As Jay Bear says, “Social media allows big companies to act small again” – Jay Baer. Today we’re highlighting a few companies nailing it when it comes to community engagement and how you can too

Welcome to episode 3 of The Social Media Download. As mentioned in episode 2, we’re starting with the basics of Social Media. And for some that are simply figuring why they should include social media marketing within their marketing strategies. In episode 1, we discussed the importance of Brand Awareness. In this episode, we’ll move on to community engagement, and what that means. I’ll share a few examples, and talk about how you can improve or implement this as part of your own social media strategy. 

Community Engagement is a fantastic way to build connections with your community while gaining new customers in addition to keeping the attention of existing customers. 

Just like with friends or someone you meet, the more you get to know them, the more you’re likely to interact with them. This is when the relationship really takes off. 

The big question is how to keep your community, or customer engaged so that when they have a need for your services you are the first in which they think of. 

With community engagement, the goal is to be engaging, attractive, fun and thought-provoking. 

One of my favorite examples is Wendy’s restaurant. Their brand voice is sassy and playful which they certainly exude with their jokes and roasting of competitors. And within that mix, they promote their menu, give away free food and more.   

They utilize Facebook and Instagram, but they recognized early on that twitter was the right platform for their messaging. Their tweets are engaging, clever, a bit shocking at times, and definitely funny. All this keeps people talking about their brand, engaging in the conversation, and ultimately dining with them. They continue to grow in popularity, while their employee morale continues to sore. They equate this with their strong culture and the conversations they continue to have online and off. 

Jetblue is another great example. They also focus on twitter. They are quick to answer any issues, or questions, essentially listening and having conversations with others. If you have been at the mercy of an airline, you know that when you finally get a hold of someone or someone actual listens, it can change the whole experience. 

Engagement is rewarded by social media platforms, particularly Facebook and Instagram. Using the 4 ideas I’m about to share, will encourage conversation and hopefully increase your engagement. So the more engaging content you can develop, the better. In the meantime, let's discuss 

4 Ideas for Community Engagement - 
Have a conversation - Bots are a thing now, but can really be a turn-off. I understand the value of them at times, but typically when people are reaching out to a brand, it’s to have an actual conversation. 

Know the best channel for your brand - Twitter seems to work for the previous examples, but it’s not the best fit for all. Do your research, what your analytics, and note where the true conversations are happening. 

Promote others - Other brands, companies, and even your employees. No one likes to hang out with someone who only speaks about themselves. The same applies online as well. 

USG - User Generated Content is when others are promoting you by sharing your message somehow. An example of that would be someone taking a picture of your product or location, tagging you, and sharing on their social media channels. This provides a perfect opportunity to “thank them” or to address an issue they may be sharing. 

You may be thinking, Ok, Molly, those are accounts with thousands if not millions of followers, what does s