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Keep Your Audience Engaged: Social Media Marketing Tips

Social media is the new way to reach a wider audience and it isn’t going away anytime soon. Developing social media sites and finding loyal customers on Facebook and Twitter may be easier for some than others. But once you’ve built a following, how do you keep them engaged? Whether you have just a few fans and followers or a thousand, keeping them loyal is crucial to the success of your social media marketing strategy.

According to a recent study by ExactTarget and CoTweet, more than four in five consumers have ended relationships with brands on Facebook, Twitter or e-mail, “because of irrelevant, too frequent or boring messages.” We want to help prevent this from happening to you. With a few helpful tips, you should be able to successfully maintain your friends and followers on your social media sites.

1. Be professional. While connections on your social networks may be friends and family, avoid posting anything too personal. Gaining respect from potential customers is crucial, so try sharing relevant links, commentary or helpful advice you may have.
2. Avoid burnout. More than two thirds of Facebook fans have “unliked” companies because of excessive posting from either the company or to eliminate the overall marketing clutter. Nobody wants their social networks cluttered with updates from the same company, so avoid overloading friends and followers with too much marketing information. Find a balance where you can make quality contributions without being overwhelming.
3. Be relevant and interesting. More than half of Twitter users say they have stopped following brands because it became too repetitive and boring. Others say they’ve unliked a company because the brand’s social media messaging had no value to them. Stay relevant and interesting by offering unique incentives if a customer purchases your book, or provide information about your book that your fans will value.
4. Quality not quantity. Valued information is all about quality, especially with such a high number of social media users ending relationships with companies for excessive or repetitive posting. Find out what value you can provide to your friends and followers, and give them a reason to want to do business with you.
5. Interact with them. If you begin building relationships, you will find that social media can take you far. Customers will appreciate being able to participate in two-way communication with you, which will also appear on other customers’ news feeds. Make your followers and friends feel appreciated, and show your support by responding to any comments they have made on your Facebook or Twitter pages.

These are just a few suggestions on how you can use social media platforms to make your book marketing plan successful. When you are able to use these tools effectively, they can have a strong impact on the future of your author career. If you’re unsure about successfully starting up your social media marketing, we now have a Social Media Coach service that can help you get started.