Engagement is lacking but why when it’s so easy?

One thing that is becoming more and more apparent in the online world, is the complete lack of Engagement that is taking place in today’s world of Social Business and all the Applications that it contains.

It is really interesting that when someone walks into our home, office, shop or say other type of business premise, if that person talks to us, we take the time to acknowledge them or even – shock horror – we actually answer them and engage in a conversation with them!

The same happens when someone actually rings us – well it depends actually who is calling – we either answer or send them to voicemail if we know the number/person or if we’ll answer out of curiosity or just reject the call.

When someone sends us an email or letter, we’ll open it and either delete straight away, reply or file it to answer, read or share at a later date.

The main thing is that we take action when someone acknowledges us, speaks to us, rings us or sends us something, yet why in the world of Social Business are we so different?

If we just ignored everyone and never engaged with anyone in our business lives, we would have no job or business – yet why online, do we behave this way?

If you are serious about operating your business online via the various Social Business Applications that allows your audience to engage with you, or you yourself are using these Applications in a professional or personal capacity, you really need to be yourself. You need to operate the same online as you would face to face with that person.

So often you will see people swearing and being abusive to other people and companies, yet if you meet them in the street, they would never behave that way 99% of the time. We know, you’ll always get that 1% that will be abusive but again, 99% of the time, they will never be that abusive if they are on their own and in front of people that they do not know.

So just sit back and make sure you’re online behaviour follows the same etiquette that you would use in real life. This behaviour you have to remember is not forgotten as in today’s online world, what you wrote today, yesterday, last week, last month, last year or even a few years ago, will still be there online in one format or another in 5, 10, 15 or 20 years times!

Depending on the situation, occurrence or occasion, sometimes you won’t be able to respond or engage with with every comment or question you receive but you need to attempt too. *

Look at what’s arrived and then make sure you take them in priority and the first always, is “The Question”!

If someone is asking you a question, this is because they are interested and want to find out more before making a purchase or wanting to connect because they need to engage, collaborate or discuss something. Both options are key and very important to your business, as if you don’t engage, the failure they will see will be shared by them and the damage to repair your reputation/image will be very hard to undo or repair. *

The next will be an issue or complaint and all these have to be replied to, as these will as well get you the bad publicity that you don’t need. *

Finally, if time permits and people are making positive comments, then instead of just saying thank you or liking their comment, take the time to engage back and make a personal comment – Social Interaction like Social Engagement will really help to show that you are real and engaging. *

In all the above cases, whilst a standard copy and paste response from the list of of template answers you have in front of you may form the basis of your reply, please endeavour to make sure your reply is personal and relative to the point in question. *

By being personal, whether it’s one, two or three from the above three segments, making sure you are being personal and are showing you can relate to the question or comment left, shows that you are prepared to listen and be engaging. *

Doesn’t this sound familiar?

Of course it does, it’s because it’s how you behave in real life!

Whilst you may think LinkedIn is so different to all the other Applications that the world of Social Business offers, it’s not when it comes to behaviour and the etiquette you use.

One of our great friends – Melonie Dodaro – has wrote an amazing chapter on how to you use “Best Practices” and “Etiquette” when it come’s to using LinkedIn, in her book LinkedIn Unlocked

At the start of Chapter Four, Melonie writes:-

In this Chapter, I am going to cover the best business practices to follow when using LinkedIn to generate leads through social selling. If you don’t follow proper etiquette, you risk damaging your credibility, and your social selling results will be dismal.

Whilst that paragraph may relate to Social Selling, it is actually very much part of the whole aspect when it comes to Social Engagement and how you behave online whether as a business or person to and with your audience.

We do hope that this post will make you sit back or sit up think as to how important engaging online is and why you must always attempt to reply to or engage with everyone who reaches out to you.

If there are any questions or comments, please do complete the form below and we will endeavour to help and answer your questions.

One last thing, if we can ask you to take one thing away from reading this post, make that small investment whether it be as the eBook or the Paperback, please do seriously consider purchasing LinkedIn Unlocked or one of the other books that Melonie’s has written. This investment is one of the best investments you’ll ever make when it comes to investing in your Social Engagement as part of how you operate and behave in the world of Social Business.

* ( Note:- if you feel that you can’t always respond, on Facebook you can utilise their Bot Messaging reply system and there are also other platforms/plugin’s that you can also use to provide automated responses. Whilst many people don’t like these, at least by replying automatically, it will give that person a time-frame as to when you will be returning to answer them )

Tags: Communication, Discussion, Engagement, Facebook, Feedback, Instagram, LinkedIn, Social Business, Social Engagement, Twitter