The Most Important Thing to Remember About Engaging With Audiences on Facebook
Most business owners don't know how to effectively leverage Facebook for marketing. They have some vague idea that audience engagement is important, but their knowledge stops there. They don't understand why engagement is important, nor do they grasp the most important aspect of successful engagement.
Engagement.
It's a buzzword that's commonly bandied about when discussing social media marketing, particularly where Facebook is concerned. Everyone knows it's important to a successful social marketing campaign - fundamental to it, even. But most people aren't quite sure why, nor do they fully understand what it involves.
Instead, they get caught up in empty metrics. They focus on likes, shares, and comments, without bothering to look at what people are actually saying. They obsess over how many followers their brand has accrued without caring much about those followers.
They care about quantity over quality. And that's a mistake. Quite possibly the most significant one any brand can make on social.
See, the thing about Facebook is that it's not a typical advertising channel. While it's true that there are paid advertising spots on the social network, you should not solely be focused on generating leads and making sales. Rather, you should be focused on building relationships.
Talk to them, and listen to what they have to say about your products and services. Address questions, comments, concerns, and complaints in as timely a manner as possible. Share content with them that's focused not on making more sales, but on entertaining or informing your audience.
The days when a business could get away with passive audience communication are gone. Most people are tired of being talked at and sold to, especially now. They want their consumer relationships to have more meaning and value behind them.
For instance, in a 2017 study by digital marketing agency Wunderman Thompson found that 79 percent of consumers want brands to demonstrate they understand them and care about them before they consider making a purchase.
In another study carried out by analyst firm Edelman, the majority of consumers felt that hearing from brands about their response to the coronavirus pandemic was both comforting and reassuring.
And in its 2018 Retail Reputation Report, research agency Reputation.com found that the majority of consumers want competence, friendliness, and authenticity.
In other words, if you make an effort to understand your audience and address them as people rather than as leads, they'll reward you with greater loyalty and higher engagement. If, on the other hand, you constantly push your products and services, make little effort to inject personality into your content, and treat Facebook the same as any other advertising platform? Your efforts would be best spent elsewhere.
Facebook is among the most powerful tools in any business's marketing toolkit, whether large or small. Yet most organizations fail to understand how to most effectively leverage it. It's not a place where you should be laser-focused on metrics or scrambling to increase sales.
Rather, it's a platform you can leverage to generate awareness, promote customer loyalty, and allow your brand's unique personality to shine through.