How to Engage Your Audience Through Social Media
Did your social media traffic skyrocket at first but is falling flat nowadays? Don’t sweat it. A lot of hours and hard work have gone into perfecting the use of this not-so-secret weapon.
We all start with zero readers and zero traffic anyway and anyone can write a blog but it's what you do with it afterwards that counts.
Once you perfectly understand how Facebook, Google+, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram strategies work and which can benefit your business best, you will be an expert at handling them and many other factors mentioned down below.
Facebook, Google and Twitter
What works: Images, videos, calls to action, industry-related content, general share-worthy content.
What doesn’t work: Lengthy content, bland content, poor business/related/share-worthy balance.
Videos and images, which are mostly used for redirecting consumers to your website, are essential to catch the eye of social media readers, though video works a little better to hold the reader’s attention.
The main ways to get traction with your blog, to get your readers to back up your business is:
- Get them to go straight to your website or store
- Get them to like and follow
- Get them to share your content
Let’s illustrate that with a few examples :
Three people see your business posts about a “2 for 1 sale”. These posts just likely to be seen, and not shared. Once people start liking and sharing your posts, you’ll start to see new eyes on your page. In the case of a fitness coach, for example, try and get your readers excited to see and share those workout tips and you’ll have a better chance that someone who needs trainer will come across them.
Once you’ve gained the attention of your readers with a photo or video, a call to action is the ideal way to guide them to their next step. That being said, calls to action can be used for almost every type of post. These posts may not lead your reader straight to your website, they will, however, get you more likes and shares.
Packaged in with the importance of shared content is the name of your business. Every time your post is shared, someone new has the chance to see you.
That’s brand-recognition!
On the other hand, lengthy content, bland posts, and a poor balance of business/industry/shareable don’t work well on these media channels. People do not have the attention spans to read posts that are more than a couple of lines long.
Keep them short and concise! Don’t post bland, filler content like, “Happy Friday!” unless people have a reason to share it. “Happy Friday, here’s a hilarious cat meme” can improve brand recognition, but only if shared - use humour to your advantage.
Try to find your balance between business and shareable content.
What works: Images, videos, industry related content, general share-worthy content.
What doesn’t work: Lengthy content, bland content, business-related content, long texts.
Pinterest is ALL about pictures. People usually go on Pinterest to look for creative ideas. If your business provides projects, how-tos or even the means with which to make ideas happen.
For example, a hardware store will greatly benefit from Pinterest: once people get the ideas from you, they’ll come into your store to buy the necessary tools to get the job done! (Remember, brand-recognition!).
The best use of Pinterest includes non-business related content. Show people ideas that may lead them to your business, but don’t try to sell them right then and there.
Last but not least, the text attached to Pinterest posts is often ignored, so any applicable text should go into an infographic displayed as an image. That isn’t to say that you shouldn’t use any text. Although a small headline or message will suffice here.
What works: Images, video, projects.
What doesn’t work: Mostly everything else.
The whole point of this platform is to get users to follow you and talk about what you have to offer. This works best for restaurant accounts because your customers can post images of your food for their friends to see. This also works great for accounts posting about home improvements. Here, your business can post projects and progress pictures of what you’ve been working on. Seeing these images and sharing them can work well to compel the reader to seek you out.
Do not dismiss the reviews!
Now that we’ve covered the main social media channels, let’s discuss other ways they can be used. Facebook, Google, and other media channels support reviews. Reviews play a big role in a business, as they can make or break it. 92% of consumers now read online reviews and star rating is the number one factor used by consumers to judge a business.
You may be thinking “I can’t control what people rate my business”, and you’d be right. However, you can control how you respond to people. You can turn around even the angriest rater by replying to their review in a quick and professional manner. Check out our articles about how to respond to positive as well as negative reviews.
Listen to Your Audience
Social Media Listening is the process of monitoring digital conversations to get a better hold of what customers are saying about your business. This is ideal to identify your customer's pain points and responding to their questions and complaints.
This phenomenon is bigger that social monitoring. The difference can be explained with this simple quote : "Monitoring sees trees; listening sees the forest".
The short and sweet of this is that you need to be researching your competitors and your peers. What are people talking about, liking, and sharing, and how can you get in on it? You’ll want to shape your social media strategies around what’s getting the best traction everywhere else. Get researching!
Increase the Quality and Quantity of Your Website’s Traffic
The importance of SEO should not be ignored. When you search for your business’ name or keywords related to your work, how high on the results page does it appear? The more you and your readers are mentioning your name and other keywords in relation to your business, the better your SEO results will be.
Finally, Measure your Results in The Long Term
Finally, take a step back and look at what you’re doing. Naturally, you’ll want to look for what’s working and what isn’t. Whether you’re counting likes and shares by hand or using Google Analytics to track the information for you, understanding your trends may just be the most important part of the process.
Find out more about social media and how it can help grow your business, book a consultation now.
