Why Brands Need To Make Engagement Their First Priority
One of the biggest mistakes many digital marketers made in the early days of social media dominance, around 2010, was actually purchasing followers in order to “jump start” their Twitter marketing plans and efforts. In a bid to appear more established, they failed to take into account that not only would this become glaringly obvious due to the lack of real interactions later on, but that these fake followers offered them nothing in terms of conversion and create an actual customer base from their followers.
As impressive as lots of followers may look at first glance, it’s much more important to have consistently engaged followers than those who simply add to a number that may not even contribute to your bottom line by being converted into paying customers. It’s important to focus on fostering relationships with your existing followers (who are hopefully also customers) in order to gain traction that way.
Engagement doesn’t just come from one direction, either. It’s important to use your social media as an informational hub and point of customer service contact with existing and new customers alike. And don’t just respond to the tame stuff, go for the gusto. While some social media gurus warn against even acknowledging negative feedback, it’s important to not only zero in on them but actively work to fix the problem. Bad news spreads faster than good news, so it’s imperative you take to social media to address the issue and direct them to another medium to resolve the problem. Not only are you helping that particular customer’s issue, but you’re showing your other followers that you’re willing to provide more than just updates and will be there when they need your assistance the most.
It’s important for brands to shift their focus from solely the amount of followers towards how much acrtive, involved and engageed followers they have; and ways they can encourage more of tht kind of participation and open dialogue.