Social media engagement is not just about increasing brand awareness. You’re also nurturing your prospects and engaging with your current customers to maintain a good, long-term relationship. And with this open line of communication, you can provide your clients with more social customer care.
Did you know that over 3 billion people in the world are on some type of social media? (Global Digital Report 2018)
As Facebook remains the top platform for most Americans (68%), it’s a good idea to hone your social media marketing across all channels that are most relevant to your business. But how do you make each channel work in your favor?
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We’ll answer this question in a moment. First, let’s look at how social media engagement can benefit an organization, especially small businesses.
Why Social Media Matters to Small Businesses
- Greater marketing reach
- Increased sales
- Build a quality following
- Larger ad audience and low-cost advertising
- More visibility
- Increased accessibility
- Return visits to your business
- Free marketers for your business (your fans’ likes, comments, shares or retweets get seen by others)
Now that you know why it’s important to build your brand on social, you’re probably wondering how you can improve engagement on your pages. There are two ways:
- Organic: Sharing your own content or other posts, responding to customer comments, build a social community and interact with it.
- Paid: Buy services that will boost the number of likes and followers on your page, be it Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter.
As you can clearly see, it’s not rocket science. Going organic to improve your social engagement takes effort and time. However, if you decide to opt for paid likes and followers just so you can get ahead of your competitors faster, don’t expect meaningful results. It’s easy to give into the temptation, but consider some of the ways paid likes and followers can hurt your brand:
How Can Paid Social Engagement Impact Your Business?
You damage your Facebook ranking
EdgeRank is a name given to Facebook’s algorithm which is used to determine which posts will show up in a user’s News Feed. The followers you buy are mostly non-active, non-engaged users. Therefore, Facebook might prevent your content from being seen by people organically.
You lose credibility
Today’s users are smart. If they see a large amount of fans on your page, but notice your last post received 2 likes and no real engagement anywhere, they may not be so keen in putting their trust in you.
You don’t gain any value
Imagine you’re on stage performing in a large venue and delivering your best material. But the venue is empty, no audience, and so your work goes unseen. Apply that analogy to your social pages that contain a great deal of inactive fake accounts and likes. It’s like the lights are on, but there’s nobody home.
To Buy or Not to Buy
Wondering how this strategy can help drive your brand’s image and growth? Let’s just say it’s not a winning solution in the long run. Take a look at social media marketing best practices and what really works in our guide below.
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