How to Engage with Your Audience on Social Media

Engage with your audience on social media for a successful following. Here’s how.

One of the best ways to be the most widespread presence on social media platforms is by offering customers your time and energy.

Increasing engagement with your audience doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming, but it does require effort and a set of guidelines to be successful.

Social Media allows to reach out to a specific target audience directly. It has made targeting, reaching out to, and engaging with potential customers much easier.

Using platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn lets companies and influencers communicate and react to the outside world, making them more present and available.  Consistently and professionally engaging with your audience is the best way to keep them coming back.

It might sound pretty straightforward to engage with your audience, but it’s important to do it the right way if you want to get the best possible results. Creating posts or responding to comments here and there won’t give you the results you are looking for when it comes to leads.

Know Who You Are Engaging With

Before entertaining and engaging with your audience on social media, you must know who your target audience is. Do a little research to learn what group of people will benefit from your social media content the most, then take the time to create engaging content that appeals directly to them.

You can use software and social listening tools to help identify a specific audience based on keywords you choose to help identify people on social media platforms already discussing the information you provide.

When you know who to interact with, you can create quality content for better results.

Being present doesn’t just mean making sure you post something everyday. To be present with the audience, you must make yourself available as much as possible when your viewer needs you.

We live in an instant gratification society. While waiting one business day for your response might have been acceptable in the past, it will frustrate your audience today and could risk you losing a potential customer.

Be available as much as possible and provide answers in a short time frame.

One of the easiest things you can do to keep your viewers returning is to be respectful to everyone, no matter the situation. Creating amazing content is only half the battle when trying to encourage potential followers to stick with you.

When people come to your social media sites, it is for information or entertainment in a specific field. Typically, these viewers already know a little about what you are selling and expect to learn more.

If you can’t provide useful tips, tools, or questions to common answers, viewers will keep scrolling until they find someone who can.

Visuals are one of the most (if not the most) important parts of a successful social media presence.

Did you know:

• 90% of the information transmitted to the brain is visual.
• Infographics are 30 times more likely to be read in their entirety than a blog post or news article.
• Web content that includes images gets 650% more customer engagement than content that only includes text.
• Tweets that include visuals are 150% more likely to be retweeted.

Visuals can come in many different forms, from interesting pictures to relevant graphs, timelines, or guides.

Videos are another way to get your information across to the customer quickly and conveniently. Many people would rather see video content than take the time to read lengthy text.

The best way to utilize this type of engagement is by creating a short clip that offers just enough information without dragging on and boring the viewer. Get right to the point.

Another helpful tip is to set up the video content to play as people scroll past rather than adding a link to open it independently. An attention-grabbing video that starts on its own will get more views.

One way you get help growing your social media audience without actually doing anything is by asking others to share.

Believe it or not, people are much more likely to share your information when you tell them to than when you don’t.

This can include:

• Re-tweeting
• Sharing Facebook posts 
• Offering ways for viewers to “share” valuable content on your site in real-time
• Hashtags

Interests, information, and content constantly change, and attention spans move just as quickly. It is essential to stay relevant and update photos, videos, and other engaging content frequently so your information is never outdated.

Keep an eye on your cover photo, profile pictures, etc., and ensure those are inviting and up to date.

Staying on top of the latest trends and keeping your customers “in the loop” is a great way to show them you are engaging and available and that their presence is important.

When you want to increase your following on social media, there is nothing more helpful than engaging with your targeted audience. You have to be present, prepared, and promote your product in a personal and professional way.

Using the tips and tools above can give you a great start to communicating and engaging with your audience for a successful social presence.