Marketing your content with social media platforms such as Facebook and Tumblr requires special attention in order to keep your followers interested. That’s the nature of social media, after all: you want to make sure that your brand is posting content that is interactive and engaging to followers. But what about your followers’ content?
Following Your Followers
Believe it or not, sharing your followers’ content can matter just as much as promoting your own, especially on platforms like Tumblr. With Tumblr in particular, users do not just post comments, but they also share and “like” posts. Similarly, Facebook’s “share” feature allows users to repost content including status updates, links, and videos that other users have posted.
So why should brands follow their followers? Well, for one, it’s courteous. Users want to know that your brand is listening to them, and with social media, you will be on the receiving end of their comments, questions, concerns, and praise; this way, you can address them quickly. On Tumblr, where users have no public follower count, brands can really take advantage of this feature.
Share Before Creating
Social media’s ability to engage followers means that it’s a great way to make sure that followers themselves feel that their voices are being heard. Allow submissions from users and publish them! A couple brands that do this really well are the official Behind Bob’s Burgers Tumblr, which posts tons of user art submissions in addition to their own links to interviews and other content. The Game of Thrones blog is also excellent at sharing its content, with an open call for creations. Both blogs receive high quality submissions from fans, and both make sure to share. The latter even runs contests, so that users can submit designs.
Twitter, Facebook, and Tumblr are all great ways to respond to followers. Retweeting and reblogging follower content will let followers know you care, and of course, by sharing others’ content, your brand is far more likely to have its content shared in turn.
One more reason why sharing your followers’ content is important: it’s fun! Followers love engaging with their favorite brands. When they see that brands are sharing fan-made content, brands can even garner new interest from people who want to create and submit content specifically for your brand.
How do you engage your fans? Do you respond to, retweet, or reblog them?