In the world of social media marketing, there is a lot of talk about driving traffic to your website, increasing your reach and getting engagement. There are many different ways to accomplish these tasks and lately it seems there are a lot of people teaching methods to trick or manipulate people into liking or commenting on a post.
Do these tactics work? Sure they do. If you post something that people universally like and then ask them to like it, you will probably get some of your fans to like the post. But what does that really get you? Boosted numbers to make you feel better?
We have been long-time believers that the best way to get engagement is not by asking for likes and comments, but by telling engaging stories about your business. In fact, Facebook just announced that they would be filtering out posts that include a deliberate call to action like ‘click like’ or ‘comment below.’
I couldn’t be happier about this.
But how do you tell engaging stories? There are many ways, but let me focus on one that is easy to implement right away…
Good stories always contain people and a picture is worth a thousand words.
It’s simple, but so effective. On social media, you don’t have much space to write, so you have to catch someone’s attention quickly. Pictures can do that, and if it’s a picture that tells the story of your business? Jackpot.
Think about who the people are in your business – your employees, co-workers, vendors, customers/clients, strategic partners, even the person you get lunch from every day. Think about any person who you interact with because of your business, and those are the people that make up the story of your business.
Once you have identified those people, start documenting your workday through pictures and share those on your social media channels. Maybe you will get a delivery of new products – take a picture of your team opening the boxes. Take a picture of your receptionist waiting to welcome your guests in. Take a picture of yourself meeting with a client. Take a picture of your team having lunch together. There are opportunities everywhere to take pictures of the people that make up your business – you just have to keep an eye out for them.
Sharing pictures that include the people in your business will help you tell a more engaging story on your social media channels. You will get more likes, comments and shares – not because you asked for them, but because people are actually engaged with your content and your business.
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