by Helena Kaufman
Clean and Control Your Social Media Contact List
Today, let’s look at the condition of your comment space. I’d like you to consider a visit to your settings. Close down access to your ‘wall’, or the opportunity for people to post random, unrelated or unwarranted messages on your ‘page’. The wall is a Facebook feature, but other social media venues have similar comment spaces.
Consider going beyond monitoring and approving before a comment goes ‘live’. Actively remove the option for others to initiate posts and here is why:
Audience Engagement in Social Media
“Whoa! Helena, haven’t you been advising Artisan Ally readers to increase their contact lists and be authentic community builders?”
Engaging your audience and managing your message are not mutually exclusive goals. Try it for 21 days and form a new habit! Don’t worry. You won’t be a passive censor of communication by doing this. Your new habit will naturally yield creativity and will result in more and conscious social media activity.
Yes, you do want to invite comments and interaction.
Yes, you want to engage with relevant information and links and to share useful, appealing and interesting posts.
Your goal is still to draw interest and offer quality, so as sole ‘poster’ on your wall your duties are now to:
- Post creatively
- Post mindfully with the goal of informing, provoking opinion and encouraging ongoing conversation
- Post often, or at least at regular intervals
Channeling engagement on your pages is a smart use of your resources. In a world where social media proofs or evidence of activity, responses and fan sign ups and ‘likes’ raise your profile with both humans and search engines, you can improve your profit and your reach when you concentrate your communications.
You are still providing your readers, visitors, customers and industry contacts who wish to contribute or comment on your page or offerings, or perhaps even praise you, an area to do so by responding in the comment spaces below your posts.
The advantage of social media – interaction and engagement – remains. It is simply funneled into the opportunities you offer in the comment spaces below posts that support your brand and illuminate your unique contributions to your community.
Post often enough and with energy and variety to elicit response. Don’t be afraid to take a stand and evoke participation in the conversation threads you initiate.
If you post it, and post well, they will come, and comment.
Be creative,
Be in touch,
Helena
Helena Kaufman is a writer and communications trainer. In 1982, success at promoting, marketing and writing about 200 artisans launched Helena as an event publicist. The designers who sold at the Annual Manitoba Christmas Craft Sale exhibited original functional and decorative pieces in fibre, pottery, metal, oil, paper, wood, distinctive wearable art and more. Helena worked to raise their profile, bring media attention and increase their sales. She now shares some of that savvy in the Artisan Ally series. Helena’s writing and communications site can be found here.
