If your online engagement never gets past a certain number, be it likes or comments, then the answer could be summed up thus: It’s not them – it’s you. Katrina Bell explains.
When you and your team sit down to talk about what PR you need to push in the next quarter, what products or services you want to highlight, do you ever ask what your online social customers want?
If the answer is no, then you are being selfish with your socials, and dropping that habit can have a truly positive effect on your engagement. The clues are all there in your past posts.
These are 8 easy steps you can take:
1. What questions are you being asked? Not just on your socials, but find out what is being asked in other interactions. Does your customer service constantly get asked the same question? It might be technical, or it might be ‘Why should i sign up for an extended warranty?’. Now it’s your job to answer that question in a snappy social post across your platforms, and maybe pin it to the top.
2. If you have a piece of content in the past that had a high number of saves, chances are it was useful and users want to keep it to hand for later. Now diagnose what could have been useful about it, and use that as a template for new content.
3. Do you even know which of your posts in the last year has been the most successful? It’s time to go back and filter by popularity or reach. Then you can assess whether it was because it was funny or it was useful. Or did you do anything different with your signposting? Your bestselling posts require forensic-level dissection. What did you do? Why did you do it? Who is the genius who came up with it?
4. Do not go back further than 6 months even if you have a genuine viral standout. The algorithms change so quickly that it’s just not worth assessing your metrics beyond that timeframe. Every single platform is mucking around to find out how to tether users into their output and how to make them spend their money.
5. Look at the comments. People will tell you in common threads of questions they ask or elements they are picking up on. What are they saying? Once you have done that, do a post or video on just that one thing.
6. Did a post get lots of likes but not alot of comments? It was probably because you targeted it well. Your audience saw content from you that they understood why you were delivering it and gave it some appreciation. Now do more content for that audience.
7. Lots of shares? Chances are it was either a barrel of laughs or it was highly relatable. Do you recognise any of the people that saw your post and threw it out into the Internet? They sound like people already looking at you and sharing to other interested parties. I do this alot with my other half. He gets a lot of shares about scampi and chips at horse-based entertainment venues.
8. Big, bad negative comments? Show you have heard and understood. Post a general reply addressing the issues raised. Keep it practical and don’t tag the original commenter. Just use it as a 'We’re listening' post.
