Every business wants a piece of the social media action, but most will simply complain about their lack of engagement rather than try to do something to change their results. It’s far easier to complain than to try to fix the problem.
Social media doesn’t have to be this painstaking process filled with mystery and confusion. It’s actually quite simple. Attract followers and keep them engaged. This keeps your business or brand in front of them, and when they are ready to make a purchase you will naturally be on their mind.
Alternatively, you can sometimes spark random impulse purchases and actions if you use great content, creativity and just hit them at the right moment. Here are ways to greatly improve your social media engagement spending just 30 minutes a day on it.
Use a tool like Hootsuite to schedule posts in advance.
When you schedule your content ahead of time it eliminates the rushed feel daily trying to get posts up. You don’t have to post every hour, and actually doing so might annoy your followers. Only brands with millions of followers should be posting multiple times a day.
“Use a tool like Hootsuite — they have a free version — to plan out your posting schedule,” says April Gillmore of clickfirstmarketing.com. “This not only allows you to schedule posts for the entire month, but it also lets you post them at different times, which you can then review and evaluate to find the optimal times to post every day.”
Dedicate 5-minutes to rapid-fire DM responses.
You are going to receive a lot of DMs, to set aside like 5 minutes a day to reply to them. Even if it’s not a direct question, a quick ‘thanks for following us’ can go a long way to build consumer trust. “People love social media — they are addicted to it,” says Chris Moberg of Slumber Search. “A virtual hello can go a long way and ensure that person becomes even more engaged with your brand.”
Again, if you use a tool like Hootsuite it will pull all of your social media profiles into one dashboard and give you access to those DMs. When you can quickly reply to them all in one spot it makes it easy to get caught up in just a few minutes. The impact can be huge.
Share a blog post on all social profiles daily.
“You need content on your social media profiles that your followers can engage with, so why not take the opportunity to share a post from your blog,” suggests Tad Thomas of the law firm Thomas Law Offices. “Not only does this increase your social engagement, but you can push traffic to blog posts and offers on your site.”
This is all part of an intelligent branding strategy. It often takes several ‘touches’ before someone is ready to buy form you. The more you can educate someone about your business, the more comfortable they are going to feel. Comfort and trust leads to long-term customers that provide to be a valuable business asset.
Send a weekly email that highlights your popular social media content.
If you have been building an email list from the start of your business (and you should have been) then you can send weekly social recaps to your list that point out popular tweets, Instagram images or Facebook posts.
“When you drive traffic that is familiar with your business to your social media posts they are more likely to engage with them,” says Pat Skinner of AnswerFirst Communications. “This helps to spread your social content, as their followers and audience can become exposed to it simply because they engage with it.
This is an easy way to attract new followers and potential customers.
Include a social media action with every order confirmation email.
If you are an e-commerce business then you have an opportunity to gain followers and engagement with every single order. Each order sends out a confirmation number, so that email is a great way to connect with the customer.
Right after a purchase the person is happy and your company is on their mind. A subtle ‘hey follow us on social media’ and providing the links is an easy way to get followers while they are feeling your brand. For example a website that sells a fitness product could offer a 10% discount on the next order if the customer follows their Instagram and comments on a post, tagging a friend and the company. They would just need to check the notifications and DM coupon codes to those who participate.
“You can take it a step further and embed your latest tweets or Instagram posts within the body of your confirmation emails,” offers Andrew Tran of weighted blankets manufacturer Therapy Blanket. “This little added feature can leverage the power of visual content to get them to go and engage. It takes little effort on your part once it’s set up correctly.”
Engage in the comments with funny replies filled with humor.
Some of the most successful brands on social media are winning because they have someone with a great sense of humor handling the replies. You don’t want to be outright rude, but don’t be afraid to joke back and forth.
“When you are able to combine comedy and also current events you will really win your followers over, and these types of replies will often receive a lot of shares because people appreciate the humor displayed,” explains Ignacio Soria of cannandco.net. Don’t be afraid to let your personality show. People appreciate it and reward it accordingly.