Why Your Social Media Isn’t Working, Despite Great Content
Your Social Media Isn’t Working?
You have it all- the best expert-backed strategy, the perfect schedule, really interesting, quality content. The people who look at your posts really love them! They say they are useful, interesting, helpful, and all of the adjectives you want describing your content. You post day after day and see growth at first…then you hit a wall.
Your number of followers slows to a crawl. Only a few faithful engage with your posts. You don’t understand why this is happening…if you are being so great with the content and delivery.
I’ll say it like it is…you’re being a selfish marketer.
It isn’t enough to put content out there and leave it, even if it is the best content in the world. What do you expect, that people are just out there, willing to give you their follows and likes when you don’t have to do anything else to earn them? That’s not how karma works and that’s not how social media works.
You Have To 1) Engage First In Order To Get More Followers And 2) Engage Back When Someone Extends A Hand.
The reason your follower count was increasing at the beginning is because you were getting all of the easy follows. There are only so many out there. When you see your count stop rising, it means you have to start working on the hard follows.
Engaging First Option -1
There are several ways you can do this and they all take time. I never said it was going to be easy.
The “easiest” method is to search hashtags for keywords you are interested in. It depends on who you are trying to reach, of course. If you are looking for other people in your industry, then search hashtags related to those. If you are looking for clients, then you’ll have to think about the kinds of hashtags they are likely to post (this is easier for B2B marketing).
This is obviously easier on platforms like Instagram and Twitter that use hashtags. You have to put more effort into your searches on Facebook, though it is possible.
Example: As a marketing copywriter, for the first option, I would search for hashtags such as #digitalmarketing #contentmarketing #socialmediamarketing #socialmediatips
Then I would follow those profiles that I found using those hashtags and peruse their posts, liking some and commenting on others.
Do Not Comment With The Same Text On Every Post
Don’t do it. It’s lazy. It’s unhelpful. And it’s immediately noticeable that you aren’t putting any effort into it.
Instead, you should be commenting directly in response to the text or image in the post. Add your opinion, speculate on implications, provide some sort of meaningful commentary. DO NOT just post “Cool photo bro” with a thumbs-up emoji. It’s a waste of your time because no one will respond to that. Put five more seconds of effort and it will pay off.
Engaging First Option -2
This option also starts with a hashtag search. It’s the same thing as before.
Only, once you visit their profile, like some posts, and make your comment, you send a DM (direct message for the non-millennials).
Do Not Spam Them
Write out a thoughtful message, something like this: (for someone in the same industry)
“Hi MarketingGirl 20, I was looking through your profile and love the stuff you’re putting out about marketing messages and content. I happen to write articles with advice for savvy digital marketers and think you might be interested in some of my tips and stories. If you have a minute to check it out, I think you’ll find it interesting and (hopefully) helpful!”
Or if you are looking for B2B:
“Hi BestBurgerWA, I was looking through your profile and think your business is really great! I mean who doesn’t want the best burger! I’d love to help you boost your numbers- 100% free. I happen to write articles with advice for small businesses like yours to kill it with their social media marketing. Again, they’re totally free! If you have a minute to check it out, I think you’ll find it interesting and (hopefully) helpful!”
Notice that each message is specifically crafted for the person you’re contacting. By putting in the time, you are sending the message that you actually care about helping them out. They are much more likely to respond.
If you send a hundred of these out, you might get a few responses. You’ll definitely get more follows and the kind of follows that will actually care about your content and possibly become customers. We call those “qualified leads”. Just in case you wanted to know.
Engage Back
If you are lucky enough to get people commenting on your posts and sending you DMs, then you better 1) follow them back and 2) respond with a thoughtful message. If it’s a crappy comment like “Keep it up!”, then a “Thanks, you too!” is enough. But if someone puts in the time to comment thoughtfully, then you better do the same.
If you aren’t engaging back, then people will unfollow you.
Which brings us to the main event, AKA the moral of the story
There Is No Such Thing As A Selfish, Successful Marketing Strategy.
This is true with your engagement strategy and it is true with the content itself. If you are creating content to help, interest, or entertain, then you need to do just that, without strings attached.
People hate strings any time. And they especially hate strings on social media. That’s not why they’re there, after all. Give them high quality content and honest, thoughtful engagement, and see how your numbers rise.
About Pixel506
Pixel506 is a digital marketing company that believes in the intersection of quality writing, design, and technology. Together, these three major components create some of the best digital marketing and content marketing campaigns that bring about the kind of leads and conversions that boost ROI and bring real growth to your company.