Effective Tips to Manage Social Media Interactions Without the Stress

Since the inception of the so-called “Web 2.0” revolution, social media has rapidly formed the backbone of almost all businesses and how they interact with their audience. This is for various reasons that are outside the scope of this particular post, but suffice it to say that the many social channels now available to businesses interested in keeping their customers happy and updated with their latest offerings have made things a lot easier than before. The issue for many SMEs is that while they are well aware of the power that social media can bring, the most effective ways to manage their various interactions are not always obvious. This is why we’ve created a few ideas that should help those who know they need to use it more often but are stuck on where to begin.

Never Ignore What Your Users Are Telling You

Social media has become a mainstay for businesses for plenty of reasons, but perhaps the most exciting is that it allows you to have a direct connection with your audience and receive highly valuable data in almost real-time. Although the possibility of receiving tons of toxic feedback is a very real issue, you have means at your disposal to help you filter out the value from the chaff. For instance, if you export and download Facebook comments, it will allow you to parse through the sheer volume of data (particularly if you have a large and active Facebook page) so that you can pinpoint the precise things that can make a difference in your interaction in general, and how you go about prompting your business more specifically. You ought to practice this for all the channels you operate within, which will build up a picture of what your audience is asking for, enabling you to deliver it to them and further increase engagement and show them that you’re listening to their feedback...a win-win situation that any business would love to achieve.  

Prioritize Quality Over Quantity

For newcomers to this world, there tends to be an insatiable desire to pump out as much content or reply to as many comments as possible in order to sate the machine spirit that lives within the numerous algorithms that dictate our lives. There is some truth in this to a certain extent, in that you do need to remain somewhat engaged to show the algorithm that you’re invested in their platform, but if you go too far, you risk burning out and delivering rubbish or turning to AI slop to bridge the gap. This might give you a slight boost initially, but it will rapidly cause things to turn sour as soon as your regular followers realize that you’re not really answering them directly or engaging with them as you used to. Instead, it’s often best to work based on quality over quantity and remove yourself from being constantly in front of a comment section. This serves two distinct benefits: 

1. It removes you from the toxic environment that tends to accumulate on social media.
2. It ensures that your responses and posts are far more valuable than if you resorted to constantly churning out comments for the sake of engagement.

Regarding the first point, the most common issue with using social media is that it attracts trolls whose only purpose seems to be to wreak havoc and cause all kinds of emotional stress on others. The only real way to avoid becoming a victim of this problem is to utilize the usual censorship features and limit your exposure to them.

Use Tools To Help Create And Schedule Posts

Automation and tools can quickly become your best friends in this game. By opting to make intelligent use of tools like search engines, chatbots, and other technology, you can achieve the job of remaining engaged without the need to be constantly available. Chatbots can be used to answer the more basic interactions or direct them to a more sophisticated form of communication, like email, if their queries need a little more personal touch than can be achieved with social media.

Be Mindful Of Your Reactions

It’s very easy to become overstretched and stressed out to the point that you’re no longer interested in updating your channels. This stress can also lead to you admonishing your users for valid questions and queries. If you’re not careful, this can lead to a drop in interaction and even cause significant reputational damage that could end up costing you more than your channel. Instead, take a step back and consider how you want to react to your audience, including ways to respond to negativity as positively as possible when it ultimately arises. 

Social media can be both a blessing and a curse. While it offers incredible opportunities for audience interaction and real-time feedback, too much of a good thing can also result in unforeseen problems.