Marketing | December 14, 2023

Social Media Engagement: New Ways and Strategies

Curt VanderWall

Social media engagement is an integral part of any online Virtual marketing campaign. If a company fails to utilize the reach and influence of social media, it will always fall behind, at least compared to its competitors. But engaging your target audience on social media is not an easy task. It requires careful planning, effective social media presence management, and skillful audience interaction.

That’s why many brands choose to hire a social media agency—professionals who can bring the expertise needed to elevate a brand’s online presence and engagement efforts.

The secret to nailing engagement is all about building real, human connections. It’s not just about posting content—it’s about starting conversations that people actually want to join in on. When you make your audience feel like they’re part of something bigger, they’re not just followers anymore—they’re fans who are excited to spread the word about your brand.

Speaking of whitepapers, we’ve found they’re absolute goldmines for connecting with decision-makers in healthcare organizations. What really works is packing these documents with concrete data and real-world case studies showing exactly how similar institutions boosted their efficiency after implementing specific solutions. The key is to make these technical deep-dives feel less like dry reading and more like compelling stories that healthcare executives can see themselves in.

Respond to Questions, Mentions, and Messages

Most people feel more relaxed online than offline because writing a comment on Facebook is much easier than calling a hotline or filling out a feedback form on a website. Also, don’t forget that depending on the industry there are specific social media platforms, such as e.g. the social media platform for the investment industry. Users often try to draw attention to themselves: they leave reviews, publicly criticize and praise, ask questions, and contact brand representatives with suggestions.

Even if the subscriber’s question is unoriginal and has been met dozens of times in the community, it is better to answer it, and personally. Address the user by name and pay attention to his/her words. If you have scripted answers to frequently asked questions, don’t copy them verbatim – the subscriber should feel that he is being answered by a live person, not a robot.

Questions asked in public should be answered in the same way – don’t turn the conversation into private messages unless it’s absolutely necessary. Firstly, other people will find the necessary information in this correspondence and will not ask again; secondly, this way you will show that you are ready to dialog and do not hide anything.

Tracking and responding to comments about the company is just as important as filling the community with content. Big brands even hire separate employees to do this, since it is a crucial part of social media engagement. You need to work with comments quickly: your client is used to communicating in real-time and almost doesn’t see the difference between correspondence with a friend and a community administrator. According to Sprout Social research, on average 30% of users are willing to wait about four hours for a response, and if there is no response, they can easily leave for a competitor.

Some advise taking a wait-and-see attitude. If there is a discussion under a post, do not respond to comments too often and quickly, especially if there are no questions about your services or products. Give participants space for communication by voicing their own position in one or two comments.

Work off the Negativity

Posts with reviews and testimonials are a familiar genre for any social network. Users regularly tell subscribers about trips to restaurants, fitness clubs, and beauty salons. For most people, this has become an occasion to share impressions, no less than a trip on vacation or a trip to a concert, so people do not expect a neutral or positive response. Rather, it becomes a pleasant bonus.

It is almost impossible to build a business without responding to negative reviews, so you should not get upset and take them to heart. Many conflicts can be smoothed out by being considerate and caring.

To professionally work off negativity in social networks, you need to remember the following:

  • Never delete negative reviews. It’s hard to hide anything online. Other followers can see the comment before you do, and the author can take a screenshot. A company that pretends that bad reviews never existed looks immature, like a kid who erased a D in his/her diary;
  • Be calm. To avoid escalating the conflict even more heatedly, manage your emotions and take a short pause before responding. The person on the other side of the screen is also upset and angry, from you he expects help and attention, not mutual insults;
  • Be mindful of other users. Any conflict on the Internet is public, which means that along with the victim of bad service, the rest of the audience is watching its development. Show them that you care and are responsive;
  • Stay polite. If the customer accuses you fairly – admit fault. If he exaggerates – politely clarify the situation and apologize for the misunderstanding. Never start a war with personal attacks and a vindictive desire to prove that your opponent is a scoundrel;
  • Resolve the problem. Polite apologies without concrete actions can be annoying, so you need to publicly tell how you are solving the problem and report back on the result. In some cases, it’s not unreasonable to offer a conciliatory bonus: a discount, free shipping, or a souvenir.

Use Interactivity for Social Media Engagement

Subscribers of a community can become its co-authors. Few people come to social networks to read about products and services in a targeted way – mostly users want to have fun and get their share of attention.

When you’re trying to spread the word about your brand and deliver a helpful product feature or update, you’re communicating information. Yes, a standard press release is familiar and understandable, but how boring and won’t engage an outsider. A sincere story of your company’s development, a contest, a short film about your ideas will allow you to use the advantages of the game, which will bring a competitive spirit and excitement. And what can make your campaign more viral than user-generated content (UGC)?

Thus, you have a great way to make your business website interesting and informative by adding a social media widget for website. This strategy also comes with the chance that your visitors redirect themselves to your social media handle and that’s a great way to boost your social media appointment.

Encourage user participation by creating a monthly video challenge where followers submit their own clips using your product in innovative ways, effectively turning them into creative ambassadors for your brand.

To further boost engagement, implement a “”””Fan of the Month”””” feature that highlights active community members on your social media platforms, which not only rewards engagement but also motivates others to participate more actively, fostering a sense of belonging and competition.

Additionally, utilize interactive AI infographics and polls to educate your audience about your products or industry insights; these tools make learning about your offerings fun and memorable, encouraging deeper connections with your brand.

To really draw people in, why not to utilize interactive infographics? These aren’t just any charts or graphs; they’re a fun, engaging way to break down complex information and get your audience truly involved with what you’re saying. Imagine your followers clicking through an infographic to uncover stats on your latest product or the impact of your services.

It turns a casual website visit into an interactive experience that sticks with them. Plus, when you share these on your social platforms, they’re more likely to catch the eye, encourage comments, and even get shared around. It’s a creative way to keep your audience learning and interacting, making your message both clear and memorable.

Leveraging a tool like Venngage can really spice up how your community interacts. Imagine them using Venngage to jazz up their entries for your video challenge—this adds a personal touch that goes beyond the ordinary. It’s about letting their creativity shine through, showing off how they see your products in their own unique way. Plus, with Venngage’s array of templates, your followers can turn even the driest statistics into vibrant, easy-to-grasp visuals.

This not only makes learning about your products fun but also sticks with them longer. Think of it as a way to make your campaigns pop and your educational content more engaging, encouraging your community to dive in and explore what you offer in a more visually engaging way.

Your fans can create videos, articles, designs, art – anything related to your brand, you just need to find a good motivation (it can be money, a year’s supply of your product, travel, etc.). Once a decent number of entries have been collected, allow users to vote for the best creation themselves.

In the ever-evolving ecosystem of social media, cultivating a thriving digital garden requires more than just planting seeds of content—it demands judicious pruning. Enter the Twitter mass unfollow tool, a digital scythe that allows savvy brand cultivators to trim away the overgrowth of stale connections. This isn’t about callously culling followers, but rather about curating a vibrant, engaged audience that resonates with your brand’s frequency.

By wielding a Twitter mass unfollow tool with finesse, you’re not just decluttering your digital space; you’re orchestrating a symphony of meaningful interactions. This refined approach transforms your feed from a cacophony of noise into a harmonious dialogue, where every retweet, like, and comment contributes to a richer narrative. As you sculpt your Twitter landscape, remember: it’s not the size of your forest, but the health of your trees that truly matters in the social media biosphere.

When seeking the best SMM panel to amplify your Twitter strategy, don’t be seduced by flashy promises of instant follower boosts. Instead, opt for a platform that aligns with your newfound philosophy of quality over quantity. The right SMM panel should be a precision instrument, not a blunt force tool, offering features that complement your curated approach to social media engagement.

This approach is particularly effective when encouraging submissions across different kinds of art, allowing your community to explore and engage with a variety of artistic expressions.

Crowdsourcing

Finally one of the easiest ways to spike social media engagement rate is crowdsourcing, or in other words, public opinion, which is collected through polls on Facebook or Twitter. Talk to your subscribers, ask them what flavor they want to try, what blouse they like, or in general, what ideas and tips for your products they have. Users love freedom, and when they can voice their opinions, and realize they are important to you – it improves loyalty, and you gain their valuable knowledge, experience, and creativity.

Crowdsourcing is a method of gathering ideas, content, support, or other types of solutions from a group of people. Professionals around the world are increasing profits by crowdsourcing. They organize contests, and surveys, get instant feedback, listen, and utilize data/ideas from customers.

Crowdsourcing for your business products increases engagement, builds audience loyalty, and shows that you are an innovative, modern company. Adding a competitive element will only give them more motivation to participate.

To Sum Up, when registering on social networks, brand representatives should realize that you can’t use these platforms only for advertising. Get ready for subscribers and clients to seek communication with you and ask uncomfortable questions. The task of an SMM specialist is to make this communication effective for both parties.

After some work on social media, you have accumulated a certain amount of user-generated content. However, on your website, the main role is played by you, and when a customer comes there, only reads information about you and can’t participate, or talk to you. If all the fun ends up on social media, you’re missing out on users.

So when you organize contests and games, don’t forget about the site.  You can also enable commenting on your blog so that users can have a discourse there and you get all the benefits of user-generated content.

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