"80% of Success is about Showing Up..."

"80% of success is about showing up"-Woody Allen

A wise man once stated this quote above, not knowing this would be the key to every successful organization's social media strategy. If showing up is 80 percent of the package, then I believe the other 20 percent is about creating content that is new, unique, relevant, contagious, inspiring and meaningful to your select targeted audience. But how do you know what content to create and share if you're not part of the conversation?

The world is run by those who show up and engage in the conversation. As a nonprofit, the key element  is responding to your followers. A measurement of followers only goes so far on the success scale. It's how you respond and interact with those followers that builds your name. By using tools such as the popular hash tags of the week to relate to your brand and get involved with people is the means to success. Engaging in conversations about popular topics, events and current news increases your interactions and number of followers. Then responding to people about your products and brand and questions or concerns they have---this is how you "show up" on social media. Today many people are using social media accounts as a means of "customer service." This is a great option to open up with your supporters and show people how your helping and solving concerns. 

I have to give a kudos out to Washington Dentistry's social media engagement. Within a day after I began following their twitter account, I received a direct message. (Featured below). 

Immediately thanking your followers for their support builds brand recognition. But not stopping there, they asked a question to engage in dialogue with me, a potential future customer. This is called lead nurturing because I may choose to use their services in the future because they showed interest in me. More nonprofit organizations need to "show up" to their twitter and Facebook accounts and interact with their supporters. Using questions in direct messages or posts on social accounts elicits a direct response. Another way would be posting about a call to action or incentive. I can't recall what nonprofit organization utilized this tool, but I remember seeing a tweet about a free online gift card to the first number people who attended an event and tweeted five times throughout the experience. It becomes a challenge and incentive for your followers and it influences the impression of your brand. 

Many organizations create profiles on social media accounts and focus on only increasing followers. They don't follow through with the "show up" part. They don't engage in interactions with their followers, answer questions/concerns, direct message, etc. etc.  I guess in other words- they take no time to make their brand awareness known. People like to be reminded that the brands they support care about them and in order to do this- you need to be part of their lives. A brand needs to interact, engage and "show up" on social media.