Easy Social Media Tactics to Engage Your Followers
We’ve said this so many times, and we will say it again. Social media marketing is still very effective in increasing brand awareness and customer acquisition. This form of marketing is not just about gathering your people on social media. The job is so much more than that.
Create groups
Creating groups is possible on LinkedIn and Facebook, the latter being the most popular way of meeting your followers intimately. You may think it’s a waste of time, but the chief purpose of having a group is to start and join discussions. Answer people’s questions. Participate in threads without blatant promotion.
Ask questions and ask for questions
Asking questions is a great way to foster a meaningful connection with your audience. It also creates an impression that you care about them and about their concerns. Many companies actually do this. They hold Q&A sessions. One way for this to work is to set a schedule when your team can convene to answer questions live. Or you can gather questions beforehand for a comprehensive Q&A post.
Create polls and surveys
People want their voices be heard. It matters to them that you are interested in hearing their opinion. That’s why asking their opinion is a smart move. We gravitate towards communities where our opinions matter. This is easy on your Facebook pages. You can also make use of survey creation websites. Ask simple questions.
From a business perspective, surveys and questions are tools to assess the preferences of your audience. They allow you to tailor your strategies or update your brand to match your audiences’ tastes.
Make it a point to respond right away
Imagine having to wait for ages for someone to answer your call or respond to your query. It’s disappointing, annoying, and sometimes frustrating. You know, your customers feel the same way too. If it takes forever before someone responds to your followers’ comments, they will feel you’re taking them for granted. Consumers who feel that way tend to move to other brands.
Hire a social media team if you’re too busy to manage your social media channels. When you respond, be personal and friendly. You may have to use emoticons, so you don’t sound austere. Emoticon are our online substitute for emotional cues.
Launch contests
It’s time you upped the ante and increase activity on your page by making people do something aside from liking and commenting. Contests on social boost engagement by encouraging people to join, both the followers and potential followers. Those who haven’t followed you yet will see the activity and may be interested in digging in. Set smart rules like only followers are eligible to join or the criteria includes number of votes or likes.
Contests work because they mean winners will have a chance to be featured or get freebies or discounts. Who doesn’t want to be featured by a company? Who doesn’t like free gifts?
By allowing your audience to be part of choosing the winner, you also make them engage. All in all, contests increase the activity on your page. Fans or followers tend to remember you more when you have created such an online experience they can talk about. They also tend to form new friendships among themselves.
