The Element of Engagement

Have you ever called a customer service number looking for support, only to be placed on an extended hold, passed around from agent to agent, never helped or you give up and hang up? This is a frustrating experience and can often be the one aspect a company becomes known for.

This is one form of engagement. How you engage with your clients leaves a lasting impression of your company on your consumers. Great customer service tends to fly lower under the radar than poor customer service, but both still leave a strong, lasting feeling with your customer.

Engaging on social media can have the same effect. If you leave questions, messages, or comments unattended, clients will feel ignored or unimportant. Most social media platforms also consider engagement in their algorithms. Unanswered comments will affect the ranking of your account and your organic growth.

Answering every comment can be a daunting task. Setting aside a designated time to respond to all inquiries and comments online can alleviate some of the pressure. This engagement time should be considerate of your customers. If you only respond once a week, your consumer has probably moved in that time. If you only have time once a week to engage, consider posting this in your profile or “About” section or setting automated messages alerting your followers to when they can expect a response. Facebook advertises the expected answer time to messages on company pages as “Typically replies in…” Hiring an assistant or social media manager can also take this burden off of you.

Not only is responding to engagement on your page important but engaging with other accounts is just as important for your business’s ranking and organic growth. For Instagram, Gary V. preaches the $1.80 strategy… leave your 2 cents (opinion) on 9 posts for 10 different hashtags, daily. The idea is if you make 90 meaningful comments, you’ll grow a legitimate community. The algorithm will notice too. There is even an app to assist and make this process easier called Dollar Eighty.

However, you decide to manage your engagement, remember that your online presence should reflect your in-person presence. If you aren’t one to miss phone calls, don’t be one to ignore comments online. If you are one to support others in person, support others online.