The phrase "Something to Talk About" isn't just the title of a Bonnie Raitt song or a Julia Roberts chick-flick vehicle (Although, it is one of my personal faves!). It should also be a solid part of your social media planning. Now that Facebook has implemented their "People Talking About" metric, any company or brand that is utilizing Facebook at all needs to make engagement a new priority.

Some of the best ways to prompt your followers into engaging with your Facebook (also Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, etc.) accounts is to first establish your Page as a "personable resource". This means that you first must decide on a personality and voice for the Page. Will it be Warm? Sarcastic? Funny? The stoic, suited professional? A digital personification of the company mascot? Don't be a Cybil here – pick ONE personality and go with it. Just make sure that it meshes well with your business! It is perfectly "OK" to be witty, stern, etc. if it fits your brand. Your followers want to be able to relate to and bond with you. Otherwise, they'd never follow you in the first place!

Secondly, let's take this fabu Page personality of yours and send it out into the Universe to make some noise. Now that your followers have a relatable voice to respond to, what would they like to hear from it? This may take some experimentation and research on your part. Start by thinking of both your average and your ideal customer. How do they look? What connects them to your company? What role does your product/service play in their lives? What else interests them? Asking yourself these questions will help you to discover the many facets of your relationship with your audience. Once you have done this, you'll begin to see all the many little things that occur in your business each day that might be of interest to your customers.

Shareable information =  "Of interest to customers"

Interested Customers = Engaged Customers

Here's the fun part – Engagement goes both ways with social media. Your followers are able to give you their insight into your offerings through their questions, posts, service requests, etc. But, you also have the opportunity to ask them what they think about new products, product offerings, incentives, etc. All of this can be done by posting questions, polls, photos and events and paying attention to the information that comes back to you. If photos get lots of likes and comments, you'll know that you have a visually oriented crowd on your hands and need to use photos and videos often. If you receive lots of questions, post more tips and ask for followers to discuss their own experiences. If you are getting multiple complaints... then you know it is time reevaluate certain aspects of your business.

The most important factor in of all of this is your content. Content is king, Baby! Users want to hear from you on a regular basis and they want to see useful or entertaining information that makes sense for your brand. For examples, CPAs can share tax tips, deadline reminders, new legislation information, business financial advice, etc. They could also ask about the services people would like to see offered or be timely and respond to any political activity in the news.

Keep the content rolling consistently. Ask for likes, shares and response. Monitor your Page and other accounts to see what is being said so that you can respond quickly. Always use your insight and expertise to give them "something to talk about"!

Posted in Social Media Marketing

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