If you’re reading this blog, you’ve probably got your social media content strategy figured out (If not, don’t worry, we have tips for that too!). But do you have a strategy for engaging with the comments and questions you receive online at scale?
It’s not easy to keep up with hundreds or thousands of comments, mentions, and messages. But a good strategy combined with the right tools can help your team prioritize, manage, and respond to a high volume of inquiries.
It’s hard to predict the way your content will be received and what issues may arise on social channels, so you may not be able to plan in the same way you plan out content, but we can offer some tips for determining your company’s digital engagement strategy.
1) Know Your Audience
Knowing your audience helps you decide on the tone you’ll use when you engage with them. Younger audiences may react positively to a more casual, playful tone, whereas companies with older audiences should stick to something more straightforward.
Customer experience management solutions, like social listening software, are powerful tools that enhance market research with social real-time data. This real-time data can help you determine who you are reaching currently (and who you aren’t but would like to reach) as well as guide you in fine-tuning your strategy according to changes in audience sentiment or other factors. A customer engagement platform that is backed with social listening analytics can help you enhance customer engagements by determining the emotion, sentiment, and potential talking points for each customer.

2) Be Professional
Even if you have a younger audience who can appreciate some more casual content, it’s still important to put your best foot forward, especially when it comes to resolving social customer care issues.
Even companies who add a comedic twist to their online brand like Wendy’s are polite and professional when resolving issues on social channels. Establish your brand voice and positioning for social media customer service interactions such as avoiding participation in conversations about politics and controversial topics if they don’t relate to your business.

3) Ask Questions
Displaying a genuine interest in your audience’s opinions and experiences will create a personal bond with customers that inspires brand loyalty. Asking questions can help you gather information about their favorite (and least favorite) aspects of your product to share with your product development team, as well as help you gather information more generally about your audiences’ wants and needs.
Getting to know your audience simply by asking for their input combined with social listening market research should inform your content strategy so your brand can provide the content they are looking for. Asking questions also enhances your social media engagement strategy as it makes you more relatable and personable. And it develops your online reputation because asking questions communicates that you genuinely care about your audience and their thoughts and concerns.

4) Be Responsive
This one may seem obvious, but it’s essential to include replying to as many comments, posts, and messages as you can in your social media engagement plan. When prospective followers view your profile, they’ll feel more comfortable about reaching out to you with any questions they may have if they see you are responding to other users’ questions in a timely manner.
Being responsive includes not only response rate but speed—if you take too long to respond, potential customers may have already moved on to a competitor.

5) Have Something to Say
Although we recommend posting often enough that your followers don’t forget you, it’s not ideal to post too frequently. You may be unfollowed by some customers if they feel you post more often than others on their timelines (let alone that platforms won’t organically show your content if you post too frequently), and it’s important that your content has utility.

Useful content provides valuable information, education, thought-provoking questions, or solutions to your followers. Remember, you’re there to educate the public on your product. Have fun, but keep it short and simple in order to maximize your utility and engagement.
This tip is especially important with regards to social customer care. “I’m sorry to hear that” is an all-too-common phrase on social media, and can be frustrating to customers when further action isn’t taken. Ensure that their issue is escalated to the proper team to avoid similar issues in the future and show that you value their feedback.
Looking for more assistance managing your company’s social engagement? Learn more about the new Nuvi Engage 3.0.