Building Consistent Social Media Engagement

Small business owners including brick and mortar businesses are quickly realizing that it is essential to have an online presence. Besides having a website that has the user in mind, it should create an experience that leaves them in awe and interested in reading more about how they can relate to your business. Online platforms are a branch off of your website. It is one of many places your visitors will turn to when making that final decision to purchase your products or services. Online platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter give you the ability to expand on topics such as Who do you work with? What pain points can you solve? Where can you find us? Why do you need our services or products? When can we meet? and How can you simplify my needs? Word to the wise, there’s a time and a place for your sales pitches. Many people get turned off by pushy sales content. Keep three things in mind:

1. Social media platforms give you, a small business owner, the ability to connect with individuals who live near your location or across the globe through targeting and hashtags.
2. Social media is definitely not for the weak. Anyone can create a Facebook or Instagram profile, but the real question is how are you delivering your message to the right audience and are they engaging with the content you are publishing?
3. Social media requires your undivided attention, dedication, and willingness to pivot at any given point. If you have been following our blogs, you’ve heard the phrase “Consistency is KING!” many times and that goes for engagement on social media as well. If you are not posting consistent content and engaging with your target audience multiple times day, you will not benefit from the success at the same level as your competitors.

The bottom line is that your content and engagement needs to bring a solid message that represents your brand appropriately.

Four E’s of Social Media Engagement

Getting creative when crafting content for social media is key to keeping your engagement high amongst your followers. There is more to publishing content and liking a few posts. Below we have listed four intriguing ways to attract new followers and to try to keep the current ones around. Following these key points will guarantee that you will see an increase in your social media engagement. These 4 E’s are dedicated to building customer relations through online social media platforms.

Engage with your followers and like-minded industry experts

The content on social media platforms is constantly updating and getting pushed further and further down the timeline. Your content needs to be targeting the people who are interested in what you are putting all of your time and energy into creating. In a few of our previous blog posts, we go into great detail about understanding who your target audience is. Understanding who you are creating content for will help you focus your talking points on their wants and needs.

Being on social media isn’t only about how often you are posting content, social media engagement means to engage with others. Start following like-minded industry experts who influence you and your brand. Engage with their posts to show your interest and learn from what they are posting. Your followers want to hear from you too! Engaging with comments and likes on posts that are relevant to business, is a sure-fire way to show that you are paying attention to them.

When you engage with your audience, you are building your brand loyalty. Keep your brand’s voice consistent while creating content that will catch their attention and make it easy for them to remember you by. It is pertinent that you engage multiple times a day. Don’t leave your followers hanging in limbo by waiting 24 hours before you respond. If they have a question or concern, be sure to be the first to respond before your competition jumps at the opportunity to do so. This includes commenting on your follower’s posts and like-minded industry experts. Engaging helps to show your credibility in your field. You may even learn a thing or two from them as well. Remember that every comment matters, so when responding be sure it’s something positive even if it’s just a “Thanks for stopping by!” Engaging is the backbone of social media.

Educate your community on your brand and services/products

Social Media sites are not meant to be used as your advertising platform. As you are building your brand loyalty through your engagement efforts, you are also educating your followers about what your business provides. Start with crafting valuable content that helps your audience understand what your business offers and how you can solve their pain points. Listen to what they are asking and guide them in such a way that they realize they need your services.

Your content should hit different points while staying in line with your themed. Your community wants to hear that you are an expert in your industry. Let them know what type of people will benefit the most from your services or products. Ask questions in your posts about their pain points in business and how your services can help them. Tell them why their business stands out from your competition and why they will benefit from working together.

When commenting on their posts, engage in such a way that your response can reassure they are on the right track or suggest a better avenue to seek. Do not turn your comments into a sales pitch. As a business owner or entrepreneur, you are looked upon as being a leader. And as leaders, you are expected to educate others. Focus on building a relationship rather than trying to make a sale.

Excite others by storytelling, hosting giveaways, and contents

Building a sense of excitement is everything! After engaging and educating your followers you need to keep the excitement going. You need to find different ways to peak their interest to have them come back for more. There are so many ways you can build excitement within your community. Whether that’s an infographic, meme, contests, hosting a giveaway, or storytelling. Storytelling is a great way to bring your followers closer to you. Infographics are visually pleasing and fun to read. Of course, you will see engagement spike with an enticing free offer, contest, or give away!

Enlist others through partnerships and collaborations

Brands are eagerly searching for the best alternative advertising channels to effectively reach their audiences. More brands and organizations are partnering with top digital influencers to drive more awareness and engagement.

Collaboration is the connection you form with others. Small business owners can benefit greatly from collaborating with other like-minded industry leaders. Businesses can learn a lot from each other with the hopes of bettering their current systems or processes. Collaboration opens doors to a whole new network of people. Most of all collaboration is great for getting educated yourself.

With Social Media Engagement, You Can’t Lose!

Through engaging, educating, exciting, and enticing your followers, they will turn to you and will remember how you treated their interaction. This will lead to word of mouth advertising which will bring in an influx of new clients just by having a simple conversation with someone. Imagine that!