Change Your Social Strategy from Push Messaging to Pull Messaging

Stop for a second and think about the content you’ve been posting on your social media channels. Are the majority of your posts full of information on your products, events and services? Is your tone authoritative? Full of jargon? Would your posts be confusing to anyone not associated with your brand or industry? If you find yourself answering yes to these questions, then you’re using push messaging, and chances are, you’re seeing little engagement from your social media followers. The fix is relatively simple – you’ve got to pull.

You see, the trick to creating engaging social media content is to be engaging. Ask questions, post interesting content that comes from other sources besides your company, try a little humor, encourage feedback – you’re trying to build a community around your brand that people can trust and relate to. Rarely do people feel like a community when they aren’t given a chance to contribute.

This isn’t to say that push messaging doesn’t have a place in your social media strategy. There are plenty of times when important information regarding your business is valuable to your followers – announcing a new product or an important event, letting people know your business will be closed or have different hours for a holiday. The key is to strike a balance between pushing and pulling, talking and listening.

Ok, so how do you do it? First, get to know your target audience in every way possible. Before you begin brainstorming pull strategies, complete the following tasks:

• Know your products and services inside and out.
• Research the needs and preferences of your target audience. Why do they seek out your business? What are their goals? What do they struggle with and what makes them feel good?
• Work to become a leading source of information within your industry. You want people to turn to you for their facts and news updates, so start publishing a blog. Curate information from other sources that your target audience would find helpful and interesting.
• Build relationships. Resist the urge to push products on your social media followers. Most of your followers aren’t looking to purchase right at this very minute. In fact, most of them may know very little about your brand. But as they get to know you, they’re more likely to take an interest in your company and all that you have to offer.

Now, start to formulate a strategy, and get it on a content calendar. Think of questions to ask, and when people answer them, respond! When someone supplies you with feedback, don’t do nothing. Apply their feedback in some way and then let them know. Get people rallied around a cause, partner with and promote a charity event, hold a contest. And every now and then, toss in a mention of how your product or service has helped someone just like them solve a problem.

Pulling does take more time, effort and imagination than pushing. However, it’s the only way to establish and grow a social media community as well as keep followers around. When you push products and services on your fanbase, don’t listen to their feedback and believe that you control the messages they receive, you’ll lose social media followers, as well as discredit your brand as one-sided and impersonal. And who wants that? So be engaging and watch your social engagement soar.