“How can I get more Facebook likes and Twitter followers?”
Often I wonder if social media strategists like myself wince a little every time they’re asked that question. It’s a valid question, being the most obvious metric of success on your brand social page.
Strategists debate with clients that website traffic and overall content impressions are most important. Yet as a user when you visit a brand page the first thing that smacks you in the face is the number of likes and followers. So of course the metric that is most on display for the world to see is always going to be the most sought after for businesses.
Instead of pushing against the current, it’s time to develop an integrated marketing strategy that both strategists and brands are on board with – tapping into the power of influencer engagement.
Working with online influencers is taking traditional public relations best practices and integrating them into your social media strategy. Instead of collecting an audience piece by piece, you’re going after the big boulder of influencers to drive attention to your brand.
Marketers understand the traditional relationship-building aspects of influencer engagement, but how is that done on social?
Influencer Engagement Tips For Top Social Media Networks
Facebook:
Engage as the brand: Toggle to “using Facebook as [brand]” and engage with content posted by top influencers in your market. Comment, like, share, etc. – it’s all social media currency, but be sure it is relevant to your brand that you’re posting under.
Share and Tag: Brands often use third party content but slack off in tagging the original author or source. Focus on sharing third party content from your top influencers and tag them in your posts.
Twitter:
Twitter lists: The average user may not utilize Twitter lists, but bloggers and businesses love them for organizational purposes. Create your own “expert” lists and add your top influencers to them. They’ll receive a notification that they’re added, plus it’s a great way to weed out the content you want to engage with.
Favorite Tweets: Brands hesitate to ReTweet too much influencer content for risk of bombarding their followers with additional posts. Instead, favorite content that isn’t worthy of a ReTweet but to still let your influencers know that you’re listening.
LinkedIn:
Groups: Posting your content on your brand page won’t get you far. Connect with influencers through the groups they own or are very active in. Engage with the content, but post your own content there as well. Your blogs are more likely to get noticed.
Google+:
+1’s: Google+ has been a tough social network to utilize for brands. Overall, most are taking advantage of its SEO aspects rather than its ability to connect with users. Any top influencers or marketers are posting on the site but are not flooded with as many comments as Facebook or Twitter. Use this to your advantage to hand out some of that social media currency without getting lost in the shuffle.
Relationship building takes time, but as any integrated marketing specialist will tell you – it’s worth it. Take the time to build your relationships with your influencers and it will pay off in the end.