How often does your audience engage with your posts? Do you engage with them when they comment or interact with your posts?
Social media platforms are ideal for people to engage with each other, and businesses are able to engage with their target audiences and participate in their online community. The Global Web Index has even found that 30% of a business’ online time is now allocated to social media interactions.1
It’s important to keep in mind that each social media platform sees different types of engagement. For instance, LinkedIn is great for professional connections and talking about industry matters. Whereas Facebook is ideal for targeting a mass number of consumers and can spark more informal discussions.
Engagement is more than just comments and likes though. There are plenty of ways that communicating and engaging with your audience on social media can benefit your business—no matter its size.
First and foremost is creating brand awareness. Whether it’s your business or your audience, the more your content is interacted with, the more it spreads around the platform and helps consumers learn and recognize you. Insightful interactions can even help position your brand as an industry leader and separate you from the competition.
Along with awareness, consistent interaction with your audience is great for your public image. This can be answering a question in a comment, sharing a customer’s experience, responding to a negative or positive review, or showing that you are listening to what is being said to and about your company. In fact, 21% of consumers are more likely to support and buy from businesses that can be reached through social media, creating a true relationship between customer and company.2
Common Types of Social Media Engagements:
- Commenting on a post
- Liking or sharing (retweeting) posts
- Leaving reviews
- Participating in live discussions (live chats)
- Tagging or mentioning someone in a post or photo
How Your Business Can Get Engaged:
- Respond to comments, such as thanking consumers, answering a question or joking around with a follower.
- Participate in an industry live chat to set your business apart and show your expertise. BPM, for example, joins a weekly digital marketing discussion on Twitter and has even been recognized for its social media team’s contributions!
- Reply to reviews, both negative and positive.
- Ask your followers questions, like what they like about your business or what their weekend plans are.
- Show your community involvement by including other local members in your posts, such as tagging a nonprofit in your status.
Start engaging on social media by leaving a comment on the BPM Facebook page or dive deeper into social media marketing and selling with this insightful resource from Zopto.
1https://www.timetrade.com/blog/why-social-media-engagement-is-important-for-your-business/
