I know, it sounds strange coming from a Digital Marketing Strategist, after all I have a strong focus on the digital KPI’s, but without a doubt my biggest pet peeve is the value clients place on the number of followers on <insert any social media platform here>
99.99% of my clients are focused on increasing followers – It’s the number one question they ask me. Now don’t get me wrong – I am all for, and do see, the value in increasing followers but in a more strategic, steady, consistent, organic growth way.
Here is how this scene usually plays out: The client proudly tell me they have 5,000 followers on Facebook. So I ask how they got them. Very similar responses; from “running contests”, “it just happened”, to “paying for likes” (Don’t get me started on why you shouldn’t pay for “likes”)
Me: “Ok, so let’s see how people are engaging with your posts. Meaning how many of these followers; like, retweet, share and comment on the content you’re creating?”
This is usually the eye opening part of the conversation. Nine times out of ten it’s very few (ones and twos) and in many cases zero.
If you put out a post/tweet and no one likes, comments or shares, then in essence you are talking to yourself – “hello is this mic on???”
I have one very powerful word ENGAGEMENT.
Engagement is the best compliment to your digital communication efforts. Engagement in social media means the person took the time to view and interact with the post. Comments, even negative, create value and an opportunity for social engagement.
The value of engagement is that it allows us, as marketers, to carry on a dialogue with potential and existing customers. This in turn helps to build a sense of community and ultimately build consumer trust.
My recommendation would always be on creating depth for the brand – it’s a long term investment from which you can identify and cultivate key brand influencers and champions which will organically increase followers.
Engagement builds community (aka followers). Community builds trust. Bottom line you need to ensure you follow up with every piece of content being posted and tweeted. Read, reply (don’t just “like”), post a comment and continue to nurture the digital conversation.
Visit Osborne-group.com for other Principals’ ideas and opinions on a range of topics. The Osborne Group provides interim executive management, consulting and project support across all sectors and over a broad scope of service areas.
