It’s called SOCIAL media for a reason.
Have you ever heard the saying “It's not what you know but who you know”?
If you’re trying to grow your business on social media, then listen up– this one’s for you.
Who you know (aka. your audience or community) is one of the most important elements in a successful social media marketing strategy. Every new community member is a new opportunity to make a connection, increase brand awareness and grow your business.
But how do you find the right people to connect with online? And, once you’ve found them, how do you show them that your corner of social media is where they want to be?
The answer? You’ve got to get social! 🩷
In the language of social media marketing, interacting with people and building connections is called engagement. And strategic engagement is the secret sauce you need to grow your audience–and make more sales.
Keep reading for tips on finding your ideal audience and a detailed look at my very own approach to strategic social media engagement: the SOCIAL Kat framework.
Who To Engage With On Instagram
Are you ready to start building your community? Great!
It’s important to be strategic about who you engage with on social. So, before you get tap-happy, holster your finger and ask yourself: Who do I want to have in my social media community?
As a social media strategist, I always recommend engaging with the people you want to see engaging with you.
Start by looking for these four types of accounts. 👇🏻
Your ideal clients or target audience
➡️ These are the people who will be interested in and able to buy the products and/or services you offer.
Accounts your target audience follows
➡️ Getting to know what your target audience likes and who they engage with on social is a great way to build your connections. Take a look through some of your followers’ Following lists and find accounts that feel like a good fit for your business and brand.
Other businesses (Aka. Your peers)
➡️ As a small business owner, having a community of peers is so important! Whether they are local or not, these are the people who will cheer you on.
Industry leaders
➡️ These are the established businesses and brands that people in your industry look up to. They inspire, educate and nurture a community of your peers and customers. Why not be a part of it?
This mix of people, businesses and brands will give you a community of people that benefits from your content, buys your products or services, cheers you on, educates and inspires you and keeps the social in social media!
It’s Time To Get Strategic.
Strategic engagement will help you connect with more of the right people in more meaningful ways. So, if your goal is to build genuine connections with your target audience, it’s time I introduce you to my SOCIAL Kat engagement framework.
Introducing The SOCIAL Kat Framework For Social Media Engagement.
Engagement can be about so much more than liking posts and dropping emojis in the comments. (Don’t get me wrong, I love a well-placed emoji. 😍I just know that we can do better!)
The SOCIAL Kat framework is the strategy we use at Social Kat Media to engage online and grow our community. It works and it’s easy to implement for your business! Take a look and try it out for yourself.
S is for Stories (5 mins)
✅ Spend 5 minutes looking through the stories shared by your target audience.
✅ Make sure to respond to stories with questions, ideas and encouragement.
✅ Like and react to the stories by tapping “Send message” at the bottom of the screen and selecting an emoji or avatar from the options that pop up
O is for On the Explore Page (5 mins)
✅ Find content that resonates with your target audience and leave meaningful comments that add value. Don’t forget to follow the accounts that you really align with!
✅ Use keywords connected to your target audience to search for relevant content.
C is for Comments on Industry Leaders (5 mins)
✅ Add valuable comments to posts from industry leaders. Let people see that you are part of the bigger conversation!
I is for In Your Feed (5 mins)
✅ Nurture the connections you already have by spending time in your home feed engaging with your community. Spread some love, ask questions, and cheer them on. Show up and give back!
And
L is for Loved By You (5 mins)
✅ Head back to the explore feed and engage with content that speaks to you and that you love.
🥰 TIP: If you love it, people from your target audience might love it, too!
When you’re building a community, you get what you give. And when you are strategic about who you engage with –and how you engage with them– you will have more time and energy to invest in nurturing connections that count.
Strategy Makes Engagement Sustainable
Giving it your all for an hour and then ghosting your community for a week is not something I would recommend.
Instead, schedule shorter windows of time to show up and engage throughout the week.
HINT: The SOCIALKat framework makes this easy. (Did you notice each step has a 5-minute time window attached to it? You can do anything for 5 minutes! 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻)
Short, sweet and strategic engagement sessions help to ensure the time you spend nurturing and growing your community is enjoyable and that the connections you make feel genuine.
TIP: Being Genuine Should Be Part Of Your Strategy
You're almost ready to take the SOCIAL Kat engagement strategy and run with it! But, first let’s make sure you’re crystal clear on what genuine, totally NOT spammy engagement looks like and why it matters.
Genuine engagement is intentional, prioritizes the people behind the account and always has the goal of building a connection that benefits both people. One of the nice effects of genuine engagement is gaining followers and growing your community. But seeing your Followers number climb shouldn’t be your only goal when it comes to engagement.
Remember: a HUGE followers list without any connection and communication isn’t as valuable as a smaller audience that is invested in you!
Here are some DOs and DON’Ts to help you keep your engagement strategy genuine and spam-free.
DO: Follow accounts that align with your brand and your target audience.
DON’T: Follow accounts just to get them to follow you back–and then unfollow them at random. This follow/unfollow “strategy” might get your Followers number up but chances are it won’t mean more customers or clients for your business. And, if we’re being honest, it’s super spammy.
DO: Leave thoughtful comments, respond to stories and follow accounts that you like and that align with your business.
DON’T: Find an account, like a bunch of their posts, drop a few emojis and NOT follow them and then sit back waiting for them to Follow you. This isn’t Hansel and Grettle and you aren’t scattering little engagement breadcrumbs leading people to your Follow button!
Remember, the way you engage on social media represents your business. Plant the seeds of trust and brand loyalty by building genuine connections with people. They will notice and you will be rewarded with an active –and engaged– audience.
Show Up Strategically And Watch Your Community Grow!
Engagement is essential to grow and nurture a community on social media. But, if your entire strategy consists of scrolling through your home feed liking posts and throwing emojis around like confetti, you are missing an opportunity.
As a business owner, you have to spend your time wisely.
My SOCIAL Kat framework for strategic social media engagement will help
✅ Cut down on time lost in the scroll
✅ Make sure you’re engaging in a way that adds value
✅ Attract new community members by building genuine, business-growing connections
Speaking of community…
If you want the guidance of a social media strategist (me!) and the support of other business owners trying to run their social media instead of having their social media run them the Social With Kat Club is the perfect place for you.
When you join the club with a monthly membership you get:
📅 A monthly content calendar with post ideas for the month and themes to tailor to your own business
📱 Trending Reel ideas that you can customize for your niche. Easily create your Reels instead of scrolling looking for the latest trend.
👋 Coworking and Q&A calls to chat social media, ask Kat your burning questions about social media, and get your content done.
💬 Online members community is the perfect space to ask questions, chat about social media, share your wins, and more.
🍎 Quarterly workshops with exclusive content not taught anywhere else
Join the waitlist and be the first to know when the Social With Kat Club opens next — and get access to exclusive discounts and bonuses.