Social marketing only succeeds when social engagement is at the center of your strategy. If you’re not getting the results you want, here are some possible reasons why:
You’re being all about your brand
If your social posts are always about your brand, without taking your audience into consideration, all they do is add to the voluminous social noise. To keep consumers from tuning you out, talk to them – not at them.
You don’t understand your audience
Of course, it’s impossible to have a meaningful conversation if you don’t know anything about the people you’re talking to. Throwing posts out there without rhyme or reason you might occasionally hit your mark – but it’s better to rely on insights over luck. Use sentiment analysis and audience segmenting to learn what moves and motivates your audience – and wow them with messaging they can’t resist.
You’re not personalizing your posts
When you segment your audience, a beautiful thing happens. Not only do you know what they want, expect and need from you, you can offer it to them with an individualized touch that makes them feel special. This is majorly important – as consumers know they have other options if you don’t make them feel special enough. Always make it personal and they’ll keep coming back.
You’re not on the right channels
Your messaging and approach might be perfect, but if you don’t know where your audience “lives” on social, your efforts won’t be noticed by the people you most want to attract. Don’t rely on assumptions based on demographics. Let social analytics point you toward the channels that matter – and embrace them! Maybe you weren’t expecting to be on Snapchat – but if that’s where your audience is, they’ll be delighted to find you there.
You’re not sharing the right content
If you want people talking, you have to give them something to talk about. Asking a question, relating to their lives with a funny meme, sharing an inspiring story or teaching them with a how-to video – these are all possibilities for getting them engaged. Use social insights to identify their favorite types of content and mediums to encourage active participation from your fans.
You’re not replying when others engage – or not replying in a timely fashion
Engagement is a two-way street – a conversation. If you share post after post without ever following through or replying when people react and comment, you won’t hold their interest for long. You’ve not to monitor social posts in real-time, and keep the conversation going. Respond to comments and questions posed by consumers before they’ve moved on to the next thing.
Screencap from a Wander Beauty thread
You’re ignoring negative posts
You especially have to be aware of any negativity aimed at your brand, and respond accordingly. No, you shouldn’t “feed the trolls,” as they say, but you can’t keep your head in the clouds, either. Responding to complaints and issues not only turns a negative situation around for the person who complains, it shows everyone else that your brand cares.
You’re not making use of influencers
No brand can do it alone – and you don’t have to. When you have engaging, personalized content on the right channels, your audience will organically share your posts so they get seen by even more social users. Be sure you know about the people most actively and enthusiastically shouting out your brand on social, and incentivize further sharing – especially if they have a dedicated following of their own.
Engaging consumers on social media isn’t complicated – you just have to mine for social insights and apply them in the right ways. Put your social analytics tools to work, avoid the above mistakes, and you’ll have a choir of social consumers singing back at you in no time.
Check out the session Power of the People: Social Conversations that Drive Impactful Creative presented by Visa at our NetBase LIVE conference in October. Register here!
Image from Caio Jhonny
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