You might think social media interactions are a simple thing to do. Truth is many are missing on countless opportunities when just saying “Thank you” to someone who has re-shared your update. Read on to see how to bring the conversation to the next level.
Why simply saying “thank you” isn’t a good social media interactions tactic
Not to sound snobby in some way, but chances are we know the blogger whose post we just shared on social media is thankful to us for spreading the word, right? So does it make sense for the blogger at all to say “thank you” is that’s all they will say? For me – it’s stating the obvious…
Social media interactions that bring the conversation to the next level
When someone shares my blog post, of course I thank them – but I also try to bring the conversation to the next level. There are different ways to do that and a few that come to mind are:
- Ask a follow-up question – e.g. if the blog post that someone shared is about freelance trends in Q1 2013, I will thank them for sharing and ask them what’s their freelance profession. Or if I know the person is not a freelancer, then ask them maybe what’s the most appealing niche if they were to become a freelancer one day.
- Build on their shared update – this works when the person who shared your content didn’t copy the blog post title but created manually a question or a comment for their followers to see and interact on. For instance, if someone shares my blog post about knowing the potential freelance client from their job post with the update “Didn’t know a job post can reveal so much about a potential client…” – I can thank them for spreading the word and ask them what the most eye-opening tip in the article was.
- Say something funny – people love to laugh 😀 I cannot give an example right now (sorry!) but I am sure there are often situations where we can make a joke as a result of the update someone posted on social media 😉
I am not saying these tactics work every time and you become best blogging buddies with everyone out there. I am just saying that adding something meaningful to your “thank you” encourages the other person to continue interacting with you – on this topic or another.
The way you share other bloggers’ content can help you bring the conversation to the next level, too
I will skip the theoretical explanations and will give a real life example instead. Here’s a twitter conversation that one of my tweets started:
When Lorraine (here’s a link to her blog) tweeted back with the appreciation that I take the time to read her posts and include my takeaway in the actual tweet – I thought it’s time to blog about it 😉 As it is fairly easy to do this and I believe many are not doing it simply because they have not thought of it…
When sharing a blog post on social media, don’t just copy its title. Add something you liked from it for better engagement.
Tell me in the comments about your social media interactions.
Do you say only “thank you” when someone shares your content? Have you noticed the above tactics to improve the engagement on your social media properties? What other tactics you have to add to this list? If you tested these tactics – what was the result?
Aww. I am so shocked that you blogged about this! I remember this conversation, and as I was reading this post, your words brought this strategy to mind. Then, lo and behold, I kept reading only to discover that you made it an integral part of your post. I’m honoured, Diana! Thank you.
The cool thing is that I meant every word of it.
I’m looking forward to the comments you get on this post, too, and any other tips others may offer.
I have noticed that asking questions is a tactic used by many bloggers to push the conversation ahead, and sometimes I do just that, on my blog.
Here is my tip:
I think that any time one’s work is read, working a detail into the next conversation will easily let them know that you’re engaged, and is a nice compliment to pay without actually stating it outright.
thanks for stopping by, Lorraine! and for the tip in the end of your comment, agreed and much appreciated 😉
I am completely guilty of not only not being creative with tweets and not always saying thank you. The silly thing is, the way people share tweets of my blog are generally far better than anything I would think of and I really appreciate it so, I really do need to be more diligent about following up. Your example with Lorraine is perfect, you are both very creative with tweets and capture the attention of readers…well you capture my attention, which is saying something as I am generally going 100 miles a minute.
Thank you for the reminder that it isn’t just good manners to say thanks, its a good opportunity.
you’re welcome, Debra 0 and thank YOU for continuously reading and commenting! I am happy i have won you as a loyal reader despite you speeding 😉
As for you not being diligent when it comes to SMM interactions – don’t worry, as you know – i am too not following my own advice (often!) but truth is, we have only so much time (or should i say so little!) that we not always are able to do everything as we want to… so important thing is to be aware of these little but significant ways to improve your interactions and incorporate them when you can… regardless how often or rare this is 🙂
Wow! Glad to know this. I had heard that it wasn’t that cool to thank someone for tweeting, but the way you do it sounds great and it works! Appreciate the different point of view. Thanks!
Thanks for your comment, Jacqueline! I am glad my point of view is different and more importantly – helpful to you 😀
This was extremely helpful! As someone who is pretty new to the blogging world, it is so great to learn as much as I can. And people just might not think about how to engage while saying thank you. You’ve delivered great tips and ideas and it makes complete sense! So, thank you! 😉
thanks for your comment and feedback – i am glad i could help 🙂
on a side-note – may i ask you to use your real name when commenting? Having keywords and brand names is not nice and usually i send them straight to spam but judging from your comment itself, i think it was not intentional so i am making an exception here, one time only 😉 thanks in advance for understanding 😀
I curate a lot of content that I post to my social sites, and I have been trying to make a habit of adding quotes or my take on the post. It does make a difference, but feels so time-consuming at times. The key is to set limits for how much time I can spend doing so, and then hope others return the favor and understanding as well.
thanks for your comment, Jeri! It IS time consuming indeed… i hear ya! It;s a good tactic to allocate certain time and whatever you can do in that period, that’s it. I should learn to do that LOL
So true! OK, I have a hard time with funny on Twitter. Funny usually works best in my own family. So I will have to stick with figuring out ways to ask a new question or adding a quote to a tweet or other ways of making the connection more meaningful.
And by the way, I think it is a good idea to say thank you, especially if you are pressed for time, and you at least want to acknowledge that the person tweeted your post. I often tweet posts for which I get dead silence, so a Thank You is a nice response for me.
Another possibility that some tweeters do is when you tweet one of their posts, they in turn tweet one of yours. This only works if the tweets fit your style of tweeting.
Thanks for stopping by, Leora! and you ARE funny – you just made me smile with your tweet of this very same post 😉 Thanks for that, too!
The tactic you shared (i tweet yours, you tweet mine) is a nice one – never thought of it before! But it is true the tweets should fit the style fo tweeting…
Something i do (as i really really dislike tweeting plain “thank you”) is sending a #FF to all my twitter peeps who tweeted or re-tweeted – along with a “thank you for your RTs” or such with the #FF…
IF i have time, i spend more time thanking everyone personally, following up, giving more details why i add #FF (who blogs about what) – these increase the follow ratio but then again – we have only so little time… Where’s Elizabeth now with her blogger day camp LOL
Diana — I’m guilty of not always adding a comment when I tweet a blog post. However, just saying thank you is better than not saying anything at all!
Hey, Jeannette! Thanks for your comment and insights!
Maybe you are right it’s better to say just thank you than saying nothing… i would prefer not doing it though.
I mean, i either say something special along with the thank you, or i thank in bulk to many people… but i really dislike comments like “thank you” only. Not sure why 😀