Question: We have done a good job of curating and sharing good content on our social media, even automating it to save time and keep our social presence active, however, we have notice limited engagement and growth in our following. What do we need to do to improve this?
It sounds to me like you have found a good starting point for your social media. Consistently finding and sharing great content even when it isn’t your own is a tremendous way to build relationships and trust online. Having said that, your noticeable lack of engagement and growth isn’t surprising. Here is why:
For most brands to succeed in social media, they need to do a lot more than just share content. The whole idea of social is a two way street so if you are strictly just putting content out there and not listening and engaging with your network then you are likely to see a limited return on what you are sharing.
Given the growth of tools that help brands and individuals automate their online presence, this has become even more true because people can generally tell when someone is really sharing versus when someone is using a tool to automatically share. If you want to see more return on your social media and social automation, here are some things that I suggest you try.
- Customize your messages: Social automation is great, but if you aren’t at least making the message that is automatically being shared unique to include a little personality, most people will see this and be less likely to share.
- Consider your platforms: When automating, don’t have your messages for FB or LinkedIn look like they belong on Twitter. Hashtags are always a giveaway that you aren’t considering the platform. Instead, target the channels with the right message and content, which is more likely to yield engagement.
- Respond to Signals: If you aren’t proactively reaching out (which I think is a good idea), at least make sure on a daily basis to listen to all of your social channels and respond to people that comment, like, share and mention you and/or your brand.
- Reach out: This may be the biggest opportunity, but if you are creating content with people in mind then it isn’t a terrible thing to share the content with them specifically along with a message as to why. Regardless of platform, this 1:1 style marketing is a great way to start a conversation and when done right it works quite well.
Automation is a great place to start with your social media, but to really grow your social presence and create more business opportunities, try to go beyond generic automation to better conversation starters and more real life 1:1 conversation.
How is your company connecting to clients and prospects using social media?
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