Engage, Don’t Annoy: The Subtle Way To Avoid Online Rage.

As a brand or professional, especially when working in a fast-paced environment, it’s easy to think that every piece of social media content created is great! And while I wish this were true, the (unfortunate) reality is that, unless we create content the right way, it will most likely do more harm than good to your audience.

One thing we constantly remind our children to do is, “Make good choices.” We do this as a way to teach them the difference between right and wrong, good and bad, or annoying versus engaging. Ironically this simple rule can also be applied to how you and your brand use its social media content and platforms.

Today, your brand must have a robust social media presence to attract customers and stay competitive. However, standing out from competitors can be challenging when they’re also working to establish their presence on the same social channels.

Consumers can get easily annoyed at content that is not personalized.

WIt is clear that users on social media prefer content which is contextual and matters to them. If you can make sure that your content relates to a user’s specific personal situation, then you’re onto a winner. As always, it’s crucial to create content with your audience at the forefront of your mind.

Do you annoy or engage your users?

This is a very important question because people are spending a lot of hours online and engaging with various social media sites. While some people have mastered ways to create interest and buzz, other people have the exact opposite effect which is not good for business. Let’s review both the bad and the good to make sure that your social media marketing efforts are not made in futility.

Ways Content Annoys

Over Posting: More is better right? No, this is not always the case. People do not want a bombardment of tweets, pictures, or posts every five minutes. By doing that you are becoming spam no matter how awesome your content is. Be selective with posts and aim to get the most out of each one; quality over quantity.

Self Promotion: You want to sell products, but every message should not be something sales-related. Posting once or twice about a big sale is fine; posting daily for two weeks is not. You need to mix it up and provide things people want to see other than just whacking them with a “BUY IT NOW” post over and over. About one-third of social media users get annoyed by companies pushing sales on social media outlets. Remember, this is a way to interact and socialize.

Wasted Space: This goes hand in hand with over-posting. Content is king no matter what the outlet. People don’t want to waste time reading endless tweets of how difficult it was to make coffee this morning or other useless data. Each post should provide value to a reader in some way, open up a dialogue, or lead to valuable content.

Engage, Don’t Enrage

Try these four tips to add more excitement to your social media:

• Contests. This is a top use for Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other social media. Create an online contest or giveaway that runs regularly. Change up the format and keep users interested and engaged. Have customers help create new product ideas like the recent “Create a flavor” campaign by Lays Chips.
• Daily Deals. This is a very powerful way to ensure customers check in at least once a day. Offer a good daily deal on a product. One small business that sells bags promotes a new offering each month at 40% off which keeps her online and in-store traffic up each month. Or you can emulate the same for special days running through the year.
• Customer Interaction. Open up the conversation for problems and concerns and then solve them. People love to read about problems, drama, and the like. They also like to complain and be heard. So take those aspects and own them by providing customer care and encouraging reader communication.
• Sharing. Encourage customers to share stories and recommendations that involve your products. People like to read about personal experiences and recommendations over commercials and obvious self-promotion. Let satisfied customers promote you themselves.

Make Good Choices

You need to own your brand no matter what the location. The online community is a very powerful thing and should be considered carefully as you look to push your brand into social media. That means using this valuable tool as a way to interact and be interesting and then let them promote and sell you. It shouldn’t be a forum for pushing products and services otherwise they will stay away which is the exact opposite reaction you want.