Authentic Social Media Engagement
When it comes to social media you’re going to hear so much information about engagement - and that information is always changing. When you’re working to increase your engagement (organically), the amount of information can feel overwhelming and often frustrating.
Engagement matters for sure, but something far more important is authentic engagement. There are tons of tools out there that attempt to guarantee engagement. Reader beware. Tools that promise engagement are likely, at the foundation, a scam. Think of the old saying, if it sounds too good to be true, it is likely indeed - too good to be true.
Tools that focus on engagement are typically bringing in fake or bot accounts and all those accounts are doing is lowering the number of real accounts you want your content to be in front of. If you’re using engagement tools, you’re also risking losing access to your account. A good rule here is, don’t use engagement tools. Engagement tools are a primary example of inauthentic engagement.
You’re going to see accounts with thousands of followers but remember - this doesn’t mean all of those followers are actually real people. Some accounts with a large following have a predominately real following while others don’t. The goal here is - don’t compare yourself and don’t become overly focused on the number of followers. Instead, focus on your own unique goals. Quality of quantity is the key.
What is Authentic Engagement?
Authentic engagement consists of the methods you use to bring in as many real accounts/views/impressions/people, etc. You’re always going to have some fake or bot accounts in the mix but the goal here is to bring in more real than fake accounts. When you think of authentic engagement, think of relatable content, the messaging of your brand, and the type of content you enjoy seeing from other brands.
What are your Metrics for Success?
Think about your metrics for success. This part is important because if you don’t know your own metrics for success, you won’t know what engagement factors are going to make you professionally happy. Professional happiness looks different for everyone. For example, you can be satisfied with reaching 10, 50, 100, 500+ (whatever the number is) every week, month, etc. Why? Because the needs of your business are different than others. What success is for you can be totally different from anyone else. Keep in mind, paid engagement will have and should have different metrics for success.
We created a simple worksheet to help you brainstorm and determine your engagement metrics for success. Once you know your metrics, you can set defined goals for the number of people you want to reach, the number of leads, etc.
