A recent report from Bain & Company has found that customers who engage with companies over social media will spend between 20%-40% more money with these companies than other customers. Furthermore, these customers tend to be far more loyal than other customers who don’t interact with the company via social media. What does this mean for you? Clearly, social media engagement is important. You need to truly interact with your customers on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media outlets.

Here are 5 easy ways you can increase social media engagement.

1. Share photos and videos – Take your updates to the next level by adding photos and videos. You can share pictures of interesting things you’re doing, funny videos, videos of your products in action…you name it. Using multimedia adds more personality to your social media presence, and it helps people connect with you on an even deeper level.
2. Start discussions by asking a question – One of the easiest ways to get people talking is to ask an open-ended question. You can ask your followers their opinion on a particular industry trend or hot issue. Or you can get their feedback on your products and services. Find out what they want from your company. There are all sorts of questions you can ask that will spark great, meaningful conversations.
3. Make it a point to join one conversation daily – Social media is all about conversations and relationships. If you’re not taking the time to actually join in conversations, you’re missing out on the whole point. Of course, with everything that you have to deal with in running your business, it’s easy to neglect your social media presence. But you need to be active if you want people to build meaningful relationships with you. No matter how busy you are, you can surely find the time to take part in at least one conversation daily. All it takes is a couple of replies on Twitter or some interaction in the comments on your Facebook page.
4. Repost others’ interesting Tweets and links – You don’t always have to come up with original posts to be able to engage with others. One easy thing you can do is to ReTweet things you like on Twitter or to share other interesting things you find. This does a couple of things. Whenever you ReTweet someone, the person that you’re ReTweeting will notice. You’re interacting with them. This is a good way to get their attention and start a conversation. You’re also providing your other followers with great content that they can respond to as well.
5. Post at different times – People are on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites 24/7. Your social media presence can’t be a 9-5 Monday-Friday thing. You should also be active in the evenings and on the weekends. In fact, that’s when you will probably really get noticed. Some studies have found that weekend posts on Facebook tend to get more Likes. That’s not to say that you need to spend all day and night glued to your computer or smart phone. But make the effort to occasionally check in at different times.

All of this really boils down to one things – be social. It’s social media, after all. You can’t just post one-way sales messages, never interact, and expect to be successful. That’s not how it works. Building relationships requires interaction, and it’s going to take time. You won’t see bigger sales and improved customer loyalty overnight, but if you put for the effort to engage your customers via social media, the benefits will start to show up over time.

Have a question about social media marketing? Let us know by leaving a comment.