Think about the social media content you’re most likely to like, share, comment or click on. What posts catch your eye? Humorous comments? Inspirational photos? Instructional videos? A sales pitch? Odds are you’re most drawn to posts that aren’t a solicitation to buy, but offer something informative or entertaining. The next question is, what type of content are you posting? Is it informative or entertaining or pitches?
Too often, entrepreneurs focus on themselves when posting to social media. But doing that is like attending a dinner party and only talking about you. If you did that, most other guests would give you a wide berth. Social media is social, which means there is a back-and-forth conversation and the content should be compelling to everyone involved. Here are some tips to increase social media engagement with your market.
1. Give ‘em what they want. Your market doesn’t want to be sold. It wants information and resources to solve a problem. Instead of promoting your widget, post information on how widgets will make your market’s life better. For example, you can post a video tutorial on how your widget reduces time or saves money.
2. Make it interesting. Images and video catch people’s eye more than text. If you’re using text, make them compelling, using attention-grabbing headlines.
3. Get ‘em involved. Ask questions or seek feedback. “Coke or Pepsi?” “Boxers or Briefs?” You can take it even further by asking your market to post content for you such as sharing a testimonial, image or video of them using your product or service.
4. Be approachable. Every time I Tweet about Starbucks using its Twitter name, I never hear anything. But if I Tweet Comcast, CenturyLink or HP, I get a response. In fact, I fixed a printer problem by tweeting with someone at HP. Remember, social media is social. If you’re not going to respond to people who contact you through social media, why bother doing it? Not responding is the same as ignoring. People don’t like to be ignored.
5. Reach out to others. While you want to post compelling, interesting content, don’t forget that you’re not the only one at the party. Comment on and share other people’s posts, as well. In fact, a great way to get yourself on someone else’s radar is to engage with him first by responding to his posts.
It would be nice to post on social media and have it go viral all on its own. But the reality is that if you want people to engage with you, you need to give them something of value and you need to engage with them.
