The goal of any social media post is to turn your audience into your very own free marketing campaign. With that said making sure the content you present to your following (and possibly their following) is very important to the branding of your company.
We always talk about how social media is a pay-to-play arena, but today I want to talk about a few tips and tricks we have learned to get your customers to do the advertising for you!
Here are our 5 tips for getting FREE social media engagement.
1. Find Your Time Sweet Spot – The more engagement your post gets the more reach it will receive with Facebook’s new algorithm.
I know that sounds crazy, how do you get engagement without reach? You post at the exact right time. Now this is something that will take time to perfect, but Facebook & Instagram have insight tools that will help speed up the process. Schedule a few posts at the highest engagement times throughout the day for a week or so and see which times get the highest engagement, then own that time of the day for your followers with the next few tips.
2. Be Authentic, Not Salesy – Your followers are looking to learn about and be inspired by your content, not to listen to your next sales pitch about how great that diamond ring is.
Teach your audience about the difference between natural and lab-grown diamonds or showcase the sparkle of a diamond, but don’t push the price in their face. Your clients want to see who you are as a company, so show them! Create content that will make them smile or laugh. Creating this connection is more valuable than any sales pitch.
3. Get to Know Your Audience – Ask them what they want to see more of on your page, what their favorite diamond shape is, what their favorite piece of jewelry is from your store or to share a memory.
People LOVE to share their opinions, so asking them to give theirs on a post of yours is gold. It could be the simplest question like “which would you choose?” and you would not believe how many people will comment their fave.
Asking these questions will also allow you to get to know your audience and help ensure you put your followers’ needs front and center and target your content to their needs.
4. Use GREAT Content – Humans are visual – plain and simple, so step up that photo game. DO NOT rely on branded content or your social engagement will suffer.
I know we are all busy and think there are many, many more important things we could be doing than taking photos for a social media post, but if you do not care about your social posts, then why should your audience? The photo or video is the attention-grabbing part of the entire post, so if it isn’t eye catching then it will be scrolled right by. You need to take some time out of every day to take a few photos or a video of your team putting together a case for the newest collection to your store. SHOW OFF your store, SHOW OFF your staff, SHOW OFF your product in a way that makes you proud of it. The more time you put into taking those photos or videos the more time your audience will appreciate them.
5. Comments and Replies – Last, but certainly NOT least, ANSWER YOUR COMMENTS AND MESSAGES.
Improving your social media page engagement isn’t a “one and done” affair. If you expect your audience to take time out of their day to comment or share your content, then you need to make sure to take more time to return the favor and reply. Social Media has become a second customer service platform for consumers to reach brands and either ask questions or voice concerns. If you ignore them, then they will ignore you.
The bottom line is if you want your customers to spend their time engaging with you, then you need to take the same or even more time to engage them. BUT, the best part of all of this is, it’s what we do! If you want to learn about how we can help you create some amazing content and keep your brand engaged with your followers, then give us a call!