Increase Social Media Engagement: A Guide to Boost User Interaction

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So now you know engagement is important for your social media strategy. But, how do you go about increasing engagement in your social channels?

gardenpatch presents the Ultimate Guide on how to generate social media engagement and develop an emotional connection with your customers.

First of all, you need to understand that developing an emotional emotional with your customers takes time. So you have to be patient. This will not happen over night.

Customers are real people and engaging with them is the same thing as building relationships. People do not propose marriage to someone they just met on the same day. They must get to know the person first to know their preferences, favorite food, favorite football team, etc. You have to start building a relationship with your customers, knowing what they like and what you can offer them to start building engagement with them.

Developing an emotional connection with your customers will help drive even your other marketing efforts. To get highly engaged customers towards your brand, you need to follow these 11 steps:

1. Understand Your Buyer Personas

You need to know who you are talking to and know what their needs are so you may proceed with creating relevant content for them. Once you know the audience you are referring to, you can tailor your posts, the tone of your messages and where you’ll find new audiences. First, you need to ask yourself:

• What is their main problem?
• Why is your customer on social media?
• Where does your customer get informed?
• Who does your customer follow on social media?
• What are the problems they face every day?

Pay attention to their necessities, what inspires them, what keeps them motivated, and what are their main goals. You have to think about how they think, and this will help you understand how to deliver messages specifically tailored to them. Once you are able to hear their thoughts and identify their issues, you are equipped to help them solve their problems better than your competition.

2. Set Social Media Goals Based On Your Audience

When you really get to know your audience, you must also consider the value that you will be creating for all your future social media posts. Keep in mind that there should always be a reason you are creating a post.

Remember that social media was created to help people feel connected to each other; and that also includes businesses and brands people enjoy. Social Media was made for building relationships with your audience and other brands, and not necessarily for direct selling. So this is why your main goals should be promoting and building your community.

To maintain organic engagement, you must follow the 20/80 rule, 80% of your posts should be regarding community building and 20% should be regarding your direct product. This way it will help you not to push your customers to purchase a specific product (or service) and will make them feel connected with the brand.

3. Provide Value To Your Customers

If your customers want information, generate valuable content by providing them with tips, hacks, or any other fun fact that will keep them interested in your content. Tell them something that they don’t know. Give them advice and they will show appreciation by thanking and praising you on your social channels as well as their own. Offer additional value too, by rewarding the engagement. If you give value, they will be more likely to engage again.

4. Always Respond To Your Audience

Get to know your customers better! It’s a must to always answer them. Respond to their comments and inquiries, be honest, be transparent, and be personal. You must respond to them in less than 24 hours to show that their query matters to you and you respect their time. Imagine ignoring someone in person for a long period of time. If it takes you days to respond to your customers, they will feel ignored and will start losing trust in your brand and ideals.

Keep in mind that 96% of American customers say they'll consider switching companies because of poor service, according to Forbes. Always listen to their feedback and connect with them; this will help you grow as a company. Let your customers know that you pay attention to their advice and show them that you care about their opinions by posting content specially made for them.