As someone with an idea or business, this can be a question we often want to blurt out into the atmosphere. After all of your planning, investing, building, and dreaming, it can be utterly disappointing for it to result in low engagement.

It’s frustrating when it seems like most of the people liking or commenting are spammers leaving messages like “nice pic” …on your video or “pay for 5000 followers today.” Is that really what your all nighters will amount to?

Where are the people? Where are the raging fans?

Where’s the community that will understand and seek after what your brand offers?

It’s important to look at what those people are interested in.

What attracts them to some of their favorite bloggers or brands?

It’s crucial that we don’t become a brand that’s placed itself so high above the market that it’s unreachable. Meaning, are you sitting on your social media perch listing all the reasons people should purchase from you? Are you even selling something that’s on the top of your target market’s priority list?

To answer these questions you’ll have to jump down from your perch, stop assuming, and start asking.

 1. Figure out their needs and where your product or service intersects with what you learn.

2. Address that intersection in a way your audience can relate. Speak with them (the way they communicate), instead of speaking at them.

3. Continually think through the difference between life with your service/product and life without it. If you don’t fully understand why someone would need what you do, how will prospective consumers?

If you’re asking whether anyone can hear you, the answer is yes. Make sure that you’re saying something that is worth stopping to listen to. There’s a world of people out there looking to add value to their lives. Consider how your product or service can be valuable for someone who has never heard of you before.

What tips have worked for you when interacting with social users as a business?