Correlation between variables that affect engagement rates. Part 2
Some readers of my last week post may wonder, "why would a business need to bother working on engagement and measuring coverage at all if it doesn't always generate sales?" At least, that was my first reaction to a situation when a promo post that attracted a massive number of likes brought no customers.
The point is that focusing on engagement metrics and the number of followers are imperative parts of the sales process, even if you can't see a direct link between these parameters on the surface. To put it more scientifically, these measures are necessary, but they are not enough for future deals. Well, it's completely clear with their importance (you need followers subscribers who show at least minimal interest in your product), but it is more tricky when it comes to the sufficiency criterion (there is no universal, constantly working success formula).
The point is that focusing on engagement metrics and the number of followers are imperative parts of the sales process, even if you can't see a direct link between these parameters on the surface. To put it more scientifically, these measures are necessary, but they are not enough for future deals. Well, it's completely clear with their importance (you need followers subscribers who show at least minimal interest in your product), but it is more tricky when it comes to the sufficiency criterion (there is no universal, constantly working success formula).
There may be fundamental differences in the social media promotion strategy, even for companies from the same field. An obvious example can be found in the beauty industry: you can focus on pretty before/after pictures in a beauty salon account. At the same time, when you work with plastic surgery services, you must make sure to have professional content and “live” cases. Well, what is the way to work in this kind of uncertainty?
The first piece of advice I can give you is to thoroughly study your audience. By the way, the engagement metrics will help us a lot in this. To be honest, we literally live in a world of statistics trying to figure out what kind of content is better absorbed by people. Then we should adapt to people's interests. For example, we understand that people bookmark useful content, give their likes to beautiful and unusual content, and comment under controversial posts. Then, we combine these types based on the customer's current goal.
Second tip: know and be able to apply different marketing tools. To keep it simple, let's continue analyzing the engagement aspect. There are two approaches to it: organic and mechanical.
The first piece of advice I can give you is to thoroughly study your audience. By the way, the engagement metrics will help us a lot in this. To be honest, we literally live in a world of statistics trying to figure out what kind of content is better absorbed by people. Then we should adapt to people's interests. For example, we understand that people bookmark useful content, give their likes to beautiful and unusual content, and comment under controversial posts. Then, we combine these types based on the customer's current goal.
Second tip: know and be able to apply different marketing tools. To keep it simple, let's continue analyzing the engagement aspect. There are two approaches to it: organic and mechanical.
1) We discussed the organic approach in the above paragraph. This method uses high-quality content targeted at the appropriate audience, studies customer statistics, triggers particular reactions and emotions among the target audience, and so on.
2) The mechanical approach requires active work with user engagement tools. It might be, for example, various giveaways and contests, where we ask people to do something to take part in them. This is an effective and fairly common option in both B2B and B2C markets. Moreover, this is a “shareware” type of promotion, along with paid advertising.
2) The mechanical approach requires active work with user engagement tools. It might be, for example, various giveaways and contests, where we ask people to do something to take part in them. This is an effective and fairly common option in both B2B and B2C markets. Moreover, this is a “shareware” type of promotion, along with paid advertising.
- "And what if giveaways don't work for us?" In such a case, in some countries, for bloggers it is quite usual to simply pay for comments (e.g., every tenth commenter gets $100). You can also test this method in a slightly different way: for example, you can replace the cash bonus with a discount or free merchandise.
- "And what if we don't have enough followers for that kind of promotion method?" Sometimes companies buy "live" comments (not bots' comments). Technically, you can say it's "cheating," but this method can be useful when you arrange a giveaway. First of all, more people will see it and be able to participate. Second, actual followers will feel better about being active because nobody usually wants to be the first to write a comment. In the third place, it awakens the excitement and interest in the giveaway.
Let me finish this post as the previous one with the idea that real marketing is more complicated than theory. Still, knowing your target audience along with a large toolkit can make it a little bit easier (and more effective) for you.
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