Use Social Media to Engage.

The future of social media is and will continue to be engagement.

Last year we wrote about (and heard a lot about) the decline of organic reach on social media. Individuals and Businesses are reaching fewer people on social media (and as a result getting less traffic from social media).

There is more online content that we can possibly ever hope to consume (even if we are spending hours on social media on a daily basis). As we (and our target audience) can’t possibly hope to consume everything we are prioritising:

1. Things that interest us and entertain us
2. People and businesses we engage and have a conversation with
3. Things that add value.
4. Things that elicit emotion.

Therefore to be a thumb-stopper we have to continue to adapt accordingly.

Use social media for Customer Support.

People are continuing to use social media to reach out to brands and businesses. It might be public. It might be private. This might be for customer support, to complain about a bad experience (and share this with the whole at large) it might be to share a fantastic experience and give a “shout out” to their favourite brands or the brands they are using right now.

Therefore you should always be ready to engage with your audience and customers on your social media platforms. Being responsive on social media engages your customers and encourages customer loyalty (and in many cases prompts them to make a purchase). It is what makes social media “social”.

It is becoming even easier to engage with your customers on social media. Many third-party tools and resources make it easy to manage your social media “Inbox” and there are many automated tools you can use. So there is really no excuse not to be prepared to engage and help your customers on social media.

If you haven’t already changed your approach to social media to go beyond publishing content you might want to update your social media strategy.

Good Content will still encourage Engagement.

As well as engaging customers through customer service and one-on-one conversations, engagement is also about the quality of your content. Good content will encourage engagement.

Social media platforms / algorithms continue to prioritise the content that their users are engaging with. Therefore to be seen and heard on social meda (organically) you need to create and post content that engages your fans. Remember, if you have a strong engaged following this can help enormously and the number of engagements on your social media posts influences the number of people who will potentially see them. Therefore it continues to be important to produce content that is on brand and resonates with you core audiences.

Strengthen your Brand through Engagement.

For many businesses, the primary reason to be on social media is to build their brand. To make their brand more visible. To build the reputation of their brand through engagement. Think about your own list of personal goals for social media – is building your brand on there?

Some larger brands and businesses use social media solely for customer service, while others use it to reinforce their brand image. While most businesses will link their followers and fans to their website or products, it is done in a more discreet way. It is less about driving traffic and more about engagement. Social media is a powerful showcasing tool. To engage and inspire.

After all, the customers buying journey is no longer linear. The buying decision is often through WOM recommendations, being visible to them (in multiple places, and multiple times) and after having developed an element of trust through engagement.

Finally, it’s important to remember that when you use social media as an engagement and brand-building channel, you might not generate many leads or sales directly from social media. But you would indirectly. Therefore you need to make sure that you are properly attributing value to each touchpoint on a customers journey – including social media when you are reviewing your ROI.

Need help setting your social media campaign goals and planning your social media content? Why not grab a copy of our Social Media Planner.