Whether talking about a small business or a global brand, social media presence is crucial to every business strategy. But having an account on every popular platform isn’t enough – you need to engage users and provide them with exciting content if you want them to like your brand and one day become customers. 

Keeping audience engagement at steadily high levels isn’t easy, especially with the constantly changing algorithms, but it isn’t impossible either. We’ve gathered a few tips to incorporate into your customer engagement strategies.

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Why Is It Important to Engage Customers on Your Social Media? 

Social media engagement is a popular term in digital marketing that refers to the levels of interaction users have with an account on any given platform. It represents actions on social media platforms that help the algorithm rank your content and push it to users likely to interact with it. Various types of metrics can show us what’s engagement, like:

• Likes
• Comments
• Shares 
• Saves
• Clicks
• Mentions
• Watch time for videos
• Number of followers

Of course, not all of these hold the same value – take followers, for example. People tend to associate many followers with engaging customers on social media, but this is only partially true. While having a broad audience helps, it doesn’t necessarily mean that users who follow you will interact with your account. 

If people don’t care about your content, how can you hope to turn them into customers one day? At the end of the day, that’s what it comes down to – building a loyal customer base and increasing ROI. Let’s go over five simple ways to engage with your customers on social media and build your brand’s online presence.

Know Your Audience and Their Preferences 

One of the fastest ways to figure out how to engage customers is to learn what they want to see on social media – what kind of content resonates best with the users that follow your business? This is closely tied to what your business is about and what your products or services are for. 

It’s easy to understand that some brands can engage customers with fun, lighthearted content, while others should stick to more traditional digital marketing ideas. You wouldn’t expect a medical clinic to post memes instead of educational content, but it wouldn’t be surprising if a digital marketing company did that – right? 

Focus on Your Brand Strategy – What Kind of Image Do You Want to Present to the World? 

When you come across a business account, it’s hard to feel tempted to engage with it if it seems dull or uninspiring, like it doesn’t have its brand voice. There’s nothing worse than a business that doesn’t give you any impression – that’s why forming your unique image is crucial. 

To do that, you must determine what kind of impression you want to make and work on a brand strategy that will result in that. Remember everything you know about your audience – use it to your advantage when building your business plan. 

Make Your Content Unique and Valuable 

Engaging customers on social media is easier said than done – you must offer something people find helpful or entertaining to reach your goals. Here we must mention one crucial thing – business accounts must stay in their niche. There are millions of topics and trends, but you must stick to those relevant to your product or service. 

What makes your brand unique, and what can you offer that others can’t? Try to get your content to revolve around that – explaining what you can provide and what sets you apart from your competitors will help you become relevant and better engage with customers on social media.

Don’t Be Afraid to Get Creative to Engage Clients 

All this talk about brand image and how customers perceive the business – especially for a small business that has yet to grow and evolve – may result in safe digital marketing strategies. If provenly efficient, it can’t hurt your brand, right? Well – this is only sometimes the case. 

We often see brands thinking too small – following basic social media trends and not posting much else. This is one of the marketing mistakes to avoid – you can’t be afraid to get a little bit creative with your content. Give your social media manager more freedom, and watch them develop something relevant to your niche yet unique for your brand – that’s how you engage clients. 

Build a Community Where Users Feel Welcome to Participate

Engaging customers on social media can’t be expected if the brand doesn’t do anything to encourage them to interact with their content. People like to feel welcome when they go somewhere, which also goes for the virtual space. How do you ensure your target audience feels free to like, comment, and ask questions? 

You need to give them a push – start the conversation and directly encourage users to keep the discussion going. Whether through asking questions or participating in games and contests, your audience should feel their input is needed and valuable – which it truly is. 

Engage Clients by Showing Them There’s a Real Person Behind the Brand 

In their posts, large brands often show people who are a part of their social media team – this kind of content is shared on TikTok, for example, and has led to numerous viral trends. 

If you’re a small business with only an entire team making your TikToks, you should consider being the face of your brand – let your audience get to know the person behind the product or service they love. Incorporating this personal touch will get customers more invested in what you’re about to do next, and they will be more likely to stick around.  

Use Analytics to Track Engagement and See What Can Be Improved 

Want to track how you engage with customers on social media and how they interact with your account? It’s good that all-important social media platforms provide a marketing dashboard for businesses to monitor their progress, identify areas for improvement, and quickly see an increase in customer engagement.

Keep track of your engagement, and look for things that can be improved – the importance of marketing analytics lies in the fact that they allow you to correct your mistakes and watch how quickly customer engagement increases.

Of course, learning how the analytics work takes some time, but this is a time well spent. Consider it an investment in the future that will bring you plenty of new users – and eventually customers.  

Be Quick to Respond to Customer Feedback 

When you finally engage customers with your content, you can rest assured that a lot of that customer interaction will be questions for you – and that’s incredible because answering those questions is the perfect way to engage with customers on social media. 

Questions are the easiest way to see what people want to see from your brand, and they give you a chance to elaborate further on your product or service without sounding too pushy. You should respond promptly, though – no one likes to feel ignored. A short response time will increase customer satisfaction and establish you as a reputable business. 

Pro-tip – you can use the questions to make more engaging content. Social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram allow you to answer questions in a video – can you imagine a better way to engage customers?

How to Approach Negative Feedback?

Customer relationship management is one of the vital aspects of running a successful business – and social media platforms are no exception to that rule. You must be ready for everything, from the nicest to the most unpleasant feedback. We all know how to deal with positive client interactions, but what should you do when the user is malicious? 

The first and most crucial advice here would be this – under no circumstances should you ignore negative feedback on social media. Ignoring the issue will worsen it and paint you as a brand with poor customer service. Always answer and answer promptly – remember, we should be quick to respond to engaging clients. 

Different brands deal with the problem of negative feedback differently, but one thing everyone has in common is maintaining a polite and professional attitude. Stay true to your brand voice and answer calmly and pleasantly. If you’ve made a mistake, acknowledge it – if not, try to resolve the misunderstanding to the best of your ability. 

The message should be personalized; note that you will be available for further questions. Remember that these kinds of customer interactions should always be sincere. 

Social Media Engagement Is Vital for Businesses – Why Not Put Effort Into Boosting It?

We live in an age where social media marketing is the dominant sphere of digital marketing. When you know as much as you do about the importance of audience engagement for your business development, it’s reasonable to assume that you will want to build a more significant online presence and boost your engagement metrics. Indeed, that’s one of the most critical aspects of your digital marketing strategy! Work to engage clients, and watch your business grow – you’ll send invoices for your services in no time!

Stefan Jovanovic is a Marketing Specialist at Coupler.io, an all-in-one data analytics and automation platform built by the product development company Railsware. Along with his passion for exploring various marketing tactics and outreach strategies, he also possesses a keen interest in photography, social media, and writing.