Before you start, please read the instructions below carefully:
- First of all, your social media is not a dishwashing machine that you can set and just forget about it!
- The following apps that we have collected will help you engage with your audience but will never be a replacement of your direct online interactions with them.
- Never automate your customer service messages unless you want to provide assistance to a real catastrophe.
- Always use these applications with a strategy in mind.
- Never leave these applications open and in reach of your kids.
Let’s talk about some key apps for us…
1.SumAll: Out of all the qualities that this application may offer you, in terms of engagement, we find the PowerUps feature very useful. Based on your weekly retweets, this app will automatically thank your top Twitter followers once a week.
2.SocialBro: If Twitter is one of the main sources of traffic to your website or where you really get a positive ROI, then this app will take your interactions to the next level. Among some features that this app offers, we really like the following for engagement purposes: Best time to tweet, knowing your influencers and the option to easily mention multiple users in the same tweet. Through this app, you’ll monitor who has recently followed or unfollowed you, so you can see the reason why this might have happened and take action right away.
3. Zapier: This is one of our latest incorporations that has changed the rules of the game. This software uses trigger actions like a Twitter mention or a Facebook post to create another action. For instance, save to Dropbox every time you’re tagged in a Facebook post or send an email every time your company is mentioned on Facebook. In terms of engagement, this app can also send a tweet to new followers to welcome them to your community. The combinations are endless, so every company can adapt it to their needs and goals.
4. Tweeriod: Similar to one of the SocialBro features, this app will tell you the best time to tweet with your audience, so you can engage with them better, based on your follower’s tweets and your tweets.
5. Paper.li. : With Paper.li, anyone can be a publisher. This app is on our list because it offers a wonderful way to engage with your audience. Paper.li is all about content curation. Users will pick and select different sources and content to create their online newspaper, so every time they publish it they’ll have the opportunity to feature some of the sources/users. Plus, they can mention their sources/users in a tweet, so they know they have participated in that Paper.li edition.
6. Mention: Yep, exactly! As its name indicates, this app will notify you every time your brand is mentioned, so you can engage and interact with them right away from the Mention dashboard. Below is a sample of how we monitor the presence of our CEO, Tom Jelneck.
Now it’s your turn…
Did you really think that all the work was going to be done without your direct online interaction? Come on, this is common sense! When it comes to engagement, conversation and interaction are key. People like talking to people, not to empty voicemails or deaf walls, which is what will happen if you automate all your social media activity.
1.Old techniques gain more horsepower than ever: A simple “Thank You” can change the conversation. On his last interview, Mack Collier, suggested a simple trick to try: “For the next 10 people that tweet your business a compliment, make sure you THANK every one of them. Then the replies that they give you are a RESULT of you thanking them.” Try it out! It really works!
2. The “wink, wink” technique: Recognize and acknowledge other accounts/users every time you tweet something from/about them.
3. Resharing and favoriting: Just as much as you like your content shared and talked about online, others will appreciate it as well. Educate yourself by reading someone’s tweet and allow your community to enjoy it as well by sharing it with them.
Simple rules of engagement, right? Don’t forget that although for these examples we have focused on Twitter, these techniques can be applied to any social media network. Still handling it? Good, we are almost done!
Oh, no, no, no… Don’t even think about doing this!
For those times when the world seems to come to an end, and that you don’t see the light at the end of the tunnel please read the instructions again! At any cost you should accept the succulent apple from the “Snow White” villain (Evil Queen), which will encourage you to automate the users you follow on Twitter. Yes, there’s an app for that, too (I know). Some evil samples are Reciprocate or Refollow, which will condemn you to a world full of emptiness or a world full of fake followers; whatever you prefer.
Whether to free up more time in your schedule, or to dedicate more time to personal interactions, the apps that we mentioned can help you take social media engagement to the next level. Do you use any of these apps to help you engage with your users? Have you had a bad experience by using one of the evil apps before? Please share your thoughts below and always stay away from the temptation!
Now, go ahead and open your dishwasher, the cycle has just finished.
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