It’s the Little Things
Editors’s Note June 12, 2019 : While this post was written more than five years ago, the information on finding ways to engage your employees in your social media program are still valid. I just took a few minutes to add some additional details. The updated notes appear in bold, italic text below.
One of our clients invited us in to meet with his entire team to bring all of them up to speed on what we were doing. We were excited about the chance to enlist them to help us generate real, relevant, and authentic content.
We didn’t want them to write blog posts, do status updates, or distribute their newsletter–that’s our job–but we did have a few little requests we knew would pay off with big dividends.
Social Media Program Team Engagement Ideas
Send us questions – Talking with their customer service and salespeople, we asked them to send a short text or email every time a customer asks them an interesting question. If people are asking the questions, you can bet other people are using those questions to fuel their online search. A blog post which answers a real question is one of the best traffic magnets you can create for your website.
Five years later some of the best blog posts, the ones which generate traffic month in and month out, were the result of suggestions from the customer service team. Questions about product comparisons and how-to use and operate the product are some of the most popular on search for all of our clients.
Take photos regularly – Even if the photos seem boring or repetitive, getting the team in to the habit of taking photos as a regular part of their meetings with clients will ensure a steady stream of content we can share on social platforms.
Photos are still important, but video has definitely burst onto the scene. These don’t have to be perfect, professionally shot videos. Actually a simple in the moment Facebook Live or Instagram story engages potential customers in a very human way.
Like and share status updates – With this client, we update their Facebook and Google+ pages regularly. By encouraging their employees to like and +1 the information, it will expand the reach of the content. Not every employee needs to share every post, but if team members take turns sharing and liking it is more likely their friends and family will be exposed to the company.
So Google+ has gone the way of the dinosaur, but Facebook is alive and kicking. If you want to have more people see your content, and you don’t want to pay for ads, you will need to do more than just “like” the content. You need to share, comment, and tag others in the photo to signal that this is content your audience cares about.
Testimonials! Testimonials! Testimonials! – This client has been in business 20 years and has raving fans; it just never occurred to the business to ask any of their clients for a testimonial. Now we collect emails addresses for clients they worked with in just the last 30 days and send them a short note with a link to Yelp or Google asking for a review.
The goal? Just 3 – 5 recommendations a month will put them light years ahead of their competitors. Don’t be afraid to add the testimonials to your website as well.
Google My Business is Serious Business – This wasn’t really much of a thing five years ago, but Google has gotten serious about featuring companies with robust GMB pages. It isn’t hard, but the dividends are definitely there. MTFW Guest, Bryan Caplan shared some tips on how to build out your GMB profile.
Ultimately, it will be the little things which will move this client’s social media program forward. The same is true for your business. You don’t have to have a professional marketing firm handling your content to take advantage of this strategy. Simply include these little things in your routine and you will be amazed by the the results.