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Are you a socialiser or a wallflower?

Business30-May-2022

This month, Christine Skilton of Get Savvy discusses the importance of actively socialising on social media, and how best to boost your engagement across all online platforms.

Social media is still the biggest party happening right now online, and everyone is invited.

Globally, 3.5 billion people are active on social media on a regular basis, and every 6.4 seconds, a new account is created to get on board. Research confirms that users spend on average 2 hours a day on Facebook, Instagram or a mixture of both.

For the bridal industry there are so many opportunities and yet so many stores are still reluctant to join the party.

I regularly get asked “What should I do to improve engagement on my account?”. My answer is very simple: apart from posting regularly a variety of creative images, stories, reels, etc, you can’t be a “Wallflower”. You have to become a “Socialiser” and join the party! But what exactly is “a Wallflower," I hear you asking...

Wallflowers are typically people with an introverted personality type who attend parties or social gatherings and then distance themselves from the crowd or actively avoid being in the limelight. If I was to ask you “Do you spend as much time posting as engaging with other accounts?”, your answer would probably be “No, why should I spend time engaging with other people’s posts?"

Let me tell you: It’s because the social platform says you should. In a post written by Meta (Facebook and Instagram) they state that they want to provide happiness and well-being “Interacting with people is associated with a greater sense of well-being…on the other hand, just scrolling through your Facebook feed, passively reading, or watching without interacting with others, tends to make people feel worse.”

So Meta very much wants you to be social, because social media without everybody engaging is just media.

You do not want to be a lurker and miss out on joining the biggest party, where you can educate people about your business and have them talk about your products.

"The Socialiser” is someone who uses the Art of Communication and Engagement for their social media accounts.

The Art of Communication is about having a two way conversation, and in order to have a two way conversation, you have to have a topic that will relate to the audience’s interest. This is where your content comes in. You will have to stop your audience with a great and relevant conversation starter, like a question. The Art of Engagement is slightly different. It is used to measure interactions your followers are having with your content, for example Likes, Comments, DMs, Replies, Shares, Saves, Views and Mentions. This is what the social platforms want.

Be Social

You wouldn’t arrive at a party, say “Hi”, and disappear to another room and fall asleep whilst the party is still going on. You wouldn’t go to a party to launch into a speech, and refuse to have any conversation. Start engaging, which means interacting with the people around you. You should respond to the majority of comments and mentions on your posts and liking, sharing and getting social with your followers.

Have an Authentic Voice

Putting yourself out there on social media can be scary. Thinking, "do people like what I have to say"? Or, "Am I showing off my brand in its best light"? It’s essential to put yourself out there, because it humanises your brand and encourages people to respond and talk about you positively.

Know what the platform’s aim is (the algorithms)

Not all platforms measure social media engagement in the same way. Familiarise yourself with the unique algorithms, so you know how best to boost engagement. Start with timing — does it matter when engagement happens? Always reply, like and respond to comments. Ensure you run through your feed and add some likes and comments of other people’s posts.

Your Business’ Attractive Character

The attractive character is about the persona you share with your audience. It’s more about your personality, your stories and about building rapport. Customers use social platforms for a two-way experience. They’re looking for connections, with people and with brands.

Measure the impact of your social media engagement

Engagement is great for an ego boost, but it’s also important to monitor how that engagement impacts your business. In my opinion, being able to quantify the return-on-investment is the biggest thing that holds brands back from investing more in social media. It’s often not quite as straightforward as measuring clicks on an ad campaign, or likes on a post: it is whether your content is talking to the right brides, or bringing in appointments.

Create Platform Specific Content

In terms of the format of your posts, it’s helpful to understand which kind of content is best for each platform: creative video or interesting carousels will work for Instagram, long form text posts or videos could do well on Facebook, and so on. Don’t be afraid to get creative! Here are a few post ideas:

Contests
Asking questions
Polls
Encouraging your audience to ask you questions (try an “Ask Me Anything” session)
Media upload contests
Animated gifs
Spotlighting customers
Custom stickers or filters for Instagram Stories

Overall, the best way to figure out what content is working is to experiment, observe the reaction, tweak, and repeat.

Don’t forget...

Having to optimise your business requires you to be social, because social media without engagement is just media.
Use the Art of Conversation, and creativity, to drive your social media which in-turn will drive more brides to your business.
In conclusion, being a Socialiser on the platform will get your business noticed and bring higher levels of engagement which in turn will bring more appointments and sales.

Join Us at Get Savvy Coaching for more Customer Attraction Strategy, on www.getsavvycoaching.com.