The biggest fallacy in social media these days is “Engagement”. So many people say that social engagement is the end-all, be-all to any of your social media problems. Engage more is the mantra! WRONG!
Believe me, there’s a reason why I have engagement as #2, because you need to have a social media community with which to engage with FIRST and why the beginning of this social media success secret series was about finding the right people.
Once you have some kind of base of followers/fans to talk to, engagement IS then the focus. Whether it’s on your blog, your Facebook page, your Google+ or on Twitter, it’s important to “talk” to people. When you update your status, tweet or post something, you’re engaging in communication and conversation with the people you found and responding to what they are “talking” about. Responding to what they are sharing is also a very powerful tool in connecting with people.
If you take the time to connect with people in that manner, they are often motivated to come back and see what your next response is, respond or retweet what you wrote or stay on your page because you are there engaging with them in the comments.
No matter the social media channels: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. talking with your community is REQUIRED for long term success. Each social media site you can use status updates to not just say, “Hey this is the latest and greatest news or the hottest deal we have going”, but instead, you can utilize a status update to engage your audience and get them to respond to you. So use things like questions, images and even polls.
There are many, MANY ways to get people talking. In future tips I’ll go into details on other ways to engage with your community.
How Do You Know You’re Engaging with Results?
When it comes to Twitter, people replying to your question, the number of retweets you’re getting you get and getting retweets from the retweets of your tweets. On Facebook and/or Google+ you want your goal to see comments in the double digit range on a consistent basis with the growing number of fans/followers you have. Single digits comments mean you either need to find more people to follow/like you or to rethink what you’re asking and when you’re sharing (more on the timing in a future tip).
When you engage in the process of sharing and responding with the people you follow or who follow you, over time that builds a connection with those individuals. They begin to feel like they know you, develop a level of trust with you and as you continue being social and engaging. Focus on the goal of building relationships.
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Articles in This Social Media Series
Social Media Success Secret – Tip #1 – Find Your People
Social Media Success Secret – Tip #2 – Engage Your Community
Social Media Success Secret – Tip #3 – Ask Questions
About Timothy Carter
Good write up. Some of this information is useful but I’ll beg to differ on a few key issues. I’m almost certain it doesn’t always come down to who you know but the quality of people in your community. I live in a geographic black hole when it comes to this social media & people here still haven’t adapted into there daily lives as relevant. More a time filler around here. I use it for everything from content aggregation, to event planning, & even the daily round of news.. Yet if I hadn’t been out doing grass roots media then people wouldn’t know I even existed in my local area. You have to attack social media on a dual front. The old school analog way by going out & meeting people yet making sure you can be relevant to who is going to add you to their respective timeline.
The old saying is don’t talk to strangers but we were all strangers once. Never know who’s going to be able to help you find those successful connections. That’s why I don’t write off people so quickly throughout my channels & various ways I stay plugged into the global chatter.