Show up. Jasmine Star says it all the time, and look at how successful she is at reaching her goals and engaging with her audience. She's even created her own social curation software beautifully. I will admit, as important as it is, "showing up" is a lot easier said than done, but I'm telling you just TRY it and you'll see an impact.
Conversational Marketing. The ability to have a conversation with customers and followers on any channel, it's all about what, where, when and how they want to communicate with you. It's your job to respond accordingly, quickly and efficiently.
The two go hand in hand because showing up is a part of conversational marketing
What does all this even mean?
Showing up means you're there with your audience. Showing up is not just going on Instagram when you post something and then going offline until the next time you post. You can to be there for the people that are willing to spend time (digitally) with you. Not 24/7 but enough to be able to answer messages, really reply to comments (not just a heart emoji), comment on things they're posting (which is more important now with the new Instagram Algorithm) and even follow others from time to time. I can't say it enough: It's all about engaging with you audience.
Similarly, conversational marketing is about having the conversation in the customer/follower's real-time, even if that means starting at 6 a.m. and finishing at 10 p.m., they should be able to come and go from the conversation. Obviously I'm not saying you have to be at their beckoning call, but you should be aware.
How can this help the business profiles?
"Good question!" That's my favorite way to start a response to a customer's social question. It let's them know I read their question, it wasn't dumb and I'm getting ready to answer it (all in just two words). Showing up from a business standpoint means you're actively listening to what your followers have to say, and like a normal personal profile, you're meaningfully replying to other's comments, questions and concerns.
Sometimes they're messaging on Facebook just to ask the wifi password and other times it's an Instagram comment about different flavored syrups offered, either way, answer the question as quickly and nicely as possible. Other times, people are responding to a question-like caption you posted; you have to respond to those, otherwise, there's no point in asking the question in the first place. And more times than not, people are just saying something just to say something, and that is a good thing. Using people's first names also goes a long way.
Facebook business pages actually have a feature under "general settings" in "messaging settings" where you are able to automatically open your message box when a user clicks on your page. Then you can also create frequently asked questions, that the user can then click on.
There is also an ability to create automatic responses like "Hey Anna, we're not here right now, we'll get back to you ASAP," but that's up to you. Personally, I'm not a huge fan of chatbots and automated replies because I feel like it's taking us backward in the real-time, real people age, but I understand why some people find it useful. If you're a small company,
OK, but how does this help me with the creative part?
Sometimes customers/followers have ideas and sometimes they are the ideas. Don't be afraid to listen to what they have to say if you think it's a good idea.
Also if you do own a business, go there. I've always loved the idea of customer feature stories, you know, writing the "why" behind your business, why people buy or use your product, but getting the lede is the hardest part. So go into the storefronts. That's the best way to find out what's going on. By going to a specific Kahwa location, I ran into a wise photographer and his wife, who was actually able to give me some awesome tips on aperture and shutter speed, but they also gave me some great information on what customers eat most at that location. Another time, I just went on one of the location's Facebook pages and found a pet rescue that checked in every single day. I was able to photograph, interview and make a whole blog post out of it, check it out here.
So my point is, there are many different ways to "show up," but you have to do it one way or another. Post consistently, respond intently, ask diligently, whatever it is, do it.