Level of engagement with your social media audience is as important as the number of followers

When it comes to social media marketing, the measuring stick for success has been quantity up until this point. Quantity is still important, especially if you don't feel your at a high number yet which is the case with a brand I'm help manage presently.

But the case for quality is gaining ground as platforms mature. Having a massive number of likes or follows is important, but audience engagement remains the key for long term success.

 On The Wall Street Journal's website today, Jeff Elder's article on social media hit home on a couple fronts. He profiles Ritz-Carlton, a brand I have deep admiration and their concerns over getting too many social media followers.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/companies-alter-social-media-strategies-1403499658

Rather than go for quantity, Ritz-Carlton has about 498,000  Facebook fans, they decided to listen more to what their audience was saying. By listening to that crowd, they are learning how to run their business better. Reputation management is inexpensive compared with the knowledge that can be gained from its use.

Facebook's new feed system is killing businesses trying to marketing heavily through the platform. EdgeRank Checker estimates that brands only reached 6.5% of their fans in March which is down from 16% in February 2012. From what I am reading, the reality is going to be even less reach in the coming months.

Listening to the audience is so important. You can learn what is REALLY happening in your business; what you want your customers to say but won't say it to your face. The good, bad and ugly are all being discussed about your business, so why not join the conversation? I love the approach Ritz-Carlton is taking, and think it can quickly and easily work for any business regardless of the size.

Reputation management is not that expensive. Any company that deals a lot with the general public should be doing something. Even if your company isn't using a service, at least monitor social media to hear what people are saying about your brand. And if they've commented, respond. A thank you for a compliment or reaching out to fix a problem does wonders for the image a business has in the public's eye.

Yelp has come out with a service upgrade, which allows businesses to communicate with customers that post on their platform. I personally haven't seen it in use yet, but it seems pretty obvious to me that businesses (especially restaurants who get the majority of traffic on Yelp) should enlist.

http://zite.to/1jI2ASF

At a conference last fall, a speaker made the comment then that has stuck with me ever since regarding social media engagement. A business would not install a phone line and publicize the number to the general public and then not answer the phone. The same needs to be true with social media. If your business is on social media, you have to respond to the posts, just like you would a phone call.