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I have never liked the word engage, but that has been the word most commonly used with social media. Remember, social media is not about selling, it’s about engaging. What does that really mean to engage the client? Are we supposed to come together more and more? If you have been on social media for sometime, how are you measuring your engagement? Do you feel you need to be a part of discussions to engage? The whole engaging thing has never quite fit for me.
I like the word involvement. I want people to be involved. This takes engagement to another level. If you are involved with something, you feel a part of it. The word, “family” comes to mind. I can be engaged and in the know with what my kids are doing at school and at home. That is the role or a good parent, to be engaged with our kids and know what they are doing. When I am involved, I am a part of their life by taking them to their activities, coaching their teams, helping them with their homework.
With social media, I talked about forming a social media team at work. I am excited because I am getting people involved and giving them specific tasks to help them communicate the company message. From an outside perspective, I am taking a more active role to get our clients involved with the work we do, by offering more company tours and showing them changes we are making with respect to their analysis and data that will have an impact on their business. I really think this is how social media can be infused into other facets of your business. I’m starting to think social media is more about a culture and not just another marketing channel.
On Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin I am starting to slow down and really share information pertinent to our clients. Now, once in awhile I will throw in an “engaging” post just to catch someone’s attention, but I am moving more toward writing fewer posts and writing more posts that involve our clients and get them actively participating through call to actions or information they can share as advocates for our company.
Social Media should be about involvement and less about engaging – Just my opinion. What are your thoughts?
Image courtesy of renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
