Tips for Social Media Engagement for Business

Social media is a great way to position yourself as a thought leader in the industry, cultivate brand awareness, and build a community. However, one concept businesses do not follow through on is engaging on social platforms meaning engaging with current followers, engaging with content in your business industry, and engaging with competitors or look-a-like brands. 

Every business wants its social media presence to be impactful and deliver some form of ROI. In that case, it is instrumental in getting in the mindset of building a network of people seeking genuine relationships rather than passive followers who ignore your business and the strategic content implemented. 

How to Build a Community on Social Media

1. @Mention people/businesses you reference in your social posts.

This is an excellent tactic for broadening your reach/ audience, which leads to getting your brand’s content in front of the eyes of people/businesses you interact/@mention.

2. Answer questions people ask in the comments section.

If your business gets regularly asked questions, building out a document with engaging and thought-out responses might be beneficial. However, it is critical to make interactions PERSONAL; consumers do not want to see your business responding with the same answer over and over. Enforce a consistent, authentic voice – be personal, thoughtful, and human!

3. Reply when you are @mentioned, or your content is shared.

Be REACTIVE when social media users/businesses mention you to encourage further conversation about your brand, and make sure your followers feel heard.

4. Liking or resharing is NOT engaging. Reply with a comment that starts a conversation.

Ask yourself if you would feel heard/important if a brand was only to like a comment you took time curating. Likely not, as liking a social media comment is a passive interaction that takes little to no thought! When people take time to interact with your brand’s social media, it is important to respond, rewarding the user for interacting with your content, which leads to community building.

5. Follow/engage with popular accounts in your industry for additional exposure to like audiences.

Want an easy way to recruit followers? Interact with people in your industry, and let your brand’s voice and input be heard. Engaging with industry leaders and the local sector makes you and your brand a part of the conversation and drives your brand to like audiences.

6. Post on threads, comment on articles or connect with new prospects across your social media footprint.

Doing this will broaden your audience and your social media reach. Interact with trending threads, articles, and posts.

7. Set time aside daily to monitor social media accounts and engage in conversation with your brand and audience. 

Dedicate time to get into the mindset of your brand and the messaging you want to portray to your social media community. You have two options to execute daily monitoring:

• Monitor natively within your social platforms. This option can be ideal for smaller brands/companies. 
• Monitor utilizing social automation tools (i.e., Sprout Social, Hootsuite). This option is advantageous when a brand has a more significant influx of engagement.

Be aware of the importance of community engagement on your business’s social platforms. Starting conversations with your audience is one of the most effective strategies to encourage followers/fans to KEEP engaging with your business. In addition, creating a dialog will motivate your audience to comment and interact on future social media posts.

If you have questions about business social media management, audience engagement, or how to optimize your channels, contact a Brasco /// specialist today!