{"id":276297,"date":"2016-01-05T01:01:31","date_gmt":"2016-01-04T14:01:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/content.easyweddings.com\/au\/pro-education\/five-ways-get-customers-involved-engaged-content\/"},"modified":"2016-01-05T01:01:31","modified_gmt":"2016-01-04T14:01:31","slug":"five-ways-get-customers-involved-engaged-content","status":"publish","type":"au-pro-education","link":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/pro-education\/five-ways-get-customers-involved-engaged-content\/","title":{"rendered":"Five ways to get your customers involved and engaged with your content"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"get<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Since social media\u00a0platforms have experienced declines in organic reach<\/a> in recent times\u00a0(which Facebook attributes to filtering the\u00a015,000 posts<\/a>\u00a0users are faced with\u00a0every time they log in), businesses are finding it increasingly difficult\u00a0to reach customers without forking out for\u00a0advertising<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Businesses can, however, still penetrate feeds without paying by producing\u00a0content that educates, entertains, inspires conversation or adds value to their followers’\u00a0lives.\u00a0Here are five ways brands are doing just that without having to budget\u00a0for Instagram advertising<\/a>\u00a0or Twitter ads<\/a> to reach their fans:<\/p>\n

1. Create more video<\/h2>\n

A recent\u00a0Socialbakers study <\/a>revealed that\u00a0Facebook users\u00a0preferred videos and links over\u00a0images. Social Media Examiner wisely advises however, before you go jumping on the video bandwagon and abandon all other types of content, take a moment to check your social analytics<\/a>\u00a0and confirm this is the case for your brand and your followers. If your audience has a history of getting excited over moving graphics, check out these seven types of videos small businesses can easily make<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"increasing<\/a>
Source: SocialBakers<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

2. Take advantage of organic post targeting<\/h2>\n

In December 2014 Facebook announced the\u00a0release of free features they claim are designed to help businesses reach customers more easily, without paying for advertising. Social Media Today<\/a> explains that\u00a0these targeting features have potential to put your\u00a0posts in front of the right eyes\u00a0and reclaim some of your long lost organic reach. Targeting tools include interests (weddings, health or beauty, for example) and a post end date feature (to prevent viewers from seeing out of date, no longer relevant content).<\/p>\n

To experiment with organic post targeting, head to the settings tab in the top right corner of your Facebook page and ensure these features are enabled. You’ll then be given the option to target customers before posting content to your page on the publishing panel to the left of the blue\u00a0Publish<\/em>\u00a0button.<\/p>\n

\"organic<\/a><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Promote your blog posts in a\u00a0newsletter<\/h2>\n

If you have a database of customers’ emails<\/a> that you send to regularly offering promotions, industry\u00a0news, testimonials and other types of content, include some teaser text from your\u00a0blog posts<\/a>\u00a0along with an awesome picture, which hyperlinks to the post\u00a0on your website. Here, if readers enjoy your content, they can\u00a0share it across their social networks, or add their questions and opinions in the comments section.<\/p>\n

Make sure you’re asking open-ended questions at the end of your blogs (and social media posts) to encourage a response, like “How<\/em> did you and your partner agree on a honeymoon destination?”, or “Why<\/em> did you choose not to have children at your wedding?” If you find enabling comments on your blog inspires some nasty dialogue from internet trolls, here’s how to deal with\u00a0negative feedback on social media.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Tell stories<\/h2>\n

Take a break from blowing your promotional trumpet and start telling your followers a story. As Inc<\/a> suggests,\u00a0stories<\/a>\u00a0can be used to engage and really connect with your fans on a deeper level, which makes the posts more likely to be shared (particularly by those in the stories and their networks) than a 30% Off Summer Sale<\/em> announcement.<\/p>\n

Creating\u00a0staff Q&As, client testimonials, supplier interviews, case studies, guest posts, company news and personal opinion predictions are some examples of posts that give customers a deeper look into your brand and company culture.<\/p>\n

5. Get real<\/h2>\n

CEO of Blog Brandz<\/a>\u00a0says, if you want to increase engagement<\/a>, you need to be engaged: “Social media users don\u2019t care how much you know, until they know how much you care… Start by giving before you expect to receive.” Listen to the conversations being had around you on social media; don’t just ask questions, but also respond to other people’s questions and consider starting your own Facebook Group<\/a>, where members can collect and share information and ideas, collaborate and support each other throughout their wedding planning journey.<\/p>\n

Hosting a Facebook Group\u00a0tells\u00a0customers that you’re accessible, you’re interested in knowing about the trials and tribulations of their wedding day planning, and you’re there to provide support along with relevant, up to date information about industry news and current trends, which will actually\u00a0appear\u00a0in all the other members\u2019 news feeds<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"engage<\/a><\/p>\n

As social pro John Haydon points out, a useful tool in establishing what your audience want more of and the posts they choose to engage with is analysing\u00a0your top ten posts, which can be done by using\u00a0social analytics tools<\/a>\u00a0and investigating the types of content in the top 10 most popular recent posts. When you have an idea of what your followers engage with the most, you can focus on creating more of that particular type of content.<\/p>\n

How does Easy Weddings score on\u00a0keeping you engaged? Is there content you’d like to see more or less of? Let us know in the comments so we can better cater to you and ensure you’re kept up to date on the latest marketing, advertising and business development topics to keep you at the top of the\u00a0wedding vendor game!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":269068,"template":"","au_pro_edu_tags":[],"class_list":["post-276297","au-pro-education","type-au-pro-education","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","au_pro_edu_categories-marketing-tips"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education\/276297"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au-pro-education"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/au-pro-education"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/269068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"au_pro_edu_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.easyweddings.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/au_pro_edu_tags?post=276297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}