Danielle’s Rules of Social Engagement
Date: November 1, 2013Category: Author: Danielle Azar
At Infinity Dental Web, we have a social media department (that I’m in charge of) with about 6 account managers. These account managers are in charge of the social media presence for a certain number of clients and generally do a great job managing our clients’ Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and blogs. Sometimes though, one of them will fall into a lull and start posting random content that doesn’t engage their audience and engagement numbers fall. When that happens, I usually have to step in and remind them of the rules of social engagement (according to me). These are the things that I’ve noticed work best when you just can’t get any interactions. Here we go:
- Be Relevant. Get to know the audience you’re posting for and what they like and dislike. What works for one dentist does not work for all. If it’s a young adult audience, posting something funny about alcohol or dating will probably go over well. If your audience is families, appeal to the mother with some jokes about the hardships of parenting. If you’re an ortho with a lot of teens on your page, utilize pop culture references when you can but don’t try too hard to sound cool. It all depends on who you’re trying to engage. Think about it before you post.
- Use Holidays. This should be obvious but some people forget. Holidays, seasonal changes, anniversaries, and birthdays are big news and everyone wants to talk about them. Celebrate holidays with gusto, take pictures, and post them. People want to see their dentist enjoying themselves. If it’s someone’s birthday in your office, tell everyone! Your fans will love you for sharing it with them and will wish you well. Holidays and seasonal changes are almost universally on everybody’s mind. Start a conversation about it and invite everyone to speak up.
- Be Current. If you’re going to bring up a topic on your social pages, make sure it’s a current one. In the age of the internet , we’ve become addicted to information and news travels very fast. Keeping up with what’s trending will put you that much ahead of the curve and will invite people to discuss topics on your pages that they care about right now.
- Be Hilarious. I have one manager who was a screenwriting intern at Warner Bros. and he can write one-liners like nobody’s business. Of course, not everybody has this talent (myself included) but sometimes it’s worth a try. Everybody loves a laugh and a little humor goes a long way. Really funny content gets shared with friends and friends of friends (see my post about viral content) so make them laugh if you can.
- Be Original. Try not to follow the same formula you see others following. Social media has made it so users see the same content over and over again because things get shared so quickly. Go out of your way to find content that you’ve never seen before or try and put a fresh new spin on old content. If you can surprise people, it will start a conversation.
- Play games. Ask your fans to finish the lyric, guess the movie, answer the trivia, etc. Don’t ask things related to dentistry but use pop culture references that most people are familiar with. You’ll get people guessing and interacting especially if it challenges them a little. People love to show off their smarts.
- Feature your fans. Take pictures with your patients in the office and feature them in your social media (with their signed consent). Most likely, they’ll come to your page, follow you, like your post, and share your post with their friends and family, exposing you to a whole new audience. Social media at it’s core is about featuring people because we love to talk about ourselves and show others what we’re doing. Another way to feature your fans is to ask them to post their own pictures on your page.
These are my rules for social engagement. I am probably missing some obvious ones but this is what’s worked for me. What works for you?
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