Getting people to pay attention to you online often feels like an uphill struggle. No matter how hard you try, you never seem to gain any traction. Appealing on social media seems almost impossible.
But, it turns out that there is a formula that you need to follow. In fact, following this is much more likely to lead to success than any other method currently out there. Here’s a rundown of what you need to do to boost your engagement.
Start With Analysis
The first part of the process is to measure roughly where you are right now. You need to know where you’re starting from to get a good picture of where you need to go.
Most companies have rock bottom engagement. Nobody is paying attention to them at all on social media.
However, there are some who are having a degree of success, but could do a lot better.
Once you know where you stand, you know what stage you are at and how you need to improve. If you already have an audience, you can analyze what’s working, and what’s not. If you are still building awareness, you’ll want to focus on which methods help you attract clicks, likes and shares the most.
Pick A Strategy
The next step is to pick a strategy for how you are going to obtain greater social media engagement. In this regard, there is no one-size-fits all approach that you should take. Instead, it very much depends on the needs, goals and aspirations of your firm.
Take McDonald’s and Ralph Lauren. Both of these brands are ultra-successful at engaging their audiences online, but the approaches they take are radically different.
McDonald’s, for instance, is trying to appeal to mostly young, busy workers who want to grab a bite to eat, while Ralph Lauren is appealing to wealthier, more sophisticated clientele who care about fashion labels.
Get To Know Your Audience
At the same time, you’ll need to get to know your audience. You want to understand them well enough that you know what tone of voice to use when addressing them, and the topics that interest them.
Getting to know an audience, though, can be challenging. You have to really step inside their psyche and figure out what it is that they want.
Consider things like your brand voice, the type of content you’ll create, and when you’ll publish. Do you need to adopt a fun-loving tone? Or would your audience appreciate you speaking to them in a more serious way? Is it better for you to publish in the morning because that’s when your audience checks their phones or in the evening? Should you target Facebook, Twitter or both? All these questions depend on formulating an accurate description of your audience and their needs.
Create Valuable Content
Once you know who your audience is and why you’re targeting them, the next step is to figure out what to say to them. The better you can address them and deal with their pain points, the more likely you are to engage them.
When you create content, think more in terms of conversation, not broadcast. You’re not trying to trumpet something to the masses. Instead, you’re engaging in a conversation that meets their needs. None of your conversations with them should be about you explicitly. Rather, you should be looking to address an issue that they actively face.
You can get advice from a digital marketing agency on how to write good content. And, in some cases, you can get them to create it for you. If you do decide to use their services, you’ll notice that they always focus on adding value. Usually, they won’t recommend creating content around your business accolades, unless there’s a good reason for them to do so.
Make Your Contributions Topical
If you’re not sure what to write about on any given day, then just take a look at what’s in the news and relevant to your firm. Commenting on current events and trends can be interesting to segments of your audience, particularly if they like to stay up to date with current affairs.
Try Being Proactive
For companies, conversations are an art, just as they are between regular people. They ebb and flow, and some people are better conversationalists than others.
As a brand, you have a choice. You can either choose to be a reactive participant in the conversation, or a proactive one.
A reactive participant is a company that simply responds to conversation topics already out there. In many cases, this strategy is perfectly viable and reasonable. However, in some situations, you’ll want to be the proactive party – the business starting the conversation.
When you’re proactive, you decide which direction things go in. This way, you can present your brand in a more favorable light. You can also get customers and social media users focusing on you, not other companies.
Be More Human
Many businesses believe that they have to present a strict corporate face at all times. They have to adopt a professional tone and the only images that their audience should ever see come straight out of their brand guidelines.
But that’s not actually true. Many customers actually prefer it when businesses show their human side. It makes them more relatable, and it shows that there are real people, just like them, behind it.
How can you be more human? It’s pretty straightforward. Try adding a little humor or warmth to your posts. Show pictures of yourself and your team as they normally look in your office. Try taking people behind the scenes at your operation, showing them exactly what you do.
Make Your Responses Speedy
At the same time, respond quickly to what people say. Don’t wait a couple of days before answering a comment. As soon as you get the notification, take action.
If you don’t have time to do this, hire someone to respond to comments and likes for you. Make sure that whoever you choose is someone who can make informative, thoughtful responses.