March 28, 2024

Generating Engagement

Generating Engagement

 

Engaging Your AudienceDo you struggle trying to generate leads with social media?

 

Here are three – often overlooked – ways to progress relationships for more and better business. Do these three things to help move your business forward. Start online and leverage your knowledge and willingness to share to create both customers and collaborators.

Leverage Client Education – Share Your Knowledge

 

A very big opportunity for any business is creating quality and engaging educational materials beyond any self-serving content. I see too many companies using social media only as a broadcast channel. This can be boring and people tune out.

 

I feel the winners on social media will be the companies that engage their fans and followers with solid educational items. Your audience is often online to research something and you’ll be surprised at how much more receptive your audience will be to your promotional content after you build and establish your credibility with educational pieces.

 

Be active in the area of customer education.

 

Move Off-Line

 

It is perfectly OK to move a conversation off-line. In fact it may be necessary for some businesses to do this to move from interested consumer to customer or collaborator.

 

Business owners are now familiar with the need to engage online. Even more engagement is possible when you move off-line via a phone call, a live demo or even a meet-up. Turn your online activities into meaningful high-level interactions that can be enhanced even further off-line.

 

If you generate interest online then it may be time to cultivate some of your best followers off-line. Start a 2-way dialog and really get to know someone. Learn more about problems and the potential solutions they think they have now. Always seek to add value with your contributions. Make any off-line effort all about the client.

 

Furthering the relationship beyond the digital realm is essential for building rapport that allows you to discover problems and position your product or service as a solution that would work for them.

 

Don’t be afraid to ask to move a conversation off-line after you’ve had a few social interactions past your initial introduction.

 

This also works when you are trying to develop collaborators. Collaborators can really help to propel your business forward. If you want to develop collaborators then I feel it is essential to move off-line for relationship advancement.

 

Provide Value, Build Trust & Get Them Subscribed

 

Many business owners are trying to convert fans to customers without first adding value or building trust. That makes the leap from fan to paying customer large and perhaps a rare occurrence at best.

 

Here are 3 ways to close the gap:

 

1. Define your ideal client and be consistent with content that helps them. Provide educational solutions on your blog and notify your fans and followers about this blog content via social media. Drive people to your blog (your center of content).

 

Educational information could be:

  • A how-to checklist
  • A how-to post
  • A how-to infographic or
  • A how-to slideshow

Items such as these capture attention and encourage fans to click through for more with a great call to action.

2. Have a clear path to subscribing. Include an opt-in form that offers something of high value as a magnetic offer on your website or blog to capture email subscribers. Promoting this on social media organically is critical to converting fans/followers to customers.

 

3. Treat your email subscribers like gold. Don’t treat people like just another person on your “list”. Consistently provide awesome value via helpful content in your newsletter or email series.

 

By the time you do offer something for sale, their decision to buy from you is much easier because you’ve already built trust and credibility.

 

Increasing Engagement with Social Media – Summary

 

Always add value and consider how educational items can be part of your online marketing mix.

 

Move some of your engagement off-line and really develop a relationship. Moreover, to move off-line is essential for the development of collaborator relationships.

 

Close the gap and create another avenue for engagement by having a clear path to build your e-mail subscriber base. Then always add value using this channel as well.

 

If you want to move your blogging to the next level – beyond the basics – to create even more leverage then click on this link – Generate More Engagement with Blogging Collaborations. Blogging and collaborations are a powerful combination