How To Engage with People On Social Media

How To Engage with People On Social Media Have you ever wondered how you can meet new people and build relationships? Social media opens the door to new relationships and all it takes is being human. Engagement, in social media terms, means getting someone to comment, like or interact with something shared on social media.   Its the equivalent  of small talk. This is how relationships start. Lets say you want to have a conversation with someone you dont know. If you were to send an invitation to connect through LinkedIn, they may not accept it. However, if you engage with the person on social media, it makes it much easier to ask them to have a conversation. But keep in mind, you cant just ask someone for a meeting or conversation during your first interaction on social media. To earn  the right to ask someone for a favor (or conversation), you need to build a connection with the person. Find a common professional interest. Leave a thoughtful comment. Show interest in what they are doing or sharing. The ultimate goal, one you cant ask for, is to develop a relationship online that can be converted into IRL (in real life). It happens every day! 5 Ways to Engage with People On Social Media One of the best and easiest ways to engage with someone you dont know is to interact with something theyve posted on social media (LinkedIn, Facebook,   Twitter or Instagram). These are five ways to interact (or engage) with people on social media: Mention/tag people Re-share or re-tweet (always give credit to the sources) Start a discussion  on recent industry news Ask a question Share your educated opinion LINKEDIN First, identify the person you want to engage with. Go to their activity section on LinkedIn and review their posts and see what comments they have made. One option is to reshare something theyve posted on LinkedIn and tag the person who posted it  to give credit as the source. (Type the @ and then start typing their name until you see profile pop up. Be sure you select the correct person). You dont need to be connected to the person to tag them. Your status update shows up in their LinkedIn notifications. They may feel flattered that you referenced what they shared. They will absolutely be appreciative of the fact that you gave them credit for initially sharing the content. This is just one way to start a new relationship. Have you ever had 187 people comment on something youve shared on LinkedIn? Maybe you havent tried it. Heres an example: Job Search Tip: Look for people inside your target companies that you would like to meet.   You could look for people with similar job titles, company recruiters or people who are second-degree connections with people you know well. Or use all three options. The more connections you have inside a company you are interested in, the better information you will acquire about working there. FACEBOOK I always make sure I mention the authors of the articles I include in my Summary Sunday when I share it on social media. When these authors monitor their  Facebook account, they will see Ive tagged them via Facebook notifications. Some will repost my  update, others will like it, and some may say Thank You.   In short, my post gets on their radar. If they share it, that puts my name and article in front of everyone in their network! Thats great exposure! But you dont have to publish your own content. You can share someones article and mention their name in your Tweet. Just make sure you are using the correct Twitter handle. You can usually find it in the article theyve written or go to the authors website and poke around a bit. Youll find it if they are on Facebook. Job Search Tip Find good stories or news about a company you are interested in and then tag the company or people who work inside the company. You should be following your target companies on Facebook and if they have a Facebook careers page, follow that too! This gives you more opportunities to comment and engage. TWITTER Theres a whole-lot of mentioning going on in this Retweet by Phyllis Mufson. Its getting like and even a couple of shares. FYI: everyone mentioned in this retweet sees it listed in their Twitter mentions tab. Job Search Tip Find and follow company accounts or company career accounts and retweet their content. Be sure to mention them. More and more, recruiters want to know that you have an interest in working for their company so your interaction with company recruiters on social media is a good way to engage too. INSTAGRAM Resharing Instagram does not allow you to reshare posts or stories to your timeline. But you can use 3rd party tools to Regram (reshare on Instagram). You can reshare someones Instagram post to other sites like Facebook, Twitter or in Instagram Instant Messenger. Instagrams Terms of Service state you must get permission before sharing someone elses post. If you really want to Regram,   you have two options: Take a screenshot from your phone and post it to your Instagram. (Always give credit in your post to the original poster) Use Repost for Instagram (a 3rd party app free) Job Search Tips Follow all your target companies on Instagram so you can see what they share! Like their updates and leave a comment when appropriate. Always ask for permission before you Regram. Also look for hashtags#[company name + careers] A Word of Caution Before you do any of these, make sure your LinkedIn profile or personal website is up to date. Also, make sure youve reviewed your status updates to make sure they are clean and rated PG. Here are articles to help you pimp your social media profiles: Is Your LinkedIn Profile Awesome? 11 Beginner Twitter Tips Prepare Your Facebook Profile For Job Search How To Use Instagram for Job Search