Image: Maria Reyes-McDavis
The hottest word in social media right now is “Engagement”. Defined as “The act of engaging or the state of being engaged.” The definition really does say it all. You have to be in the state of engagement to truly be engaged.
Engagement in social media typically ties in with the number of followers you have on your social networks or how many people are engaging back with you on the posts you are putting out there in the social media universe. Yet, the question on every business owner’s mind when taking a focused look on their social media efforts includes: How do we boost engagement on our social networks? You also hear it at meetings and events. How do we encourage and heighten audience engagement? The answer is simple.Start listening and start the engagement process on your end. It is too often we are too busy hyping the event, hyping our brand we forget about the people and clients behind our brand or event who are those helping make it a success.
I came across a great blog post by Jay Baer, content marketing expert and founder of Convince and Convert. “Smart Marketing is about Help and not Hype” . This quote really resonated with me. We are so enthralled with social media and we are on our little soap-boxes behind our computers. Transmitted messages that are relevant to us and our brand. We keep sending out our messages without stopping for that one moment and engaging back. Good conversations are not ones that involve just talking, but involve listening as well as conversing back and forth with others. When it comes to social media the same principles apply but with a slightly different protocol. A simple thank you or a tagged shout out to recognize that person we just connected goes a long way. If you can’t immediately get an answer back leave one for them that will eventually prompt them for a reply back.
The world is really at our fingertips and connections across the world are closer than ever. Before we start worrying so much about- how do I get more likes to my Facebook company page or how do I get more people following me on LinkedIn and Twitter. Let’s start thinking about this new networking approach right in front of us. The new mindset for successful marketing just like the old adage of networking is to help each other out. Help promote each other, not hype ourselves and just boast our own business.
I never thought I would have access to the Vice President of Digital Marketing at USA Networks, but I do.
One click led to another as I hashtagged one of my favorite shows “Psych” and good old Twitter recommended a person to follow which so happened to be “The VP of Digital Marketing Strategy”. So what did I do? I tagged him in a following tweet and gave him kudos for the amazing job he is doing with the social media initiatives for the show. Low and behold he answered back and that is the art of the new networking. Going that extra mile to comment on a post, to tag someone and reply back on a tweet makes a world of a difference.
So I encourage you to test this new networking approach out. I also encourage for your social media team to have close collaboration with your sales team. This is the new way to also research your next wave of prospects, to start connecting and start that relationship with them. Discover what matters to them, what interests them and engage back in the conversation, whether on Twitter or Linkedin engage with them. This is the new way to network.
Kaylynne Hatch
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