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Social Media Marketing: 3 Tips for Better Social Media Engagement

Having your Social Media audience engage with your brand is the primary goal of any company, however if it is not planned and executed correctly, even the most engaging campaigns could fall short of the mark. The most willing audience still has to be reached at a time and place where they have an opportunity to engage. So how do we engage our audience better? Here are 3 steps that can improve content engagement.

1. Understanding Social Media Channels

Other social media may not suffer from the need for immediacy that Twitter has, but it’s always better to be at the top of people’s news feeds. A message perceived as older will feel less urgent when you call your customers to action. For additional insight to understand the user base for FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, you might find this article helpful: Choosing Social Channels For Your Audience

People use each Social Media channel differently and for different purposes. A great example of this is Twitter. People read Twitter when they want to know what’s going on “at this moment”. Few, if any Twitter users scroll very far down in their newsfeed. If it hasn’t been posted recently, it would be considered old news, and chances are if you’re not posting when your Twitter audience is available and reading, it is likely that your message will be lost “under the fold” in all of the other posts from an hour or two ago, where it likely will never be read.

2. Testing the timing of content

A/B testing will help you develop content that best suits the needs and habits of your target audience. Post different types of content at different times of day and measure the levels of engagement. Once you understand your users schedule, you can engage them with the appropriate content more effectively. Your message will have more relevance, higher engagement, and you will see a higher conversion on calls to action.
Many times user behavior will be similar within industry verticals, and past successes should provide a reference point when testing new campaigns. However, don’t assume that all social media campaigns will generate similar results, continue to test and learn with each new opportunity.

3. New Social Media channels

Exploring new Social Media channels as they develop can help you better understand how they are used. Once we know how they are used, we can better predict who will use them and when. For example, when Pinterest was initially launched, we didn’t know the demographics or what type of content it would favor. Now that some time has passed, we know that 62% of all Pinterest users are female. If the majority of users of your product or service are women, Pinterest could be a great way to effectively reach them. If we want to reach professionals, then our primary resource might be LinkedIn. These are both potentially outstanding ways of dialing in to your core audience, but both are Social Media channels that didn’t exist 5 years ago.

One channel that I am watching analytics data from is Vine. Some of the questions that come to mind are: How are we going to develop a use for 6 second videos? How will we identify the core users of Vine? We have seen engagement with a younger audience, but have yet to see brands engage in this channel. It’s still too early to tell, but the fact is that over time, characteristics will emerge and a profile of the typical Vine user will unveil itself. Once we determine who is engaging on the medium, we can then leverage their unique characteristics to provide a more engaging customer experience.

The likelihood of generating audience engagement is directly linked to the timing of your posts, the content type, and the Social Media channel. If we monitor our analytics, the numbers will indicate when change is necessary, and as a result, we can make better, more timely decisions. The landscape of social media is constantly changing, but as it does, we can discover new opportunities to use social media successfully.