This is part 3 of a 4 part series from WebBizIdeas on the core steps you need to take to engage social media.
We also have a great report that you can download with each step and examples of these steps in action. You can find that report here Social Media Engagement.
Engagement – the things you do once you have an audience.
This is actually the step where you get permission to move to the next step. First and foremost you must ensure that you deliver on what you promised in your acquisition strategy. If once someone has started to engage with you and they do not get what they expected they will leave or worse yet tune out. Just as the advent of timeshifted TV has allowed consumers to skip commercials if you don’t deliver value your audience will abandon you as well.
Key Questions for Engagement
- How can I add value to people that follow me or the audience that I gain in the permission marketing space? (email in addition to social is permission based)
- What are the acceptable forms of engagement in this channel?
- What is my engagement schedule?
- Who is responsible for engagement items?
- What are the unique ways I can engagement this channel that will set me or my company apart?
- What does my target market expect from me?
- What are my competitors doing?
Engagement Examples
Engagement can arguably be the most important step. Without proper engagement you simply would not be effective when moving onto the next element—monetization. The people and companies that successfully engage can then prime their audience towards offers, purchasing, and other elements of the sales funnel. Below I’ve included a few great examples of companies that are engaging within social media.
Steel Buildings are Social?
SteelMaster a manufacturer of prefabricated steel buildings engages Facebook in an unusual way. You wouldn’t guess that there would be much affinity to a steel building. First they found that Facebook is a great place to post pictures of customer’s buildings.
These pictures not only engage existing customers—they also tell a story to potential customers what is possible. Since the backbone of Facebook is pictures this plays well in this platform.
They also use Twitter to get exposure and create demand in vertical markets they had little traction in, such as chicken farmers and woodworkers.
Watch a Video Get a Free Night
Rogers Smith Hotel uses twitter to give away free nights of stay (click to see tweet below).
Even Paint Can Engage?
IdeaPaint does a great job with their blog. This is the launching pad of their engagement plan. IdeaPaint turns virtually anything you can paint into a high-performance dry-erase surface—every 3 year olds fantasy.
Their outreach typically starts with a great video post that shows the product in action. Telling a story each time it also gives potential customers what is possible with their unique product. From there they engage within YouTube, Twitter and Facebook connecting with their core market.
Wait a Refrigerator?
Subzero (maker of appliances and high end refrigerators) whose core customer is a woman age 45 or older focuses on the essential element of adding value to its affluent customers’ busy lives. They do this by sharing seasonal recipes, wine pairings, and cooking tips. They also spotlight hot kitchen designers. Facebook is the third-top-referring site to SubZero.com.
Sub-Zero then engages their audience rewarding their affluent followers with exclusive news, discounts, videos, and pictures. This gave the follower the feeling of being on the inside. One recent question posed by SubZero has garnered over 200 responses or close to a hundred for the simply question what’s for dinner tonight?
Social Media Principals special report [pdf