Being likable in the socialsphere doesn’t have to be as difficult as some industry experts make it seem. There are three key elements to being likable. You need to have relevant and original content, you have to be polite and tentative to your customers’ needs and wants, and you have to make a space where your customers and followers want to be.
First thing’s first in the social media world – content. Let’s face it, content is what keeps your users engaged and keeps the “likes” flowing. I always tell my clients that you can spend as much money as you want on ad dollars, but that will only get your target audience to your page. What keeps them there is your content. People want relevant, engaging, custom content.
Any of your competitors can make a Facebook page and can spend ad dollars, but not all of them realize that original and engaging content is key to keeping your fans. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen a page grow and fall because their content became stale. Keeping up with industry relevant information, informing your audience of specials or holiday related sales, even just day to day malarkey going on in the office. It personalizes your brand and keeps your audience engaged and liking your posts.
Next thing you need to consider to keep people liking your content and page is being tentative to your audience’s needs. Let me give you an example – everyone probably suspects your address is listed on your website, but they already clicked “Like” from your ad a few days ago and decided to visit your Facebook page for more information.
They’ll log onto Facebook and ask their question on your page instead of searching for it on other mediums of the internet. This is where you come in – instead of commenting back “Check our website for our address,” you can do the leg work and type out the address for your follower. Bet your bottom dollar they will appreciate that way more than having them click a link or go to a different site. They’ll be thankful you took the effort to help them.
Any sort of question asked on social media should be answered on that medium instead of linking to another source, unless that source provides supportive information that couldn’t be explained within a post (a useful video, an eBook, etc.). That little bit of effort from your end will go a long way with your customers.
The third and final way to bring likes into your social campaigns is to create a social space that your potential customers want to be in. You can do this a multitude of ways. I’ve already discussed keeping your content original and industry related, but there is more to it than that. You can take polls or ask engaging questions, anything that will keep your followers engaged and in a space they want to be.
Another thing to avoid is posting too many times a day. I’ve even seen campaigns where they post multiple times an hour. No follower wants to be spammed. Always remember that it will not bring likes in; it will make you lose followers.
Like I said, any company can shell up some money for advertisements, but what’s going to bring in business from social media is how you act with your potential buyers in that space they’re already engaging in. If you follow these three steps you should have no problem gaining and keeping followers on social media.
All the best,
Carly
Carly Cunningham is a Social Media Coordinator at Stream Companies, a Philadelphia area advertising agency.
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