Social media has exponentially increased our exposure to the word "engagement". As a consumer, we expect it of the brands we're interacting with. As a brand we're constantly researching and analyzing better ways of doing it. Developers have recognized this cycle and have started building their platforms around it. But what does it truly mean to be engaged?
I have read and re-read hundreds of blog postings from the prominent folks in the industry, acted as a Community Manager for several brands, and spent my entire life as a consumer. I'm not sure I've completely nailed it down but here's my best shot:
Engagement is more than just the size of a community or the number of visits you acquire. Engagement requires dialogue. It commands the ability to choose how and when to engage; and a unique, yet integrated intention across each channel. What is especially important is whether or not people are genuinely interacting with you, and you with them. Engagement defines the core of the relationship between consumers and brands.Given the above, here are a few tips for engaging powerfully as a brand with your communities: 1. Develop Communications and Content Plans that are maleable and adjust with the growth of your brand and communities 2. Create and curate channel specific content (do not simply forward all of your Tweets to Facebook. Users join specific platforms for specific reasons - content should reflect this) 3. Encourage your engagement plan to extend outside of your brand's personal domains and interests 4. Gain leverage through collaboration with partners, communities, fans and followers 5. Earn connections by allowing for and showcasing appreciation for advocacy 6. Define and stay true to a digital identity / character 7. Listen to your community - directly or indirectly, they will tell you how they want to be engaged with 8. Actually act on inquiries. Address them in a timely fashion and follow up. Surprisingly enough, most brands don't do this 9. Set the tone for conduct and hold yourself and your community accountable. A safe, welcoming and positive environment creates fertile grounds for engagement 10. Avoid the use of "canned" messaging. Even for commonly asked questions, fans notice when you copy and paste a generic response 11. Empower and train your CM. This person shouldn't simply be social media saavy, they require copywriting, marketing, PR, customer service, time management, analytics and planning skills. 12. Don't get lost in translation and forget your intentions. Measure and track your progress in achieving the KPI's and objectives set out in your Communications Plan (remember #1?) and make intelligent recommendations / adjustments
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