Keeping up with social media takes a lot of work

I see you over there. With your million hats as a business owner. I see you writing your posts, and working with your people, and making amazing things happen. You’re up the late nights, you’re playing accountant – and you’re spending time on social media. And if you’re anything like most business owners, that “social media” side of things feels like a lot.

At least it does for me, and I know for many business owners out there it’s also a huge task to have on the list. Not just because it takes a lot of work to make the content, but because there are steps other than making the content. There’s responding to direct messages, commenting on posts, and responding to people who’ve engaged with your content. Then on top of that there’s responding to comments with more content, like replying to comments with a longer video explanation on Tiktok or Instagram.

And if you’re anything like most business owners, again, it’s super likely that those “extra bits” – the commenting, the replying, the engaging – are the things that fall through the cracks when you’re low on time. I get it! No shade. We all have the same 24 hours in the day, after all.

Even if you’re outsourcing, you might not be able to get a package with engagement!

And even if you ARE outsourcing your social media management to an expert, it might not be in budget to get a package with engagement, because those tend to be the higher tier investments with social media management agencies. The smallest packages you’re likely to find, are ones that outsource the actual design of your posts, and the writing of your captions. But unfortunately, that doesn’t solve the engagement problem, and definitely doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be engaging. (What a sentence – you followed that, right??)

So for those of you who can’t quite take the leap into a full service social media management package that includes things like responding to the comments on your posts, today we’re going to talk about social media engagement 101. A little bit of the “how” and a lot of the “why”!

What exactly do I mean by “engagement”?

When the term “engagement” is used about social media, there are two potential things it’s talking about. The first one, is the engagement rate that your business or account gets on its content. That type of engagement is about your audience, taking action on your posts, basically showing off how much they love it, and you, and everything you do. But that version of “engagement” isn’t strictly the one we’re talking about today – it can also be called “inbound engagement” because that type is people doing stuff on YOUR account.

But there’s another type, and that’s largely the one I’m talking about today. “Outbound Engagement” is the equal opposite of “inbound” – it’s actions YOUR account takes to respond to inbound engagement, and to create touchpoints with other accounts in your niche, your local area, or who have similar audiences or values. It includes all kinds of things –

• • Replying to comments
  • Replying to direct messages
  • Sending direct messages
  • Liking other accounts posts
  • Saving other accounts posts
  • Commenting on other accounts posts
  • Tagging other accounts

Why does outbound engagement matter?

It might seem weird for me to sit here and recommend that you should be engaging with accounts that aren’t yours – because business is competition, right? So why would you do growth activities for OTHER businesses? Well, it’s honestly just not that simple.

First of all, as I’m always saying, a rising tide raises all ships. Being a business owner has to be partially about community, ESPECIALLY if you have a local business, like with a brick and mortar location. But it’s not just about the warm and fuzzy community vibes that outbound engagement is important. It’s also a major growth driver, and it helps tell the platforms themselves that you’re an active account, who actually uses the app for more than just posting and ghosting. Which is valuable. We never get to know exactly HOW valuable, because those kinds of details aren’t shared with us, but what we can definitely say, is it makes a difference.

What can outbound engagement do for your social media accounts?

And it’s not just the growth metrics that matter when it comes to outbound engagement – it’s also about connection with your audience. I don’t mean in the warm and fuzzy “rising tide” way I mentioned before, I mean in the “responding to your audience gets their attention” kind of way. Responding to comments on your posts with a genuine response – a real one, not one generated by AI, or templated ahead of time – creates a connection.

And connection sells. We all know that the know, like, and trust factors are huge drivers of customer acquisition. (Don’t you love when I use professional phrases like that?) Basically, the more you engage with your people, the more interested they’re going to be in your cool stuff. Whether your cool stuff is local yoga classes, or portrait photography, or dog training.

But this connection doesn’t have to JUST happen on your own posts, it can also happen in the comments on OTHER accounts posts! Social media is just that – social. And I know we’ve moved away somewhat from using it that way, especially as business owners. But we have to remember the root of what we’re doing in the first place. We’re using SOCIAL media, and if we’re not talking to people on it… well, that’s not very SOCIAL, is it? Having conversations in other comment sections gets your account name in front of more people. Just like putting a leaflet in the mail, but better, because it’s on the magic rectangle in their hand all the time.

With a little time, anything is possible

At the end of the day, engaging on social media is going to take time. You’ve got to find accounts that make sense to engage with, find content that actually feels genuine to comment on or engage on in other ways, and that’s time you can’t spend doing other things. So like I said, I totally get why it might not be at the top of your list.

But it doesn’t need to take ages, it can be something you set ten to fifteen minutes aside for every day, or every few days. Bonus points if you line it up with when your posts will go up on whatever platform it is, because then you can engage with other accounts, and ALSO respond to the comments etc coming in on your latest posts! Two birds one stone!

If it helps, give yourself a few goals. Maybe say you’ll engage with one local account or account in your niche every time you’re in the app. Or, you’ll engage with one story every time you scroll through them. Pick something that makes sense to start with, and is a small, attainable goal! Then you can add more in from there.

Need a little help engaging online?

And if you’re struggling to find the time – help is out there! Or rather, help is also HERE. Full Service Social Media Management through Jessica Strobel Photography is available to help take these tasks OFF your plate, and let your social accounts grow on autopilot. Like, literally while you’re sleeping.

So if all this sounds like a little too much for you to handle right now – let us handle it FOR you! I’d love to set up a time to discuss how my collaborators (Kat Regas, and Katelyn Mayne!) and I can help you meet your goals. And then after that, how we can help you SURPASS them!

Bonus: Take a look at just a few results that my AMAZING team of collaborators and me have gotten for our social media management clients!