Stress-free Social Media Marketing for Powerful Engagement

So, you want to engage with your audience, but not sure where to start? Building a social media marketing strategy is not that hard. Nor is the execution when you have a plan and can delegate effectively. 

THE FRAMEWORK

So how do you engage your audience so that they are more prone to interact with you and respond to your posts?  

A key to this is to use the Rule of Thirds. One-third of the time you educate, one-third of the time you resonate, and one-third of the time you have a strong call to action.  

#1:  Educate

You educate your audience about what you do, what you stand for, your brand, your mission, and your message by sharing small snippets and information on a regular basis. This information can be repurposed from your website, blog posts, videos, podcasts or audios which you have transcribed. You often can also educate by posting or celebrating wins or victories where you’ve helped your clients or customers solve a problem or reach a solution. People love storytelling, and that’s a great way to educate about what you do.

#2: Resonate

You can resonate with your audience by showing them that you believe in the same values and things that they care about. You can do this through inspirational quotes, imagery, and celebration of key events and festivities. One of my favorites is to connect national days with things that resonate with my audience. You can also resonate by sharing other people’s posts with a comment that illustrates that you get it as well. For example, if you see someone else post, “listening to the customer is always priority #1,” then you can share that post with a comment like, “love when business owners get it!”

#3: Call to Action

We most commonly think of a call to action as being a direct request for the reader to contact our business or buy from us. But there are different gradients of a call to action, and you’ll want to mix this up. Sometimes the call to action is simply to ask for a thumbs up or a comment if a person agrees. Other times the call to action may be to download a document, read a story, or watch a video. And then, of course, there will be the times when you have a call to action that directly asks them to purchase your product or service, call your office, or do some immediate task that directly relates to a sale. Sometimes your call to action is time-sensitive, and sometimes it is evergreen. The key is to mix it up.

CREATE A PLAN

So, once you have the framework, now it’s a matter of creating a plan to engage your ideal audience and filling this with content. It is vital to think about what your audience is interested in and curate posts relevant to their interests.

It is also important to engage by telling personal stories and share your own passions, hobbies and interests. Brainstorm a list of different topics ranging from daily goals to aspirations, and you’ll come up with a ton of ideas for future content.

CONSISTENCY

A key to success is creating consistency in hitting your social media platforms regularly.

At this point, you have two options. One, either commit to getting on every day, or two, hire a virtual assistant to help you manage your social media marketing.

The second option is much easier when you have a clear social media plan and policies and procedures to give more explicit guidance on how you want it done. This means having written guidelines about your brand, your mission, your culture, your ideal client, and target messaging. This means having written explanations as to the process you require for preparing posts on your behalf, submitting them to you for approval, and then posting on social media. It also means having a clear procedure to utilize scheduling platforms so that you know with certainty the posts will go out consistently.

Overall, if you want to increase engagement with your ideal audience, you have to have a framework, create the plan and execute consistently. It’s that simple.

Kristen David, a former trial lawyer and partner who went from working 85 hours a week and being a slave to her law firm, built it up to a million-dollar-plus business, then sold her shares and pivoted into a business coach guru. She is now an international speaker, bestselling author, and operates a successful business, empowering business owners to build thriving, profitable businesses that are self-managed with systems.  She helps busy business owners build those systems by implementing policies and procedures the Fast Track Way.