4 Ways to Increase Social Media Reach and Engagement

If you’re like 44% of people worldwide, you’ve been spending more time on social media during the pandemic. Whether you’re catching up on the latest news on Twitter or chatting with family on Facebook, social media has allowed us to stay connected.

But as a small business owner, are you spending more time on social media being empathetic?

While sometimes confused with sympathy, which is feeling compassion for someone else, empathy means putting yourself in somebody else’s shoes.

By empathizing with your customers, you can better serve them.

Here’s the Merriam Webster definition of empathy: “the action of (or capacity for) understanding, being aware of, being sensitive to, and vicariously experiencing the feelings, thoughts, and experience of another.”

It’s important to take an empathetic approach in all of your marketing materials, from your website copy to your social media strategy.

Because social media offers such a great way to interact with a large audience, you should be willing to put in the time and effort to ensure your communications are not only engaging, but empathetic to what people are going through.

***

READ: The Importance of Empathy-Based Marketing, on our website.

As we move forward from COVID-19, empathy-based marketing isn’t just the right thing to do, your customers now expect it.

Many studies done during the pandemic are showing people want brands to be more empathetic and aware of the long-term impact it will have on their lives.

Hopefully, you communicated authentically and empathetically with your customers during this time, and you’re going to have to continue to do so! Here are 3 ways to use empathetic content marketing…

***

According to the Braze Brand Humanity Index research, around 65% of people were more loyal to brands they felt a human connection with.

So to help you get-and stay connected-with your customers, here are four ways a small business owner can build a social media presence with more empathetic content marketing.

1. Create an empathy map.

This can be a good first step to put you deeper into the mind of your customer. Originally a tool used in the design and agile development worlds, empathy mapping provides a deeper understanding of your customer. It’s usually split into four quadrants: says, thinks, does and feels.

With your target customer’s persona in the middle, you begin to brainstorm questions, like:

Why do you need my product?
How does using my product make you feel/think/do/say?
What are some stressors/fears in your life?
How does my product help you reach your goals?
Write out your customer’s thoughts the way you think he or she would express. Their needs, wants, desires, hopes, fears, goals and dreams will start to be more clear, and you’ll be able to build a social media presence using messaging that resonates with your followers.
2. Tap into your customers’ emotions.

I’m not talking about playing on their fears to sell your products, but rather, thinking about how your product makes them feel.

Here’s a way that a brand helped ease their smallest customers’ fears. Philips invented a miniature version of a CAT scanner called the ‘KittenScanner,’ which doctors use to educate kids about the MRI process and put them at ease. Children can try it out with toy animals, taking the focus off of their procedure and onto fun.

It was created back in 2004, but it still gets mentioned on social media, in videos and in health journals as a way to reduce the need for sedation. How could you position your brand in a helpful, stress-reducing way for your customers?

3. Use social listening to your advantage.

Social listening is all about monitoring your communication channels for brand and competitor mentions, and certain keywords and comments.

As you “listen” to your followers this way, you can gain valuable insights into what they like, don’t like, want and need from you. You may see a tweet on Twitter from a happy customer who loved your product. Or, you may see a comment from someone who wasn’t impressed with how long it took customer service to respond to a complaint.

With social listening, you not only get information on how your small business is performing, you also get the opportunity to provide better customer service and tweak a process or product that isn’t working.

4. Inspire customers to take action.

Showing your customers you believe in them is an ideal way to increase social media reach and engagement. Think about the product or service you offer to your customers. How could you get them to use it to add value to their life and/or entertain them?

For example, Home Depot encouraged their customers to grow a living salad bowl with an infographic they shared on social channels. While there is minimal branding on this infographic, it still reinforces Home Depot’s marketing strategy of the things that are possible with their products.

No matter how you’re using empathy-based marketing to increase social media reach and engagement, remember your branding. For example, if your brand voice is “fun, upbeat and confident,” using humour might be the best way to engage your audience.

If it’s “down-to-earth, considerate and approachable,” a more heartfelt, emotional message could be the way to most effectively speak to your customers.

And don’t forget to create a social media marketing plan to save time and money!

Susan Friesen, founder of the award-winning web development and digital marketing firm eVision Media, is a Web Specialist, Business & Marketing Consultant, and Social Media Advisor. She works with entrepreneurs who struggle with having the lack of knowledge, skill and support needed to create their online business presence.

As a result of working with Susan and her team, clients feel confident and relieved knowing their online marketing is in trustworthy and caring hands so they can focus on building their business with peace of mind at having a perfect support system in place to guide them every step of the way.
hznvhvf
text-design
immaginemarketing
hydrocephaluskids
bluelug
streetartmuseum
howmanydaystill
ninhodejiripoca
kansenvoorwest2
zammo
pracownikwfirmie
nmaklabtilefill
logavak
hardscapena
tpegypt
hulio
055999p
mediahist
stepup-energieeffizienz
sharinghandsfoundation
naseeha
creativemediaalliance
shegertech
bookexpochallenge
si9dados
nhadatnhabe
vfhltd
kitap
kdzwebsites
gtkag
pyongyangtimes
ritterwerk
containers
newiki
peterhanssens
fkh238
kostenservice
impulsestudios
dominationworld
modernman
mymusclechef
visiontkd
bahisno
openworldnews
lcbl
idemsoft
lawtw
breezewoodgardens
malls
challenging
livehouse
sfqhlj
retailnews
pressekompass
r2
rayrole
convcard
viral
hyphensolutions
htsc
schornsteinfegersoftware
dawleywebdesign
cera-gmc
keymamomelibeachf
maglioncinoceruleo
classicaltrancelations
saudeprime
biogaia
planetmaya
broadviewtaphouse
jazvond
bjshenbang
reckon
91l5cty
digitalinnovationcenter
unwahas
deepsurface
soomedia
webtimiser
ecostage
mohitkanwal
acgnx
belladone
icozweb
suttonguardian
paytowriteessays
nielsen-admosphere
ccrcla
dastag
bestonlinearticle
thirdtext
pagosinternacionales
fiatprofessional
groot
srt
lacuna-matata
ozonerp
conemaugh
roulartamail
tjpaishuiban
paragon
lilly-valentin
anonym
top-60-online-shopping-india
thebellfoundry
2023wsjkorea
firstclasswatches
cragmedia
jetstar-cn
ethicsandtechnology
566333z
kemari
its-australia
abbieandeveline
bummerhosting
ametllerorigen
nshc
nemokamibureliai
londonvisionclinic
reviewsbird
the-sol-foundation
iitsdailyhub
dennis-radtke
caleidos
drivenwebservices
cloudchat
marquistopeducators
persscotabenhode
vdek-arztlotse
kroon777
laramiecounty
tondarnet
larochere
doerler
log2bq-codelab-io12
balmjs
aedgency
logobook
tierwohl-staerken
matob
aronhack
siv
riskassur-hebdo
ndititib
akorat
morgansiggard
internationalyogaconference
fiat
democrator
abhiandroid
mihanwebdesign
dongzhi
interart
stockxpress
hunex-play
worldanimalprotection
ky042
moa
walderwebdesign
phase3mc
camisetasdefutbolbaratas2019
heatheraudreylapier
oldsuitcase
damascoinnovations
circlek
amp-nls
usd116
asamcontinuum
interotc
yifeng16
98448
gomailings
musikfest-bremen
badaling
christmasincandyland
restaurantdestempel
verzekeringssite
irdial
planetrugby
prettyinpinkfoundation
hotshoeinternational
laguculday
wmd
glpjlp
best-magazine
audiolock
shkatylka58
mainfrankentheater
producereport
frederic-wang
homemate-research-finance
king-gates
piratbyran
ao-re
intraordinary
ghunauu
kindlydarling
templatewire
myacg
cife
waspmuseum
nordoffrobbinsfoundation
fila-wrestling
smlounge
sv588
bootstrappable
drme
083821
derlandmesserbus
xanthe
oracledu
oneto
setro
rustacean-station
jjhaines
lives-nccr
multidestinos
lemestre
adjarabet
razingthebar
rckaipingji
yang-feng
akvillas
standoutarts
sportextra
scottshorter
stron
927events
maaa
fantinel
estanislaosichar
steuer-it-konsens
aaronline
literaturairmenas
cssindustries
onpamall
abraceumacausa
thielskagalleriet
keyretro
bizseek
catscradle-richmond
cbo1
epplayer
andreatarroni
aznetz
lamwebviet
fabrica
cndrussian
etudoverdade
gildedterror
whatshop
classworkzoom
bygningsbevaring
visionwebsters
ecloudservices
sed
zebravision
iloveziemek
marnuelogfermroommy
kyubey
aubb
fashionnstyle
bakaure-lab
klinikumwb
chriscalender
constitution-unit
onemusicfest
thelooploft
edenrockhotel
7laxr7e
comune
nationalclub
operndorf-afrika
wzwins
unicsoft
propertypartner
onlinebible
kitaney-google
liber
miketatum
52shuku
zxtcg
bwi
currituckclubresort
vkomall
adoptionlearningpartners
xxvtc
sorting-algorithms
yoyp2018
bling
schoenbuch-heckengaeu
hrbhaiwai
createkinfo
lendin
weixianghost
licefa-webshop
firefold
cdhjournal
sammic
wt0
lingdegree
avp-autopflege
huelights
mywpsite
sdgsjtss
feifanshidiao
kingnetz
e3insider
whitneycummings
mosbysdrugconsult
hafeninitiative
kiwihealthjobs
studiocicero
giessegi
lncts
thebloggingenterprise
goodball82
smthw
campaignlifecoalition
disneycruiselineblog
shancetech
porex
zululandobserver
serendipitybrands
ensc-rennes
selsacloud
ombudsman
npower
pepime
churchofficechms
diygamer
pilesmoinscher
nicolai-bicycles
checkmateproductions
robfors
zoranzaric
badassarmy
lottegl
lelisunsli
ncrw
kerstpakketten
paddy-net
auburnapartmentguide
allegrini
datadrivenlabs
leftcoastcrime
breachermarketing
bigtimelab
master303
brentinyparis
lavishalice
sdhospital
izreview
invest-trading
delightsofculinaria
lovefinders
odetojoandkatniss
realmv6
thelittleblackgallery
mychelle
488744
thecapitol
countusin2020
qhkyfund
amsed
eagle
auvergne-centrefrance
icm2010
dahotels
smetechsolution
je-eigen-domein
bsfine
assethome
thewpvalet
6zc
zgszcpjyw
hfjl
pointsoflightconference
dna88
nnmarkedsdata
frank-schmittlein
lampiongarten
jssst
ime
cbaleague
oneillinois
kreativ
pathe
workersunion
xingxing
rfahaiti
dioxin20xx
yvesbonis
kogan
alphashare
e-be
worldpompe
notarvonproff
basisinformatie-overstromingen
sultanknish
psps
xianhua9
domovenok
tea-and-coffee
cajnewsafrica
hotelcstockholm
activeleisureevents
yxlon
protonet
dnset
petitesimmensites
harborone
jerboamedia
nvpo
bluevillascollection
lecidz
d3in
krebsheilung
lesmills
ngolegal
itstheshipchina
bikutuda
learnaboutbutterflies
lucabove
eshoje