Social media sites are platforms to share content and interact.

Sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are places for people to connect, to chat and to share their thoughts and experiences. Website content engages people, whereas content is shared on social media sites. There are many ways to encourage interaction, and here are just a couple:

Host special events

People love special exclusive events. A great way to appeal to this is through a webinar for your social media followers, which features special offers or free gifts exclusive to those taking part.

As well as making announcements about your business, webinars are great places to host question and answer sessions, where you can find out what your customers really want from your business.

Be sure to make a recording of the webinar available, as not everyone will be able to make it live.

Real life connections

People appreciate it if you take time out to communicate with them directly. Find out who your most active followers are and arrange a one-to-one Skype video call with each one and tell them how much they are appreciated. They will love the attention and tell their friends they had a special personal call with you.

You could also arrange local meet ups, where followers are invited to a bar or restaurant to meet you and your team.

If you are a LinkedIn member use the Here on Biz app that alerts you if any of your LinkedIn friends are in your area so that you can arrange a meet up or call.

These are just some of the many ways you can build a community of loyal followers who feel they are making a valuable contribution to your business. It is then a small step to convert loyal followers to loyal clients of your business.

John Murray

John is every inch the wordsmith and loves a game of Scrabble above all else. With experience writing for newspapers, John’s time at university was spent studying Creative Writing – something which comes across in his love of the pun.