Startup Guides > Think Twice Before Posting on These Social Media Sites

The 'Holy Grail' of social media outreach is engagement, which goes beyond broadcasting via social media marketing to interacting with your fans. While some companies might use 40Billion, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other social networks to drive traffic to their own websites, the more that people are engaging with your posts and sharing your content with their own networks, the more brand loyalty you can build.

While there's no tried-and-true formula for everyone to maximize engagement all the time, outreach on social media doesn't have to be like blindly throwing darts at a board. Here are 2 questions to ask yourself to make sure your posts are prompting maximum engagement:

1) Will this add value to the people I'm trying to connect with?


Social networking means you should be trying to provide your fans and connections with some kind of value instead of hitting them over the head with a sales pitch.

Nevertheless, one of the goals of social media marketing outreach, as with other types of marketing, is to spark conversion. The way to achieve this is to come up with educational and entertaining wall posts and promotions.

2) Will this update seem fresh to my contacts?

If all your updates sound the same, your outreach can grow stale and your audience might stop engaging. To help keep your updates fresh and people coming back to your page, try these ideas:

- Share videos and promoted posts that educate your audience;
- Encourage fans to engage and share their opinions;
- Publicize in-office events and community involvement;
- Offer an incentive and play up your strengths;
- Feature and reward your star fans.

Recommended: 3 Secrets To Marketing Your Small Business Successfully