There’s so much to do after you hit ‘share’ to maximize social media engagement
Brand loyalty is the holy grail of marketing: infinitely valuable, but hard to attain. Building it takes time and dedication. But if you’re looking for some low-hanging fruit to boost your traffic, your reach and even your leads, consistent social engagement should be the first on your to-do list.
According to SproutSocial, 34.5% of people prefer social media for customer care. Ignoring comments and questions from your followers is like ignoring phone calls to your customer service team. Your interactions on social are your most valuable tool for creating brand loyalists, which means engagement must be fast and informative.
What does engagement do?
Social media opens up a conversation that establishes your brand’s voice and personality. This is where you forge truly authentic relationships with your audience. Responding to questions, comments, praise and criticism, you prove that your organization cares about audience concerns on a human level and is ready to connect.
The beauty of these interactions are that, unless they are in a private message, they will be visible to other followers. One positive interaction can have a ripple effect that earns you new fans and real leads. It’s a simple and effective way to reach your target audience.
How to Improve Your Engagement on Social
Join the conversation
This may seem like a no-brainer, but seriously: Respond. To. Everything. If you only use social to answer questions, you miss out on other opportunities for brand promotion. Acknowledge your mentions, at minimum, with a like or a favorite. Even better: post a reply with a thanks or a call to action. If someone praises your brand in a post, share it! It will make your new fans feel appreciated and will organically show your other followers the value of engaging with your service or product.
Another thing to keep in mind is that people won’t always tag you with your social handles. It’s important to monitor mentions of your brand name, and other relevant keywords, to make sure you don’t miss any shoutouts.
Build branded destinations
Branded destinations, like Facebook groups and brand-specific hashtags, are where you connect with your superfans — the loyal followers that are keeping tabs on what your brand does next. Facebook recently rolled out an option to create groups within pages, which gives you an easy way to create and moderate your own “fan club,” so to speak. A great example of this is the Move Against Migraine group we created for our client, the American Migraine Foundation. It provides people living with migraine with exclusive resources and support. The people in these groups feel a strong connection to your brand, meaning they’ll be more likely to mention you across multiple platforms.
If you’re still building up the brand awareness you need to make a Facebook group work, branded hashtags are a great place to start. A branded hashtag is one, specific hashtag you use on the majority of your social posts—and encourage your audience to use, too. The key is to keep it short and unique, so it’s instantly recognizable as a part of your brand. Taglines work great: like Nike, #justdoit. The best part is, they’re super easy to monitor, making them a simple way to track and encourage engagement.
Use your paid ads wisely
Social ads are where it’s at — the better you understand each platform, its users, and where your audience fits in there, the more effective your ad campaign will be. If you’re using paid ads to expand your reach, make sure you’re choosing your audience strategically. Use demographic data to target your ad so it lands in front of people who are most likely to engage with your content.
Balancing a robust social calendar with monitoring for engagement can seem like a lot of work, but trust us: it’s worth it. If you need some help, contact Yakkety Yak. We’d love to help you make a game plan.
