Social media engagement is just another term for interaction that aims to build relationships and awareness. Its purpose is less about promotion and more about connecting an audience to a particular brand.
Many times the focus for businesses becomes the product or service they offer and how to promote it to increase sales. And although the ultimate goal for many businesses is to generate more income, people often find constant sales pitching overbearing, which discourages them from taking action and puts a divide between the audience and the brand.
The focus and efforts should, therefore, be invested in connecting with your audience, rather than selling, as the connection will have a direct impact on growth and how these connections can convert into clients.
In 2018 Facebook released a video explaining that they will prioritise personal posts over brand focused posts. This caused quite the frenzy and businesses started experiencing a sudden decline in their audience reach which in turn made it difficult for them to promote their brand.
The misconception of social engagement was evident, and there seemed to be a lack of understanding of how to build connections and content that would encourage meaningful interaction.
To properly connect with your audience, you need to understand what they need and when they need it as well as what they want and expect. More importantly, your connection with your audience will be deeply rooted in the authentic brand voice they are able to identify you by.
Take Nando’s for instance, they take controversial subjects and put a humorous twist to it. It’s what they are known for, and it is how they connect with their audience and drive social engagement. What’s the unique brand voice that is helping you drive social engagement? If you’re unsure of how to identify or build your brand voice, connect with us and let us help you be uniquely you.
Content aside, social media engagement is about more than just what your audience can or will find interesting. Many have started turning to social media to seek feedback from brands, making social platforms a line of customer care too. And as a business owner, you’ll find it to be as much of a learning hub for you as it will be for your audience.
Through social media, businesses can connect with their audience and establish and better understand customer needs through live chats and Q&A’s.
To better understand social media engagement and to implement the correct processes to improve social engagement, you need to overcome the overuse of promotional posts and connect and interact with your audience the same way in which you would with brands you connect with.
