Whether you are posting to the followers of your page, creating a video to upload or running an actual ad campaign to a completely cold audience, if you are engaged in social media marketing, you probably already know that people do not like to feel like they’re just another number or another statistic.
Unfortunately, a lot of big-time influencers on social media who have grown to be so big, have allowed their heads to get just as big and their standard for content becomes extremely diluted. It’s as if they reach the point where their heads exploded in terms of ego. So, what happens? That’s right, sooner or later, these accounts start to implode. It’s not because of the people behind these personas did something really reprehensible, disgusting or downright embarrassing.
In most cases, thankfully they maintain a level of integrity, but they just keep posting the same stuff that they’ve always been posting. They’re basically “sticking to the script”. In most cases, they start to get some affiliate deals or sponsorships, so they establish revenue streams and then have to keep consistent to what landed them those deals in the first place. So of course, we can all understand the incentive or motivation to be consistent. However let’s at least acknowledge the idea that consistent does NOT have to mean complete lack of creativity or imagination. And if you’re a competitor, it leaves the door to you and your social media pages… wide open.
Inevitably, you see followers and audiences of these influencers start to dwindle or become disenchanted and less motivated to take action on whatever they are pitching. How come? Like I said, people like to feel that they matter. People like to feel that they’re not just a number or they’re some sort of statistic. That’s why it’s important to be engaging with your audience the right way.
One key way to do this… engage with their engagement.
This is the secret. It really is. You engage with engagement. In other words, when you post content and somebody likes it or comments on it, comment back or like back. Show them they matter to you. Show them that they are welcome on your page. Show them that whatever they do that it has an impact on the page and you want to make it abundantly clear to them. When you do this, you stand out like a hero. Why? A lot of the influential accounts don’t bother to do this or they have others doing it for them and they don’t monitor how it’s being done or what’s being said.
So, what happens to these community members that YOU engage back with? They stick with you because you make them feel appreciated. They know that somehow, some way on your account they feel like they matter. When they engage in any type of activity, you sit up and pay attention and you let them know. Also, make no mistake about it, other members on your page become spectators and see these real and organic conversations and they definitely take note.
With manual engagement, sure it can be very time intensive. Sure, it can be labor intensive. But you don’t have to do all of this by hand, you don’t have to burn up a tremendous amount of effort and energy pulling this off. Thankfully, there are software or automated tools where you can program “recipes” for certain account actions and then the recipe would engage to open the door… allowing you to start and continue a meaningful exchange and conversation. This is the key. It’s about engaging with them and giving them the content that they came for. It’s all about getting your community to feel that they matter.
Save Money and You Don’t Always Have To Burn Up Your Time
If you want to save money on social media original content, focus on your time. Chances are you won’t destroy your following with substandard photos (unless your a photographer!). However it’s also true, you don’t have to always be posting world class, high-quality photos.
Of course there are exceptions (i.e. my photographer comment), but generally speaking you can view this way, a good portion of time. So, what can you do? This is where a little bit of attention to detail comes in. This is where a little bit of creativity and imagination kicks in. What do you do? You host original photo contests with your community. Sounds pretty simple, right?
Keep in mind often times, different niches have different rules for these types of contests. Keep in mind that these rules are informal. These are not sanctioned or, in any way, official policies of social media. These are rules that these brands of certain niches came up with. You should research those rules, pay attention to what they’re doing right and hold those contests with your community. Chances are, you would probably have to hold several contests before a particular contest gets the results that you are looking for. You just have to stick to it.
So, how does this work? You ask your community members to come up with original photos regarding a certain theme. Here is the trick, people can just submit random photos. First, they have to meet quality standards. Second, they have to acknowledge that anything that they turn in will be your property. Finally, they have to guarantee that when they turn in content, that content is their own property.
When you this, you’ll kill two birds with one stone. Why? You get tons of niche specific high-quality content that you don’t have to pay money for, after all, this is a contest. Second, as part of the contest, they have to publicize that they join the contest. What does this do? In practical terms, it pumps free traffic to your account. That’s the bottom-line. Are you ready? Post the contest today.
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