Does Having Millions of Followers Mean You are Engaged?
Today I was thinking back to this article on Mashable.com… 25 Of The Most Engaged Brands on Twitter ( http://mashable.com/2013/04/25/nestivity-engaged-brands/) and after looking at their list I got to thinking, What is Social Engagement?
Is social engagement simply broadcasting your message to the Twitter-verse and letting followers and twitterers simply retweet like the humming birds we are? Or, is it something more? I know personally before I follow an account, I like to check out their page, what kinds of graphics they have, and most important, how many do they follow. If an account only follows a hand full of people I don’t have a problem, as long as I can see some conversation happening on the account. What I absolutely cannot abide is a 0 following count. Really, you can have hundreds, thousand, or even millions of followers, but you are soooooo important that you can’t follow just one person? That speaks volumes to your “engagement” strategy of Twitter.
By now I think most brands have at least some idea how to, at the very least, use the networks available. When I say, “use the networks available”, what I mean is they physically know how to post things and when tasked reply to any followers who may have questions or just want to chat. For some of the top brands in the world, let alone the country, to have ZERO “@” reply or ZERO followings, it’s not sad; it’s a huge disappointment and the strategists/agencies/marketers running those programs should not be asked to speak on panels. They can be invited to ostrich farms to stick their heads in the dirt with those tall, fast as all get out flightless birds, but they have no business sharing with colleagues, professionals and businesses how to make a good run a Twitter account. They can talk about posting content that garners engagement, but they cannot speak to how they use engagement as a tactic or strategy on their boards.
Sometimes these giant brands don’t have the resources or want to interact with their community, so they either just broadcast their messages or let their profiles gather cobwebs. Too often consumers have real questions and they use the direct pipeline of social media to reach out to brands, only to hear silence in return. A couple of months ago when I first read this article I reached out to two of the most engaged social pros I could think of Gini Dietrich and DJ Waldow, and their responses were great, Gini even wrote up a piece about it on her amazing blog Spin Sucks.
Engagement Fail That Happend to Me
Earlier this year, I had an experience with MattyCollector.com, where one of the action figures I bought came with the wrong build-a-figure piece (and it was one I already had). Now normally this really wouldn’t be a problem, because I’d just go out and grab another figure to get the piece, except this particular figure is kind of rare and took a while to track down. It lead to me reaching out to them on their Twitter account to see what I could do to get the proper piece… I’ve still not received a reply. Engagement fail by Mattel.
The Question For You
So the questions for you: What do you think of engagement, can it be as simple as having your followers re-tweeting, liking or +1-ing your stuff? Or do you expect some kind of a response in the form or a reply, direct message, comment or other action?
About Brian Tudor
Brian Tudor is the CEO and Founder of Deadshot Digital, he has been marketing websites since the Internet was a fad. During his time in the digital world, he has worked on everything from managing Geocities communities to running digital marketing for national brands. Brian's passion for the web and how it can help brands, businesses, and individuals is matched by few in the space.