I’m often asked how much engagement is necessary in order to see measurable results from social media marketing. Although I’ve always had an answer, after a month unplugged I have renewed passion for the subject.

At the end of July I went through a move (from NY to STL), job change, hours of new employee orientation, and the task of writing a business plan for 2010. Since my last post, I’ve checked my Twitter account about once a day (if that), and read only a handful of blog articles.

Being offline has brought new clarity to how I view the business use of social media. So here goes:

How much engagement is necessary in order to see measurable results from social media marketing?

If by “results” you mean making more money right now, don’t bother.

Social media engagement should be driven by building stronger relationships that will eventually lead to sales.

If you focus first on money, your goal is a short term transaction. In this scenario, wallets are more important than people. If you focus on relationships, your goal is a long-term connection full of multiple transactions. In this scenario, people are more important than their wallets.

Social media engagement is NOT a campaign.

If you think social media is a campaign, you’re doomed for failure. As Kneale Mann is fond of saying, “Let’s create experiences, not campaigns.”

A campaign is a short-term battle plan with little room for expansion or adaptation. Engagement is an organic process of give-and-take, of need-and-response. I’ll bet you can guess which has a more lasting influence with customers.

How engaged do you want your customer service center to be?

You want your customer service representatives to be present and responsive to your customer’s needs. When you enter the social media sphere, you’re taking customer service to another level—instant 24/7 connection.

Imagine that when customers called your company they didn’t have an option to speak to a real person, but could only listen to a recording that told them about your latest product offerings. Sounds foolish, right?

I don’t think this is much different than putting your company on Twitter or Facebook and not following or responding to your customers.

All or Nothing.

Sure there’s always the issue of time. But I can say from experience, when you minimally engage with the social web, you get very little back. The more time you invest, the better relationships you build.

…and with better relationships come higher sales in the long run.

So my 2 cents on social media engagement? All or nothing. Get 100% engaged or don’t do it at all. In the end it’s the best use of  your time and your customer’s time.

-Andrew

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keywords: Customer Relationships, engagement, pr, social meda, unplugged

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