This was one of the most valuable pieces of advice I learnt on my DigitalMumsHQ course. They gave an example, which I have adapted slightly but read on dear reader and this should resonate:-
Imagine you’re in the pub and you are introduced to someone new. They begin by telling you they are an astronaut — ‘wow’ you think, ‘I’ve never met an astronaut before.’, and you’re hooked. They start telling you about their average day in space and you are fascinated. You try to contribute to the conversation but they carry on talking,
and talking
and talking
and talking….
You want to tell them a little bit (just a teensy weensy bit) about yourself but they don’t even hear you; they think what they have to say is SO much more important than hearing how you pulled a child from underneath a bus and saved his life (or something!).
You try and offer an opinion or a bit of your own knowledge just to mix things up a bit but, no, they just preach away.
You even (being the polite person you are), try to ask a question or two, but no, the mouth keeps moving.
You get to a point where you know what they are saying is interesting but you’ve switched off. Your eyes glaze over, you find yourself wondering what you’re going to have for breakfast tomorrow, and eventually you just walk away and you warn your friends not to bother going to talk to her.
The same applies with social media too, you need to keep your audience engaged. Remember, it’s a conversation — communication needs to go both ways. If you just put out tweet after tweet, post after post, photo after photo, everyone will get bored with what you’re saying, they won’t engage with you or your brand and they will stop reading those tweets, liking those wonderful images, they may even ‘unfollow’ you.
Keep your audience engaged, see what they’re tweeting about/talking about, sharing. Then respond, retweet, quote retweet, like, comment, ask questions. Then you’ll actually have a proper relationship, just like those you have in real life!
If you’re not sure of the best way to ‘engage’ with other people on social media, send me an email and I’ll see if I can help you.
