What Does Engagement Mean?
Today, Jim’s journey begins on a high note. The world is his oyster; You see, he’s a young entrepreneur that’s helping his two new clients with their content marketing strategy (not too shabby.) And with a bachelor's degree and certifications under his belt, he’s confident and hungry to say the least, ready to take on the world. To Jim, engagement is about increasing viewership of an organization's social media posts and their reactions to those posts, while trying to reach the biggest audience possible.
A framed degree from Towson University is nailed to the wall above Jim’s desk. Its presence gives him the validation to crush the next client meeting in confidence. It should be simple enough, the client wants to talk about their social posting plan for May, and how they want to improve their metrics. Jim’s mind instantly wandered into a place full of statistics, and what calendar holidays are happening (National Burger Day is one he looks forward to, makes for an easy social post that day.)
Jim walks into the office of his client, Miya, the CEO of a non-profit organization for the last decade. He rubs the sweat off his palms and gives his client a nice, firm handshake. Miya starts by breaking the ice, she notices Jim’s nervous demeanor and wants to make him a little more comfortable.
He smiles but then gets right into business, “ The metrics for last month are looking pretty good. Total impressions are up 50%, but it seems like you’re not getting followers to respond to the posts.. So it seems that people are seeing your content, we just need them to engage.”
Jim shuffles his stack of documents and shows them to his client. The paper shows a filled calendar, with posts like “Happy National Hot Dog Day!” or “Help us celebrate National Vacuum Dog Hair Day!” Their sleek look gives off a degree of professionalism, but almost to a soulless degree. They are a beautiful amber shell, but full of nothing. “Without proper engagement, your social media plan won’t be as impactful as it could be, but-”
Miya interjects, “Engagement is what my business, my nonprofit is all about!” I love to engage with my community, and that's the only way to really reach them.” She continues, “These content posts are a great start, but what is it about content that brings people together, like my organization?”
Miya turns a framed picture on her desk towards Jim, the picture is of her with many smiling young children. “This is why I do it,” as she points to the photo. “These kids are my life, and I want my organization to do all it can to help them.” She smiles and tears begin to form, “If I couldn’t help these kids, I wouldn’t be able to sleep. I’m just glad I’m able to do something.”
He looks back at what the schools and certifications taught him, and finally looks at it from a different , refreshing perspective. Jim’s eyes opened, and with a wide smile a thought came to his head, engagement is about making meaningful relationships, sharing stories and having a conversation, not just numbers and percentage increases.
Jim grabs a legal pad from his faux-leather briefcase and begins to write the story of the framed picture. He’s filled with satisfaction as he leaves the window covered office building, ready to represent his client the right way, with the right content.
Next month, Jim is going back to meet Miya for their monthly metrics meeting. After some small banter, he breaks out the content calendar again, this time, it shows the post of the story he wrote about Miya’s non-profit. In the post, there are pictures of volunteers and kids at an event, shoutouts to her sponsors and board members, and hashtags on relevant words. Not to their surprise, the metrics are higher than ever before! As they engage in conversation about the success of the post, Jim now knows to ask more questions about Miya’s nonprofit, about her team, the board and of course, the kids. From then on, Jim was able to really grasp what his client was needing, a real voice to have real engagement to build real relationships with their audience.
My Thoughts on Jim:
Jim learned a valuable lesson when he had his client meeting with Miya, making content that has value, and gives representation to the organization. The trends (or expectations) for social media marketing have honestly grown stale with many companies, and they don't need to be like everyone else's. Posting for the sake of posting shows that you don’t care about the messages your company spreads online. Organizations should take their time to develop meaningful content to spark conversation and put out real thought leadership.
Jim, without knowing, gained insight on how important learning is, and the value of personal growth. Take every opportunity to learn from your experiences with peers, clients and co-workers. That’s content that people want to engage in
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