My first ‘proper’ marketing job was an intern role looking after the social media and influencer engagement for The Body Shop UK. It was my job to not only come up with on-brand, trendy and click-worthy posts, but to ensure The Body Shop UK was always engaging with its audience and aware of its brand sentiment online – and we measured our success on numbers – much like everyone else. 

Fast-forward seven years and the social media landscape has changed a great deal since then. 

It’s true that it’s still important to ‘engage’ with your audience and create ‘hook-points’ as Brendan Kane refers to within his book ‘Hook Point – How to stand out in a 3 second world’ but it’s also true that the way users engage with content online now is evolving too. 

The shift in engagement 

Now, when I talk about an evolution on HOW users engage online, I’m not merely talking about how mobile is queen, or how much screen time we spend on devices, or even how many brands and content there is online today.  Though these elements to our digital world are important to consider when developing your content, social media and advertising strategies, what I’m addressing today in this blog is the behaviours of users online today – the need to ‘like’ or comment on a post for example. 

What do you ‘like’, really? 

Engagement is typically defined as an action taken based on a piece of content shared online. Likes, comments, shares and clicks are the most ‘tangible’, measurable and outwardly visible (bar clicks!) elements of ‘successful’ social media engagement.

Likes (and similar ‘reaction’ responses introduced recently by both Facebook and LinkedIn) are perhaps the most impulsive of actions that are more easily gained on posts.  But what drives someone to like your content?

Consider your own experiences online – there are many categories (more than listed below) for you to fall into..

1. Lurker – more about this later, but you enjoy social media, but don’t engage on posts, even if you enjoy them.  The reasons behind this could just be that you don’t feel the need to, or don’t wish to advertise online the brands, products or views you resonate with with your fellow connections, friends or followers. 
2. Serial Liker – you like a LOT of content, you may be selective with the brands and influencers you follow, but you follow them as you enjoy the content and aren’t afraid to click the like button to show them that you’re a fan.
3. Savvy & Calculated – you know that what you engage with online will dictate not only what you will see more often, but what others in your network will see that you are engaging with online too. So you’re selective, and you’ll engage only when you feel it is pertinent to your own personal brand online, and your own strong views and likes you wish to share with the world. 
4. Chaotic Clicker – now chaotic is an intense word – but what I mean here is the type of user online who will engage willy-nilly, if you fit this description you’ll follow a fair few accounts, and haven’t unfollowed those they don’t engage with, this results to a fairly eclectic stream of content – which may or may not be a headache. 

When you see the four categories above (like I say, there are many, many more!) you’ll see that the reason for people to engage can differ just based on how you choose to use social media, and how much you know about how content is delivered to you online. 

Let’s dig a little deeper into the why…

The more elusive social media users, such as the lurkers, and the savvy users will still like content online… but the reason why they do is important – as it’ll prove to you WHY the lack of engagement online means little to your overall business goals in the long-run. 

A simple click is not just a click. 

It’s a symbol to others, and the algorithm to define you as the user as someone who agrees, or enjoys either the brand, product, or point of view of that post. For those who care about how others view them, or what they consume regularly – they will be selective with those clicks. 

Myself, for example,  the ONLY time I’m ‘liking’ a post is one of three…

1. A friend or family member has something positive to say, and I’m here for it! Even if it is yet another cute dog pic! Why? Because I want them to feel ‘seen’ and that I care about their life and their small joys in life. 
2. A colleague, or business network connection says something I agree with, or is championing success, or another related business. Why? Because, my engagement with their posts shows loyalty and interest which could be of use to further business opportunities. 
3. A business, or brand who posts something positive (often nothing to do with their brand at all) that supports the world, or group of people in a positive way i.e. Dove’s ‘Hit like a girl’ campaign. 

So social media engagement doesn’t mean anything then?

I’m not saying to stop tracking your efforts, and I’m not saying that if you find your post has been shared, liked and commented on that you’ve not done a great job.  These engagement metrics are fantastic – specifically for marketers working in industries where it is so hard to prove the value of marketing efforts. 

But, here is why you needn’t be tragic if you post something (or multiple posts) and receive low engagement… 

The lurkers. 

It blew my mind when Danny Asling (creator of the marketing crowd) shared this post on LinkedIn that articulated what ALL good marketers know. 

Now lurkers, as Asling explores are those who do not engage with your brand’s content – but does that mean they’re not ‘truly engaging’?… no! 

Should you keep posting online, if you’re not receiving any engagement online? 

Lurkers read posts, but don’t like, click, comment or share… but each time they read or see your content they are becoming more and more aware of you, what you offer, what you stand for.  

It might be a case of timing… they are not currently in the market for a new sofa but might want one next year when they renovate. 

It may be a case of trust…  they will explore your brand, absorb your content for a while before they want to take more action. They haven’t decided if they like what you have to offer, or if they trust you are a brand of quality, and/or align with their own moral values. 

So don’t ‘do social’ just for the likes, use every post as an opportunity to share the heart, the value, and the quality of your business, to have conversations and to be a three-dimensional business that ANYONE looking at will eventually want to engage with. 

And, if you would like some help with navigating the online space – let’s have a chat over a coffee about your business, its offering and how best to articulate your vision online so that everyone (including the lurkers) not only know about you but (when the time is right) want to do business with you. Get in touch today.