Social Media Strategy - Increase Social Engagement

Engagement with your audience is one of the great advantages of social media marketing, but creating meaningful conversations is as much an art as it is a science.  Engagement increases brand loyalty and public conversations can serve as free advertising.

Contests and Promotions It is crucial to know your audience and provide content that is valuable, useful or interesting to that audience. One of the best ways to get the social customer engaged with your brand is to give something they want through contests, promotions or vouchers. Apparently, 65% of people who follow brands on Facebook are looking to score a deal. The business is out there, you just need to be there with a promotion and get the business - simple.

Ongoing Social Engagement Contests and promotions are likely to serve your social engagement well, but as always, a variety is essential for a successful campaign. Therefore special promotions need to be balanced with interesting and useful content. Asking questions, doing the unexpected, and empowering your most passionate followers are three ways that businesses can enhance ongoing social engagement and loyalty, which eventually leads to more customers and increased sales. 

Elaborating on the three ways to enhance ongoing social engagement…

Keep Asking Questions This may seem obvious, but many businesses continue to post about their products and services without asking their followers or fans for feedback.  Asking your audience questions not only shows you value customer feedback, it is also a great way to learn insights from and about your fans.

Do Something Unexpected Few brands have the guts to try something unexpected and even fewer can be successful at it. One “Do-Something-Unexpected” story is Magic Hat. They sent out an e-newsletter to promote their Number 9 beer for the brew’s sixteen-year anniversary. The email was written from the point of view of a proud parent, poking fun at the beer entering into adolescence. The email was so bold, funny and captivating, the audience could not help but read on.

Empower Your Most Passionate Users Finally, empowered fans will promote your brand and spread the word of your business. They are ultimately your number one asset. We want to encourage businesses to find out what it is about their brand that ignites their fans’ passions and by 'fuelling the fire' you can build a loyal following for your business too.