Social Media Engagement
The Key to Building Relationships
When utilising social media for business, engagement is at the heart of your success. It’s all about interaction and building new relationships with your target audience—something I’m sure we can all agree is essential. However, more often than not, I find myself being directed away from the platform I’m actively engaging with. The prime culprit for this seems to be Twitter.
Just the other day, I received seven automated direct messages, all urging me to connect on Facebook to see the latest updates. My reaction was: But I’m already here, on Twitter! If you want to engage with me, do it here and now, on the platform I’m using. Sending me away to another site misses the point entirely. Engagement is about being present in the moment—right where your audience is.
The Importance of Meaningful Social Media Engagement
Now, I understand the rationale behind occasionally directing your audience to a website. Whether it’s to showcase a special offer, highlight a product range or simply to provide more detailed information, linking to a website can be a valuable part of a social media strategy. After all, it’s an effective way to boost SEO and drive traffic from your social media platforms.
However, let’s not overlook the fact that meaningful interaction must come first. Before I’m inclined to click through to your website, I need to feel some form of rapport. Building that connection requires engagement. It’s a two-way street, after all. The moment you resort to automation or simply push your audience towards another platform, you risk losing that personal touch.
Quality Over Quantity: Focusing on the Right Followers
It’s so easy to become fixated on numbers. Must get more followers. Must get more likes. But why? Take a moment to consider what you’re trying to achieve. Presumably, it’s about getting your product or service in front of the right people—those who are genuinely interested in what you offer. So, wouldn’t it be far more effective to have a smaller, more engaged audience of relevant followers than hundreds or even thousands of indifferent serial ‘likers’?
The value of social media lies not in the number of followers you have, but in the quality of those relationships. Ten highly targeted followers who are interested in what you do, who engage with your posts, and who could become future customers are worth far more than a thousand people who simply clicked ‘like’ without much thought.
Don’t Get Distracted by the Numbers Game
The moral of the story is simple: don’t get sucked into the numbers game. If you’re using social media for business, the real focus should be on meaningful engagement with your audience—right where they are. Be present, build relationships and connect with people on the platform you’re using.
Remember, Facebook already has millions of users visiting the site every day. It doesn’t need your help to drive more traffic. What matters most is making sure your audience is engaged with you, wherever you happen to be online. Social media is about creating connections and conversations, not just driving people from one platform to another. So, engage where you are, build trust and the numbers will follow organically—no need for shortcuts.
By focusing on genuine interaction, you’ll not only see better results in terms of engagement but also build lasting relationships that can lead to long-term success for your business.
