When
you have customer engagement, you’ll grow your business with social
proof, but more than that, you’ll be able to design your business
in a way so that it caters to the needs of your audience.
It
used to be that you could engage your audience by sending out an
email, but that’s all changed. Customers aren’t interested in a
one sided relationship anymore.
You
can’t just have
an online presence. You have to be interactive. You need to engage -
and if you think this something that only small businesses do, you’d
be mistaken.
Where
to Engage Your Audience;
You’ll
have plenty of opportunities to engage with your audience online.
Depending on the social media platform that you’re using, how that
engagement takes place might differ.
If
you’re using Facebook, then you need to have a variety of posts.
One mistake that entrepreneurs make is to post the same kind of stuff
day in and day out. You need to shake things up a bit so they don’t
grow stale.
People
don’t want to see the same things all the time in the same format.
By switching it up, you can see what kind of posts your audience
reacts to the most. Use posts of videos, photos, links, pose
questions and more to draw your audience in.
You
can create quizzes, share articles and other content that’s
related. You can also do things like asking the audience to caption a
photo or have a throwback post.
That’s
where you post a picture from years past - like funny 80s clothing or
old technology to stir up the conversation. Make sure that you post
consistently and that you when you do, you’re available to interact
with the audience.
There’s
nothing worse than a drive-by poster. Use a Pinterest account to
interact with your audience. You can do things like holding a contest
where everyone has to share a photo of something.
You
can offer prizes and other perks to increase interest. Use the site
to offer consumers deals where, by sharing what you pin, they can
have access to some type of discount.
Have
more than one board because this lets you have more content and the
ability to share more topics, which offers a wider range of appeal to
your audience.
Re-pin
what your audience posts. This causes consumers to submit topics and
feel like they’re part of the inner circle. Twitter makes if pretty
easy to engage with an audience fast.
Make
your Twitter account personable. Don’t use a fake profile or
avatar. Talk about things that you’re passionate about and share
pictures. Talk back to others.
Respond,
thank people, and share their news to give back. Your audience will
feel connected to you. When sharing content that’s not yours, don’t
just pass it along, say something even it’s just “love this”
and don’t use all the 140 characters.
This
allows people ease of use for when they pass it on. Get involved in
chats that your audience is part of. Keep your sentences short. It’s
okay and even eye-catching to not have the sentences on the same
line.
Use hashtags (#) and @mentions to engage your audience.
If
you use Instagram, keep your attention on the personality behind your
business rather than the selling. Make sure that you take advantage
of re-gramming a post.
That’s
where you will repost something your audience shared. Make sure you
acknowledge where the original post came from. Don’t ever share
things just to share them – make sure you support or are intrigued
by the idea.
Use
videos and offer promotions such as telling the audience if they
comment, they’re eligible to win a particular prize. Keep an eye on
the influencers on Instagram and engage with them.
How
Often Should You Post and Interact?
People
handle social media in two ways. They either bombard the site or they
use it every now and then. You must be consistent with whichever
social media method you use.
But
being consistent doesn’t mean posting so often that people get sick
and tired of seeing your stuff. There’s a fine line between sharing
and spamming and you don’t want to cross that line by not
understanding how social media should work.
It’s
true that you should post frequently. No one can get to know you and
you can’t engage with your audience if you’re never around. At
the very least, you should post something every day - and those posts
should be done often enough so that you build a relationship.
How
often you should post is going to depend on which site you’re
using. If you’re using Pinterest, it’s okay to spread out your
posts up to 4 times a day. Just don’t do one giant post.
Post
in the morning, once in the afternoon, once in the evening and once
at night. Each time you post, you can engage with your audience. For
Twitter, don’t post more than three times each day.
You’ll
actually find that your audience starts to grow tired of seeing your
content if you post more often than that unless it’s highly useful
or reevant. Instagram analytics don’t really show that audience
engagement lessens with multiple posting as long as you interact.
Facebook
interaction should be done once in the morning and once in the
evening, minimum. If you post all day long, it looks like you spend
all your time there, and you don’t want to give that impression as
a leading expert.
You
can engage more often if you use Google+ because this site actually
sees audience engagement boosts when you post more often. Still, you
want to spread it out through the day and stick to about 3 times each
day.
What to
Post for Increased Engagement;
You
might sometimes feel like you don’t have a lot to say on social
media. Maybe that’s why you haven’t posted as much as you should.
But coming up with something to post is a lot easier than you think.
When
you do post, make sure that you post something with a picture.
Studies have shown that if there’s an image with whatever you post,
it gets a higher response rate and people tend to share pictures more
than other types of posts.
People
love to be inspired - and a great way to engage with your audience is
to share quotes that inspire them. You can use ones that have a
special meaning to you.
When
you run across something that you really like, save it to your
computer in a folder so that you’ll also have a supply of inspiring
quotes on hand to share. These quotes can range from business
inspiration to personal motivation to quotes that make people stop
and think about life in general.
The
good news is that when they see that quote later, more often than
not, they’ll remember that you’re the one who shared it before.
If you think that you have trouble knowing what to say on social
media, keep in mind that other people do, too.
They
might see a post they really like but won’t comment on it because
they’re too shy or don’t know what to say. You can stir up more
engagement by asking questions on your social media sites.
People
will answer questions because it’s more of a group effort. When
they see others responding to the question, they’ll jump in. It’s
okay to share posts about new products that you like or even your own
products.
Just
make sure that you don’t let the post come across as a pushy sales
post. Instead of hawking the product, you can post it and say
something like you just finished working on it and you’re so
excited.
Then
it comes across as you letting them see behind the scenes rather than
you turning into a sales person. Share personal stuff, too. This
doesn’t mean that you showcase embarrassing things or any family
drama.
It
means sharing a picture of your garden or your vacation. You can
share the latest antics of your cat or dog - or an event that you
attended. What this does is it makes you come across as a human being
rather than a business - and people connect more when they feel like
they see the person behind the brand.
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Reward
Your Audience for Engaging;
When
you reward your audience for engaging, it helps build loyalty. People
love to be rewarded. They love to get something that they weren’t
expecting. It helps them feel appreciated.
When
people feel appreciated by someone, it makes them feel as if they
know you and that you’re someone they can build an online
relationship with. It’s easy to find ways to make sure you
regularly reward your audience.
You
don’t want to do it so often that people only show up and only
interact because they think you’re giving something away every
time. But you want to do it often enough so that it makes a
difference.
Small
giveaways throughout the month are appropriate with bigger giveaways
spaced out through the year like a grand prize. You can arrange it so
that when someone in your audience comments on something that you’ve
posted that get access to information or maybe a beta version of a
product before anyone else does.
If
someone shares one of your posts, you can reward them with the same
deal. What this does is it creates a kind of street team of loyal
followers who will gladly promote you to other people on their own
social media sites.
People
love to have the chance to win prizes too and you’ll see your
engagement soar when you offer specific prizes. Gift cards are
extremely popular. You can offer coffee store gift cards, bookstore
gift cards, ones to restaurants or Amazon gift cards.
Some
people will use Rafflecopter to handle the entries in any type of
contest they have. But that’s not the best course to take because
you can have people sharing just the link to the Rafflecopter widget.
That
means that it won’t increase views or interaction. It also means
that people who don’t have the slightest interest in you or your
brand will enter the contest multiple times in hopes of winning.
What
you want to do is to pay attention to the people on your social media
who actively engage with you. When you see this, reach out to them
and offer them some exclusive perks.
Maybe
you can give them some new software you created or a special report
that’s usually only available in your membership forum. There are
endless ways you can go above and beyond with your audience!
Use Data
to Make Your Engagement Soar;
Knowing
when to post something on social media is just as important as
knowing what to post. You don’t want to spend time and energy
focused on creating engaging posts only to have them disappear
unnoticed into the cyber void of social media.
This
void is what occurs when interest and engagement is at its lowest
point – your audience is offline, sleeping or doing other things.
If you know when those times are, then you can avoid it.
You
can also make your posts more audience specific if you learn who they
are. Posts that are directed to a narrower audience will hit their
target more than a broad, all inclusive post will.
It’s
just a fact of life that not everyone is going to be interested in
what you have to say. So why not gear your interaction toward the
people who do want to hear what it is you share?
You
can use data to make sure that you’re posting during the times that
your audience is most active. By posting during these times, what you
post will end up at the top of their feed rather than buried at the
bottom.
For
example, if you use Twitter and you tweet during the week, you don’t
want to tweet first thing in the morning. Most people don’t hop
right on. They take care of a few things first, then check their
social media.
So
you would want to put your tweet out there in the mid morning. You
would also not want to engage in posts on Twitter late at night
because that’s when the site is the least active and your tweet
could end up getting missed by your target audience.
This
information can also help you redefine your marketing campaigns when
you do those. By knowing when and what to post, you can create
content that’s tailor made and hits the mark.
Most
social media sites have analytic tools that you can use. Plus, there
are outside ones that you can use to check on how well your posts are
performing. You can use Facebook insights to see what demographic was
interacting with your page.
You
might see something that shows that 65% of your demographic were
women while 35% were men. You’ll also be able to see age and
relationship, language and the size of their household.
You’ll
be able to ascertain how often your audience is active on the
Facebook site. If you check out page insights, you’ll see the
number of people who shared your posts or engaged on your page.
All
of this information and research into your social media experience
can help you build a rabid fan base of people who not only like what
you share and teach, but feel compelled to get others onboard, too.
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