Successful social networking. The rules of engagement

Engagement or engaging is getting involved in other people’s conversations on LinkedIn by liking and commenting on their posts and company updates. 

If you're looking to get noticed on LinkedIn, then engagement is key.

We’ve compiled a list of engaging dos and don’ts to help you become a master of the game!

Who should I be engaging with?

Existing customers.

Who better to start with than people you already have a relationship with?

Engaging with your customers on LI takes your relationship to a whole new level, it’s a great way to maintain regular contact with them without appearing to be all about the sales and nothing more.

Colleagues.

Engaging with your colleagues helps both your posts and theirs and is a very effective way of showing your company is a good place to work. 

Potential clients.

By engaging on their posts you are taking the first steps in getting to know them.  If you subsequently pitch them they are far more likely to respond favourably if you aren’t just hitting them cold.

Company pages of the companies who are in your ideal target market.

Company pages are often neglected compared to personal ones, if you engage on the company page you will definitely be noticed! 

Company page posts are normally more business focused so it is a great opportunity for you to add value and show off your industry knowledge!

People in your sector with a large following.

Never be afraid to engage with the opposition.  A collaborative approach is far better than remaining aloof from them.

Not only will your comments be seen by a larger potential audience, you will also have the benefit of seeing what sort of posts work best for them.

Just as you add value to your competition, they add value to you!

It’s also worth remembering that if a competitor can’t fulfil a brief themselves, they may well recommend a friendly rival on the understanding you’ll do the same for them.

Searching for the right content

The right content for engaging on won’t just pop up in your field just like that – you have to search for it!

This is easily done, you type the subject you are looking for in the search bar and press ‘enter’.

Clicking next onto ‘posts’ brings up a range of posts in your chosen subject area, you can engage on the posts on the right hand side of the page.

Business or personal?

Both, of course!

Personal posts often get higher traction than the best written business-related posts, but this is because their subject matter appeals to a far wider audience.

The personal post is an ideal way of sparking up a conversation on a shared interest or belief.  Business posts are perfect for showing knowledge and adding professional value.

However tempting, don’t lurk unseen – contribute!

How often?

You need to be engaging with people daily.   If you don’t make a regular commitment, you won’t be around enough to be remembered!

Set 10 mins aside on a morning and afternoon to engage with other people’s posts.  Successful engagement, just like successful posting, is all about consistency. 

And keep an eye on your profile views as they will start to increase when you start doing this...

A well worded comment on the right post can get you just as much traction as a good post can.

This is why it makes sense to be following people with large followings, because when you see posts in your newsfeed you see the post AND the most popular comment.

If at all possible, make comments on these posts useful and informative, or memorable because they are funny.  Add value to get full value back!

Don’t do that….

Most people know how to conduct themselves appropriately on SM.  However, it’s worth pointing out that the following are best left avoided

The un-necessary argument

If you have a busy day ahead, the last thing you need is the distraction of a full-scale argument with a stranger with all the anger and stress it brings.

Unless you have a lot of time on your hands, take a deep breath and scroll on.  There are better things you can do with your time.

Plus if you contribute, you’re boosting the post’s engagement and doing them a favour into the bargain!

No sleaze, please

There are dating sites out there to cater for your darkest fantasies.

LinkedIn isn’t one of them.

Play nicely, don’t get a reputation for being a creep by commenting inappropriately on posts or direct messaging.

Ask yourself, have you ever met anyone who it worked for?

Trolling

Maybe you’ve had a bad day and want to lash out.

The post might be terribly written and you disagree with every word of it.

Buy a dartboard and get practicing!

Don’t take it out on someone’s post.

If you can’t think of anything nice to say, why bother saying anything at all?

DIY or managed account?

In an ideal World you have the time to manage your own engagement, but sometimes it’s difficult to spare the time to achieve the necessary consistency.

Under these circumstances many businesses opt to have their engagement outsourced and managed on their behalf.

This is a service that we offer as part of our SM account management, we can help you if you can’t spare the time.

Engage away!

Now you know the rules, what’s stopping you?  Take the plunge, add value, show some personality and have fun!