How Personalization Affect Social Media Engagement
Today, engagement and community building are one of the most important tasks for long-term success as a creator. Not only do you need to improve at social media, but you need to personalize it!
Social media engagement is one of the tasks that every creator should be spending MORE time doing in 2019. It’s no longer as simple as posting your content to each platform and expecting your audience to consume it.
Today, engagement and community building are one of the most important tasks for long-term success as a creator. Not only do you need to improve at social media, but you need to personalize it!
How personalization affects social media engagement?
Personalization on social media involves communicating directly with the specific person from your audience. In the context of a brand, this means knowing who your customer is, their previous engagements with your brand, and any purchases they have made. For a creator, this means knowing who your audience is, a little about them as people (birthday, pets), and how they’ve engaged with you in the past.
When your social media efforts are personalized for that person, their affinity for you as a brand (or content creator), is raised. No one in 2019 wants to feel like they are just a potential sale or a random viewer. For brands, they want to feel like you care about giving them the best brand experience. For creators, they want to feel like a valued part of your community.
This shift from general communication to personalized can be difficult. This is especially true for independent creators who are already short on time. But, it is the way the world is moving. Soon, if you’re not personalizing the experience on Twitter and other platforms, they’ll find someone else who is!
How to personalize your social media
In years past, having a social media account was enough to garner positive sentiment from your audience. Today, you need to customize your content for the platform AND your audience.
You can still post your latest video or product, but any communication with followers needs to be personalized. A very easy way to start is to use their name when you engage them. If you’re a brand, having a CRM (customer relationship management) system that links their social media account is crucial. This will help you establish their details, previous orders and other important information.
As a creator, you could invest in a CRM system, but you might be better off being more proactive on social media. Spending time responding to comments, replying on Twitter, and remembering small details about your audience. Keep things like birthdays (often displayed on Twitter profiles) handy to offer well wishes – you might make their day. Or, if you’re already spread thin on time, consider hiring a digital assistant to help with engaging fans on social.
Can you personalize your content?
As creators (or brands), the content that you share should be designed to appeal to the widest group of your core audience. There are not many ways to personalize your content for each person – though some experimental apps are working to solve that. Content that is slightly different for each person based on their profile, is one experimental method that some services are tackling. It’s still very much in the early test phases though.
Instead, your best bet in personalizing your content is to create something that has an element of user-generated content in it. A great YouTube example of this is Jacksfilms, who’s entire YIAY (Yesterday I Asked You) series is entirely based upon his community. It helps by allowing individuals to be part of the content. If there are ways to involve your audience similarly, you should try to do so! When we talk about personalization of content, it ultimately is about making your viewer feel like part of the reason why you created it.
