Oi! You! Pay attention! Pay attention, and give us a ‘like’.
Did it work? Are you paying attention? Yes?
Did you hit ‘like’ or ‘share’?
Have you engaged this content in any other way?
Reading it does not count as engagement, by the way. No one cares if you read this. What we want is trackable engagement. We already know you’re probably not going to get past the first paragraph or two, and that’s alright. No, really, it is. The internet has destroyed our attention spans as much as yours, so we’ll forgive your already-drifting focus.
…but only if you @#&$ing engage! Please…?
Okay, sorry. Maybe that was a bit heavy-handed up there, but engagement is important and it sometimes feels to us like a lot of people just aren’t quite sure why.
So, before this piece veers back into a pleading rant for attention, how about we cover the ‘why’ of your engagement’s importance?
If you learn something (assuming you’re still reading) maybe you’ll like it because it deserves it. Sound fair?
Content Refinement
The intersection of Content Marketing Boulevard and Social Media Street is a bloody busy collection of corners, and finding a way to stand out from the crowds that have taken to gathering there is not easy.
First of all, you’ve got to figure out how to stand out – what people want to see, what they want to share… you’ve got to figure out what resonates with your audience and compels them to act.
The analysis of social engagement plays an important role here.
Essentially, whenever you actively engage with content, you’re voting for something about that content that you enjoy and would like to see more of. On our end, as content creators and strategists, analysis of what content is most interacted with allows us to attempt to define the most-loved qualities from across a swathe of content, and distil them down to their purest forms in future releases. It can be a bit of a trial-and-error process.
In this piece, for instance, we’re testing the appeal of articles that introduce themselves by shouting at their readers. So, if you like slightly abusive content, and would like to see more of us ranting at you from your Facebook newsfeed, scroll down, ‘like’ this article, and your vote will go towards refining our content creation process in that direction.
We’re banking that not much draws attention like a brand ranting at a crowd of people on the side of the road. We have high hopes for the shouting approach.
Pleasing Lord Google
A digital marketer might be more acutely aware of Google’s importance than the average man on the street, but let’s be honest – there are very few citizens of the 21st century who are not at least peripherally aware of Google’s status as supreme overlord of the internet.
Google became emperor, and maintains its position despite competition, by satisfying you, the internet denizen. That means that anyone who wants to please Google has to please you too. It works out quite neatly, really.
Now, as far as we (and everyone else) know, social signals do not have a direct impact on Google’s ranking of a web page.
That said, there are a handful of top factors that correlate with a high page ranking, and social media engagement – across platforms – appears to be one of them.
Now, maybe Google’s algorithm is so advanced that it’s developed personal tastes in content that it happens to share with a broad cross-section of the online audience, or maybe Google’s just done what Google does, and is keeping the truth of social engagement’s direct impact on search rankings a secret. Google works in mysterious ways.
It’s all a bit of an enigma, but while we – and the rest of the online marketing world – try to figure it out, it would be nice if you’d give us a like and share…
… You know? Just in case.
Indirect Value Of Brand Immersion
Any brand worth its salt wants to increase its reach, engage with its audience, and place itself at the forefront of awareness so that it is the first solution people think of when they have a relevant problem that needs solving. The value here is not an easily measurable thing.
Sure, statistics show that a website’s volume of traffic tends to increase in correlation with the amount of engagement it receives on social media platforms, but it’s no mean feat to definitively prove a causal relationship.
And, really, why would you need to?
At the end of the day it’s an axiomatic reality that people connect more easily with those they know and trust. Brands that develop relationships and bond with their audiences will almost always perform better than brands that can’t, or that chose not to.
Brands Should Care
Yup, that’s right. The attention-grabbing shouting is done, and the truth is that we do actually care if you’ve read this far.
When we get right down to it, past the statistics, justifications and analysis of content marketing on social media platforms, the fact is that, whether for altruism or pragmatism, brands should care about their audiences.
You’re not just walking bags of money that we’re hoping to get some scratch out of. You’re potential partners, good friends, informal promoters, and maybe even future employees.
We should care what you want to see, what you want to read, and what we can do to better connect, and share our world with you.
Social media gives us the chance to connect with, and learn about you while we’re showing you a bit about ourselves – it’s a two-way connection between a brand and the world it shares with the audience it builds.
This article is a bit of a faux pas.
Social media etiquette dictates that one should not ask for likes, shares, or comments.
The thing is, Wetpaint has never really given much of a hoot about the rules (inasmuch as breaking them doesn’t do any harm). We care about our clients, we care about our audience.
We care about you.
So, what do you say? How about that ‘like’?