Social Media Engagement: How to Put a Ring On It

The phrase “Social Media Engagement” gets a web mention every 11 minutes

The most favored word by social media strategists, engagement, is a big word with little meaning by itself. A useful social media engagement definition is still a rare encounter. Engagement, as engaged to be married, is a bit more clear – it’s a commitment to tie the knot. But let’s be realistic. Our social media friends’ engagement is of a different nature, especially since we don’t “put a ring on it”.

Why so much talk about social media engagement?

Photo Source: MemeMarket.net

• Social media engagement is a versatile term, especially if you’re looking to impress. Here’s a scenario. You see Mary at a party and she is talking about the latest nail polish color sharing app. You say, “you have to have that kind of social media engagement.” Everyone agrees. You walk up to John who is talking about the new Facebook changes. You say, “oh that’s going to hurt your social media engagement.” John says, oh yes! At the back of the room Angie is answering a tweet on behalf of a client. You say, “their engagement online is great!” That’s all it takes to be a social media expert! #Engagementize!
• Engagement IS important but not as an end to itself, but rather as a precursor to action (what some call conversion). So, all jokes aside let’s take a look at how we can make this concept practical.

Social media engagement definitions:

A. Simple social media engagement definition – this is what I typically use:

# of comments, likes, reshares and clicks per post
__________________________________________________    = ENGAGEMENT
#  of fans (or followers)

In other words, social media engagement is the cumulative effect of your online content in getting your audience’s attention. It is an indicator of interest in you and what you have to offer.

B: Complex social media engagement definition:

Source: Social Bakers

I prefer definition A because it takes into account clicks. Clicks are a better measure of engagement than “engagement” itself.

So is social media engagement important and Why?

Yes, it should be an important part of your strategy if it is the most needed condition for your audience to take the action you want them to take. Social engagement is not the end in itself, but the precursor to action. You won’t see conversions from your social media work unless you first attract audiences with compelling content. Compelling content triggers interactions and interactions should lead to action.

And here’s why:

• Why is email open rate important? It tells us how many people may be interested in reading your message. Similarly engagement is important because it is an indicator of interest.  It’s a precursor to the relationships you want to build or the action you want your audience to take.
• The higher the engagement share the more opportunities to drive actions. Your marketing plan should have an activation action for every engagement action. You need to find that ring that will seal the commitment. Here’s an example:

Let’s say you are in the process of releasing a new book. You give a sneak preview on Facebook to show what the book would look like. You see a flood of comments (engagement) and people are interested. You then follow up with a link to where they can sign up to be notified when the book is being released.

Engagement is only relevant as long as it leads to action. I don’t mean that the action should be taken today, but any online relationship that doesn’t get activated into a deeper relationship is a lost opportunity.

My challenge to you is to look at your social media engagement activities and add an action step to each of them. Put a ring on it. You will then start seeing the value of engagement.

How do you move people from “engagement” to action? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments.

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Written by Mana.

Mana drives results through clear, simple and direct online marketing solutions.