there are gray areas, one may not work for what you are trying to do. Remember the goals you created.
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Create Content People Want to Interact With
Actual engagement is NOT a buzzword. The most common mistake marketers make is posting things on social sites and never looking back. Creating content that people want to interact with is crucial.
You’ve heard of it by now: content marketing is the best way to engage your audience. You are offering your followers information they need. When there is an incentive for people to follow you, they will be more attentive to your social presence. While the content is king, you must share your content in the most engaging way possible. Studies find that tweets including photos and links receive 150 percent more engagement(Buffer). So be sure your content is paired with the right visuals!
Having a presence on all platforms is easy; using each one efficiently is, too, when you set goals, understand your target audience and provide engaging content.
How do you think you’re doing with your social media engagement?
