Reengage Your Customers on Social Media
If you have lost interaction on your business’ social media accounts, then you are not on your own. The algorithms alone have meant that many small businesses have had to either increase the time they spend on clawing back some reach and engagement. Or they have had to ‘pay to play’, boosting their posts just for their fans to see them.
Keeping up with new trends adds another layer of complexity. This has left some business owners looking to freelance experts to manage their social media, which adds another cost.
While reengaging your own audience might seem like a big feat, keep the following in mind. Social media trends do change, but the basics of what your audience wants don’t. People want to feel heard, they want to be entertained, and they want you to make that easy for them.
So let’s have a look at how to cover those basics, reengaging your customers on social, while using your business pages to market your products and services.
The 80/20 rule
There are a couple of new trends on social media for 2021, which are worth talking about. But before we get into those, let’s start with taking a wider view at what you are trying to achieve here.
The purpose of your social media accounts is to market your offerings to customers old and new. Remembering that social media is a part of your content marketing strategy, let’s briefly recap how to use content marketing to work in your favour.
As I’m sure you know, content marketing is about leading with value. You begin with offering up your best content, such as how-to videos, blog posts, and shorter form ideas and thoughts. All of these can be repurposed into posts for each of your social media accounts across all platforms.
Once you have led with value and offered up that great content, you then want to follow up each post with your ‘call to action’ – in other words, this is the marketing part of content marketing. Here is where you wrap up each piece of content with a line or two about a relevant product or service that you offer.
When you look at this through the lens of reengaging your customers on social media, your aim is for the content to draw them in. Then, if your call to action is of genuine interest to them, the aim is for some of your readers to click on a link that you have added and take action – perhaps purchasing a product or signing up for more information.
This is the framework you want to use with your social media marketing. Now all that remains is to make sure your content is actually engaging. We can get into more specific detail on that next, taking the latest trends into consideration.
The trend for ‘people first’ social media
Consumer research has shown that people are getting tired of brands just talking at them on social media. They don’t want blanket statements, or comments left unanswered. People want to be included in conversations.
This has sparked a trend called people first social media. The aim here is for business and brands to talk with their followers, not to them, and really engage with their comments.
How can you apply this yourself?
Take a look back over your last few months of posts. Notice if they are more statements or questions. If you have a mixture of both, there is a good chance you will see that you received more comments on the question posts.
This isn’t only about the current people first trend, it is also human nature. When somebody reads a question in their newsfeed, they often feel compelled to think of their answer. They might also respond physically by typing a comment. We are just wired to respond to questions, so it’s a good way to stimulate a response.
Try this yourself on your next posts. Find a way to add a question to your content. Avoid yes or no questions. If you want real engagement then ask for personal experiences similar to the topic you are posting about.
As your engagement grows and you begin reaching new audience members too, be sure to really make the most of your increased brand awareness. Have your branding on all of your social media platforms, and on each piece of content that you link to. It’s a good idea to layer your logo image over any videos you share, so that everything matches your business pages.
If you need a tool to update your logo, check out Logo Creator for free.
Making video work for you
An awful lot of small business owners are diligently posting videos on social media, then being disappointed at how little interaction they get. When we are reengaging customers with video posts, we need to keep in mind two things.
Firstly, these days attention spans are shrinking more than ever. This is ever more the case since the beginning of the pandemic last year. We are anxiously racing through our news feeds, looking for something to engage us. Often that means we don’t stick around to watch a long video.
To keep your engagement up, try posting shorter clips of old videos. When creating new ones, keep them short to begin with. Also, remember to use questions, not just statements, to get people involved in what you are talking about.
Don’t forget the subtitles
A common trap that reduces your video views is the absence of subtitles. We often forget that not everybody can or wants to watch with the sound up. Many people are scrolling through their social feeds while also watching TV, sitting with their family or even while they are at work. Not forgetting the hearing impaired customers you may have too.
If you make the video accessible to them without the need for the volume up, then you will glean so many more views on your video content.
If you want to try a tool to add subtitles for you, then Zubtitle is very affordable. Keep in mind that Facebook and YouTube both have built in editing tools that add your closed captions for free.
Wrapping it up
Let’s just recap on those tips to re engage your customers on social media in 2021.
- Remember the 80/20 rule of content marketing. Engage people with your content, then follow up with a call to action.
- To make that content truly engaging, ask people questions. Get onboard with the people first social media trend, and respond to all comments on your posts.
- Keep your video content short, playing to the shorter attention spans we all have today.
- Add subtitles to boost your video views.
I hope that you found some tips that you will use in your own small business social media marketing. While continually posting to a quiet audience can feel like an uphill battle, it is absolutely possible to reengage your followers.
Don’t worry about all the trends, but instead focus on the basics. People are wired to respond to questions, and we love to be asked about ourselves. So think of your social posts as conversations, rather than as statements. Involve your audience, and they will naturally become engaged again.
Written by Antonia Black
