Surely it has happened more than once, you access the social profile of some of the brands you follow and you find an endless series of messages that do not really tell you anything, just try to sell. What this timeline shows is not by far a conversation, but an endless number of promotional messages, one after another, with a clear commercial intentionality, without reflecting any hint of human life. Is there anyone there? Do you really expect to create a community with that behavior in social networks?
Nothing further from reality, Social Media is the realm of conversation, and this can only happen between people, nobody wants to talk to a robot or a real automaton. So here we show you some of the basic guidelines to prove that at the head of your social profiles there is someone of flesh and blood:
Make manual publications. Automation is a wonderful invention that helps you keep your timeline alive, even when you are not present. But managing your social networks can not be reduced to just that. The tools are to make your job easier, but they have no life of their own. Therefore, it is important that you make an appearance, publish on those topics that are relevant at that time and participate actively in the conversation.
Customize the RTs. Retuits are a way of sharing content that you find interesting, and in turn get the attention of the initial issuer. Do not limit yourself simply to retweeting, but you will get a better result if you enrich it with a personal comment or valuation.
A new follower is an opportunity for engagement. Do not send canned DMs. When someone begins to follow you, it is because you bet on your brand, because it wants to be in some way in touch with you. You can take the opportunity to approach your new contact and welcome him, thanking you for your vote of confidence; Offering you something special to become part of your community. But in no case you send him the well-known canned message, which you also wrote some time ago, and whose content is also obsolete. Be careful to know who he is and talk to him from you to him, you will aim a little.
Respond to your followers. Social networks are a space open to dialogue, where your users come when they have something to talk about, or need your help. Monitor this type of interactions and show your responsiveness, responding as soon as possible, with a useful and effective response. In this way you will show that there is really someone behind your social profile, who is willing to listen and attend to his followers.
Avoid redundancy. Let’s not fool ourselves, the ultimate purpose of your presence in social networks is to sell; However, you can not drill your community always with the same message. It is seen that if you throw the same message several times, you have a better chance of reaching your audience, but you can say the same thing in many ways. A tweet is not a television spot, whose cost of production is very high; So you can compose many messages to convey the same main idea.
Mention your followers. Starting from the idea that Social Media is a space open to dialogue, we all like to be addressed to us, it makes us feel important. Here is the same. Study your audience and interact with them; Offer additional content on that topic they have just discussed, or answer them if they raise a question.
In the variety is the spice. Enrich your timeline with a wide variety of content. Do not stick to pure and hard text, share images and videos; Launch polls and, above all, listen to your audience, so you know what needs and how to satisfy them.
Watch what others do. Learn what really works and adapt those techniques that are applicable. Study the behavior of the great tweeters, when, how and what they share. Become a fan of those brands that have a dynamic community on Facebook, so you can know how they care for their fans to make them interact and want to stay with them.
Distribute the publications over time. The natural habit is to maintain a continuous presence, adjusted to the volume of followers, or to community activity. Do not post multiple hit updates, or be several days unpublished. That is not human.
Do not publish exactly the same on all social platforms. Each social platform has its own language, its own patterns of behavior. Users are not usually the same, but have different needs. The immediacy of Twitter has no place in Facebook, where more elaborate content is expected, with some added value, such as a playful component.
You definitely have to assume that promotions are not everything, or that your brand should be the center of attention; But social networks are to promote the rapprochement between the brand and the users. Your goal should be to create a living community, and that is only achieved between people, not between automata.