Social Media Engagement: how to do it, and how to hire for it

When you're dating, you don't generally propose on your first date (unless you're one of those unicorn couples! 🦄) And when you do...

You don't do it with an automated e-mail, you don't get your mate to do it, and you certainly don't text it!!

And your social media engagement for your company is exactly the same.

🚫 You don't automate it with bots and expect to build trust

🚫 You don't respond in just an emoji or three words. (The algorithms on all the platforms are clever and can spot spam)

🚫 You don't start by selling

So what do you do? You go old school, and you put in the work. You

✅ Respond to comments on your photos and stories with a genuine answer. If you can carry on the conversation with a question, all the better

✅ Visit other people's accounts and if they're your ideal customer, you strike up a conversation via their stories or posts, and regularly visit them and support their posts. This can feel a lot to do on top of posting content, but is often the missing piece of strategy for a company

✅ You join in conversations on the platform where you can build connections and demonstrate your knowledge. Facebook groups are perfect for this for example

Throw away comments like 'Nice colour' or ‘I agree’ don’t cut it anymore.

'I love that colour, I have the exact same colour scarf and I wear it ALL the time when I go out for playdates with my daughter. Do you wear it often?' is a far more engaging response. If there is any way that your response looks like it came from a bot, time to put some more thought into it. And an engaging comment encourages a response from there. And that is key to building relationships.

So in terms of tools, there must be something that can speed this up right??

In my opinion, not really. Manual is the best way to go.

Instagram really doesn't like third-party apps, and I’m sure the others are not fans either, so there is no recommended automated tool for growth. It's a case of engaging in the most systematic way you can. Instagram specifically also monitors the number of actions you take, so you want your engagement strategy to be effective and powerful without relying on bulk replying to people.

You can of course outsource this part of your social media management. And if you are considering it, there are some things that you should check first, to protect the health of your account.

⚠ Ask about their methods, you want to ensure they are not automating it in any way. There should be no ‘secret’ method they are using that they can’t share with you

⚠ Check that they will not be purchasing followers on your behalf. They simply should be chatting with your audience, and finding new ones

⚠ Ask how long they intend to be spending daily in the account. More is not better in this case. You need their actions to emulate yours. If you only engage for 20 minutes a day, and they promise to engage for 3 hours a day, there is more chance of your account getting suspended

⚠ They should ask you for some guidance on HOW you would respond to certain posts. They should be looking at how your brand voice comes across online

If you would like to have a chat about having some support with engagement in your business, feel free to get in touch. Shelly