Interactivity on social media

Getting people to engage with you, to contribute to your blog or your Facebook page is an important element in getting social media right. Why? Because people are more likely to remember you and come back if they engage.

But how can you get people to engage?

1. Ask for participation often. Let people comment anonymously and by using their social media identities if they prefer.

2. Make engagement the centerpiece of the post or for a period on your site. Ask people to post their own links and to talk about what they do. Sure, you will get some people putting up advertising, but if the links are too much you can always simply delete the ones that breach your guidelines.

3. Ask people to post images. You can run a contest for the best photo of your product in a strange situation for instance.

4. Ask for text contributions or submissions of some type to win a review or some other real prize.

5. Build community in from the start. Facebook group are a perfect example of that. Start a group. People know what's expected on LinkedIn and Facebook groups and on other sites with groups or tribes.

6. Make your post about a burning issue. Take a stand and ask for contributions. Make it about something important and up to the minute and make your contribution genuine and open.

7. Be persistent. Don't give up if it's difficult at the start. Give it a reasonable amount of time, but don't forget to move on too, if you need to. Social media is about balancing experimentation with persistence.

In the spirit of this post, please make your own suggestions below as to how to improve interactivity and post a link to your own site so we can see what you do and visit you.

To support this site - over 60 free posts so far on social media for you to explore - please buy one of my novels, The Istanbul Puzzle or The Jerusalem Puzzle or my guide to social media. And enjoy!