Driving Social Media Engagement

Using social media to reach customers is no longer an optional marketing strategy. Using sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram is essential to developing relationships and engaging with customers – both existing and potential. Businesses need an engaging and responsive social media presence to keep up with an increasingly mobile and tech-savvy customer base.

When it comes to social media, you’re competing for attention against customer’s friends and families. It is critical to provide content that is relevant and of interest – not to you, but to your customers.

Social Potential

According to a Pew Research Center study on the demographics of social media users, 72% of online American adults use Facebook – that’s almost 175 million people in the US alone! And other social media sites are growing rapidly – Pinterest captures 31%, Instagram 28%, LinkedIn 25%, and Twitter 23%. Further, Facebook and Instagram are checked at least daily by a majority of users (70% and 59% respectively) – with the rest not far behind.

Finding your Audience

These statistics are a great reason to jump into social media marketing and advertising – but how do you effectively engage with these millions of daily users? You’ve created an account, linked from your website, and are posting content but why won’t more of those 175 million people like, share, or follow you?

It’s a fight for every single engagement – watching your stats and analytics for every like, rejoicing over every share; but there must be a better way to drive interaction with your social media.

Algorithm Limbo

To complicate matters, most social media sites decide your organic reach based on complex algorithms – pushing content that users like, while punishing spammy or repetitive content with near-invisibility. But getting more likes and shares will push your posts to more visibility – it seems impossible to get ahead. If no one sees your posts how can you get likes? And if you’re not getting likes how will anyone see your post?

Driving Engagement

What is a business to do? Getting people engaged with your social media is no easy task, here are 7 tips to getting likes, shares, and comments:

1. Be Responsive – The first rule of a good social media presence is to be responsive! Keep a close eye on comments and messages that require your attention and get back to them quickly. This will help to develop trust in your brand and make the customer feel valuable.
2. Deliver Value – Providing content that contains valuable information, insights, or educational opportunities is a great way to catch people’s interest in an overcrowded landscape.
3. Sharable – If you’re goal is getting shares, then provide content that is sharable! People enjoy getting likes and comments on the stuff they’ve shared – so make sure your content is meeting those needs.
4. Support a Cause – This doesn’t have to be controversial – anything from get-out-the-vote Drives to National Puppy Day is a great way to engage with your customers.
5. Vary the Media – Variety is the spice of life, and social media is no exception. Try switching between text, images, and video to keep things fresh (and to see what works best).
6. Share from Others – Curated content is a great way to build your fan base – so don’t be afraid to share quality (or funny) content from others.
7. Ask for it – It almost seems too good to be true, but just asking for people to like, share, or comment can radically increase engagement with your posts.

Help is on the Way

Fusion Group USA offers a full range of branding, advertising, and web services – including social media content creation, strategies, and advertising. Contact us today to see how we can help build your social media presence.