How to get engaged (on Social Media) in 10 lessons
Sorry for you all, but this post won’t focus on real life engagement, but on social media engagement. However, if you can do pretty well in this last matter, chances are that you could find your charming prince(ss) among your followers!
So here you are a list of 10 must do you have to apply if you want to master and rule social media.
PS: These advices also work for a company.
1. Show you’re a real human with personality. This can seem obvious, but people need to see that your accounts are not managed by a robot or your strange nerd neighbor. First, share some personal information (not too much if you don’t want a flood of suitors in front of your door), such as your hobbies or your favorite addresses (both real and virtual ones). Second, answers your followers’ comments by using their names. Third, use emoticons! Using emoticons can increase comments by 33% and likes by 57%. Needless to say, use emoticons representing HUMAN emotions. That shows your followers how you want them to react. Plus, the more smiling or laughing emoticons you use, the funnier you appear…and that’s a good thing!
2. Use (attractive but legal) images. Using images can increase Facebook interaction rate by 85% and retweets by 35%. No one cares about your monologue on your current existential crisis, so don’t post hundreds of lines of baffling words (even if Freud should have approved them). But what images? Unusual and surprising pictures (behind-the-scenes for companies), homemade collages if your skills exceed the use of Microsoft Word, or pictures with friends (with team members for companies) because it shows that you already have friends (and that you’re not desperate about having new ones) and because it’s the opportunity to reach your friends’ followers. If you’re too lazy to make and post your own images, you can also ask your followers to post their images. And don’t forget that what an image can do, a video can do it better -it combines image, audio, movement and most of all, excitement. Videos are the Holy Grail of social media!
3. Comment and share. And tag, and credit, and create, and publish, and…! Do whatever you want but just do something! Though, not really whatever you want… The point is you have multiple ways to have people engaged. First is to comment; you show you’re active and people are more willing to engage. Share too; that will make your followers think they’re interesting. Don’t forget to tag and credit the original writer; you leave them the responsibility of their content, and they’ll appreciate your respect so they’ll share your content in return. Finally, create and/or join groups and/or forums (“and” is better in both cases): you’ll reach new followers, be aware of much more issues, and be highly visible by participating to it. This is a non-exhaustive list: be creative, and if you manage to surprise me I’ll cite you as an example in my next post (Want me to offer you exposure? Put my advice into practice!)
4. Hashtag and question. Using hashtags makes you easier to find. But don’t be too generous: quality prevails on quantity, and two appropriate hashtags are better than dozens of hashtags coming from nowhere. A good hashtag is memorable, unique and relevant (and essential for a good company’s campaign). Questioning people is also a good way to have them engaged -if they are polite they will answer. DON’T ask “yes/no” questions; DO ask general open questions which strike up conversation. (If you’re a company, organize Questions & Answers sessions on Google Hangouts or Twitter chats; it conveys information about your products to your customers, it strengthens the connection with your customers, it enhances your reputation and shows you’re honest, and it’s a way to pre-prepare the answers. Everything positive no?).
5. Make your social media a game. Make it funny to go on your accounts. Engagement must not be a chore. The more you let people participate to your social media, the more they engage. You can publish quizzes, questions such as “tag the next friend…”, hilarious videos, votes… People also like when they can get something in return…but I’ll leave it to your own discretion! (Companies really might apply this this advice, especially because it’s easier for them to host contents and assure free giveaways).
6. Let your heart speak out. There is no better way to have engagement than to be yourself engaged. And there is no better engagement than social one. 84% of social media users share information about causes they care about. So find a subject to which you’re highly committed and post about it. It will put into the scene your socially awareness and your sensibility, and build you a strong reputation. Emotions can do a great job!
7. Be active and on time. If you want to be taken seriously, post frequently. Don’t be that guy who posts so rarely that everyone wonders what could have woken him from his year-basis hibernation. If you want to be remembered, be so visible that no one can forget you. Plus, even if you like playing hard to get, you must answer quickly. Don’t lose your followers’ attention because you acted like a diva. Finally, here you are some tips (approved by surveys!) because you must wonder what the right timing to post is: on Facebook, DO post on Wednesdays at 3pm, but DON’T post on weekends before 8am or after 8pm. Plus, data have shown that retweets are higher around 5pm and that there is a 18% higher engagement on Thursdays and Fridays on Facebook. Set the alarm!
8. Keep you informed. Your followers don’t want your social media to be the gossips annals of the last century, no more than the universal encyclopedia! Let’s post content related to the actuality; it will engage your followers and bring you fresh traffic. So…for who are you voting in November?
9. Do some math. I know that is unpleasant, but if we learnt it in school, that was for a good reason (I guess). In any case, if you have the skills, and the motivation, to use as many analytics tools as possible, your social media could benefit from it. It will allow you -through tools such as Google Alerts & Analytics, Social Mention, Tweetdeck, or Brand24- to know who your followers are, how they behave on social media, what type of content they prefer, and what they are posting. You will be able to make more targeted and more engaging posts. I know, sometimes YOUR social media is not just about YOU, it should also take into account your audience. (Such surveys are even more appropriate to companies, which must know their customers in order to adapt their posts and thus enhance their sales). What’s more, you can publish some contents with figured facts…people love feeling smart and you will be seen as smart too. Win-win situation…but please don’t become a middle school little nerd!
10. Ask people to engage. Sometimes simply asking for it is enough. Be careful, I’ve said asking not imploring. It’s better if you can explain your followers why you’re asking them to engage -convincing them with arguments rather than persuading them with blackmail. You can also ask them to react in a different way they are used to, such as using this Facebook button (“love” or “laughing”) instead of the classical “like”. Still skeptical? A survey demonstrated that tweets have a 12 times higher chance of being retweeted if you ask for it, and a 23 times higher chance if you actually spell out the word “retweet.” Say “please” and “thank you”, the rest is easy.
This is how end my lessons. I hope you found them useful! Last thing: if exchanges go further with one person, just check his/her amount of followers; if he/she has less than you, he/she is just an opportunist, but if not…you might have won the jackpot! ;)
Delphine Labati
This post was created as part of the Global Luxury Management Program at the NC State Poole School of Management. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
