What is Social Engagement? Now brands need to increase their social engagement if they want to reach a larger audience. What is social engagement? However, there is a disconnect between how brands use social media and how their customers use social media. Many brands continue to use social media to promote, rather than as a two-way communication channel with their customers. It’s important for brands to recognize that social media shouldn’t be used just for promotions. If social engagement is so important, why aren’t more brands doing it? It’s important to be active and attentive to what your audience is saying to you or about you and respond quickly. At the same time, if you aren’t replying to a customer, you run the risk of them posting and sharing about their negative experience with your brand. If you’re looking for ways to improve your social engagement, here are a few core engagement metrics that you might want to track: Estimated inbound messages vs. the number of replies Response rate Average amount of time to respond You can also utilize the data you collect from your social media channels to see the effects of your social engagement strategy.
When brands first began using social media to connect with fans, all they had to do was create a new post and their followers would be able to see their content. However, as social media continues to evolve, developed algorithms have made it more difficult for brands to get their posts in front of their fans. Now brands need to increase their social engagement if they want to reach a larger audience. This means that they need to share content that will resonate with fans, driving to likes, clicks, comments, and shares.
What is social engagement?
It’s not enough to just have a social media profile for your brand anymore. Instead, you need to actively work to build a relationship with your fans through interactions and opening up a long-term conversation.
The ways that you utilize your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social media accounts are a part of the customer experience. You should aim to establish your brand as someone that they can count on. Engaging with them on social media can help you to earn their trust.
Social engagement has changed the customer experience
In the past, it wasn’t always easy to get the brand to recognize a customer’s question or concern. From busy customer service representatives to an automated message chain, it was a tedious process for customers to feel like their needs were being taken care of.
Social media has changed the landscape for customer service. According to Sprout Social’s Q2 2016 Index, social media was the most preferred channel for a customer to engage with a brand. However, there is a disconnect between how brands use social media and how their customers use social media. Many brands continue to use social media to promote, rather than as a two-way communication channel with their customers. Customers recognize that social media is a powerful tool for them to communicate with a brand; however, brands will send 23 messages for every 1 consumer response.
While the number of messages to brands that require a response continues to increase, brands only respond to 11 percent of their customers. And when they do reply to customers, it’s not in a timely manner. Consumers can expect to wait up to four hours for a response from a brand, and the average brand response time is even worse: 10 hours.
How to improve social engagement
From the ability to leave reviews to sending a brand a direct message, social media has changed the customer experience. It’s important for brands to recognize that social media shouldn’t be used just for promotions. Instead, it’s time to view social media as a two-way channel for creating a dialogue with your customers.
If social engagement is so important, why aren’t more brands doing it? Social…
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