“Engage Your Engagers” — Influencer’s First Commandment?

Indeed, and this is not only the First Commandment for any social media-ist. Every time engagers are going out of their way from their daily activities and bothering to engage with you on your social media account, engage back. Such attention is so appreciated in today’s world and is really the essence of building lasting relationships on social media.

We all have at least one engager on social media, and those people are so important. But wait…

In This Article:

• What is an engager?
• Engaging your engagers is about community building and getting attention
• What not to do with engagers
• What yes to do with engagers?
• Add a CTA
• Do I need to engage with all of them?
• Takeaway

What is an engager?

Engager — also called a “commenter” — is someone who creates a dialog with you on your Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube or/and other social account.

The dialog can be over

1. DM (Direct Messages)
2. Your posts’ comment area
3. Their posts’ comment area
4. Others posts’ comment area
5. Blog
6. Email
7. Newspaper article (if it’s a journalist, for example)
8. Tagger i.e. someone who tags you on social media
9. Podcast
10. Etc.

They care, they are emotional about the topic, they are fragile, and therefore they should be handled with care.

They are your fan club.

They bring virality to your posts.

They bring their friends to your account.

They bring traffic.

Engagers are all around us. We just need to do a good observation (“visualization”?) and feel them, sense them, try to be in their shoes…. You NEED them, because those are the ones that care, those are your early adopters, your “super-spreaders” (in a good way)!

RELATED: How do you think the use of SMI impacts a brand’s message and authenticity on TikTok?

When you build a community, focus on

those who care = the engagers.

Engaging your engagers is about community building and getting attention

Social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube were built with community-building in mind. If you want to be there, get noticed, and be a part of it, you’ve got to think about how you build your community through your own account.

However, we all know by now — it’s very hard to get attention these days on social media for what you do. Attention is scarce, and brands pay a fortune to get this attention. They pay celebs, SMI*, full-page ads in the NYT, sponsorship of TV shows, and what not.

*SMI = Social Media influencers. Source: Who is an influencer?

That’s all fine. What is not okay is when you DO get attention, and you don’t do anything with it. When engagers engage on your account, and you don’t engage back, that is, in most cases, a real waste of an opportunity. And it may result in you losing them as followers and engagers — which isn’t a good idea, unless that’s what you want to do.

Related:

What not to do with engagers

Handle with care, because they fragile and emotional.

When engaging with the engagers, be real, be you. That’s what they want and that’s why they choose to engage with you. Furthermore, when you communicate with your followers be consistent in your messages, attitude, thoughts, your dreams, your idealism, and stick to it. If you don’t, remember, they care and will be able to tell. They will notice and you will lose them. In addition, they may loudly to announce their disillusionment with you to everyone.

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If you say you are vegan and yet you are engaging with the engagers and tell them that you’ve eaten a chicken finger yesterday, that’s probably a no go …

What yes to do with engagers?

Engage in a timely matter — because engagers care they are eager to hear your answers and (beautiful unique) point of view. If you don’t answer them, or you let them wait too long, they may feel rejected, and — unless making them feel rejected is your goal — you will lose them.

Add a CTA

"I can recommend my xyz book, available on Amazon"
"BTW I really enjoyed xyz perfume"
"Feel free to sign up for my new restaurant launch virtual party - it will be insane"

Engagers are very excited social animals and there is a very good chance they will spread the news of your brand, account, or community for you.

Do I need to engage with all of them?

No, you don’t have to engage with each and everyone of them. Here are three possible scenarios for when you shouldn’t engage:

1. They are spammers.
2. Some will never become your community members (for example if you built a community for Orange lovers, and that engager’s posts are never about the love of orange…)
3. Not engaging with someone on purpose, as a way of adopting an attitude, may serve you well in some scenarios.

Do engage though with those that:

1. You can consider engaging anyone you see as a potential part of a community that you want to build. Although, again taking the example of building a community for Orange lovers, go to the engager’s posts and if you see a lot of orange there. If so, then go for it! But if not, you can still engage and create a dialog with them.
2. Engage with those who can help bring your message to the world (for example a nutty journalist — she may not be part of your community but you can bring your message to the world through her writing).

RELATED How Can you Identify Influencers on Social Media?

If you have too many good engagers to handle (e.g. you broke your arm and don’t know how to use voice dictation) , consider that a serious problem to address with your fans, right away.

Takeaway

Make the engagers your BFFs (if not your family), because they are, they really care, and will even be on your side during your worst times. In good times, they will help your social life flourish with happiness and will not hestiate to recommend you to their own BFFs. And during bad times, they’ll stick with you and support you.

SMI = Social Media influencers. Source: Who is an influencer?

Sincerely yours,

Dear Mishu’s Dad