The Easiest Way to Boost Your Customer Engagement and Social Media Buzz

This is no magical fix to all your social media woes. You probably won't even notice any empirical results. However, this is a simple way to give your Facebook page a little extra push.

The default setting for a Facebook page is to show your posts only. However, this robs you of so much potential buzz and word-of-mouth. Consumers will never trust your biased promotional jingles over the raves of impartial fellow consumers.

If you want to truly take advantage of the fanbase you've worked so hard to build, showcase all the positive things they have to say. In addition, this is great if you interact well with your customers.

To switch the setting to show both your posts and your fans' posts, simply go to your page while signed in and at the top right, you should see a button that says "edit page". Click this. Now there will be an option called "Wall tab shows". Select all posts and you're all set.

You just made your Facebook page 1.5% more engaging.

How to Easily "Wow" Your Customers with Social Media

Many brands (and most social media consulting firms)  fail to understand that social media marketing is about building relationships with customers. They splurge on hiring the best graphic designers to create a fancy Facebook page for them.

But let's recall what a relationship is. Or better yet, what it is not. A relationship is not one person always talking, and the other person always listening. Instead, each person will talk a little and listen a little. Why is this simple concept in interpersonal dealings not applied to social media marketing?

An engaging Facebook page is 5% about you showcasing your brand; the other 95% is just letting customers talk amongst themselves and to you. We've handled how to promote the sharing and word-of-mouth so let's talk about having customers talk to you. Here are posts on talking with your customers:

Improving Customer Relationships by Responding to Negative Feedback

How to Respond to Positive Feedback through Social Media

Cultivating Brand Advocates Through Social Media: Involving the Customer

Customers truly enjoy engaging with brands that include them in their operations. Generally, companies subject even their most loyal customers to sitting on the sidelines, as mere spectators. Why waste these valuable brand advocates that you've likely spent years building relationships with?

Social media is a tool that can make customer involvement much easier.

Free the Children, a charity group whose goal is to eradicate child poverty, demonstrates this perfectly. They've partnered with various sponsors who have agreed to contribute $1 for every "like" they get on Facebook. This allowed supporters to be a part of the giving process, with a simple but meaningful gesture that they could feel good about.

Several brands have also created "name this product" contests on Facebook, as well as YouTube-based contests to make advertisements.

These sorts of engaging campaigns can create lifelong brand loyalty with winners and fun memories for other participants. Once you make a customer feel like a part of your organization, she feels sincerely good about supporting your brand.