By Bianchi PR, our PRGN partner, based in Michigan
Engagement is the immediate goal for most professional service firms’ social media presence. Law firms, architects, staffing companies and more go to great lengths to measure and analyze engagement with likes, favorites, shares, retweets, reach, clicks and other metrics.
However, only a small share of professional service firm posts are the type that actually encourage engagement and solicit participation. These are the interactive posts like surveys, contests, polls, trivia or opinion questions that request a response.
Our Social Media Use by Professional Services (SMUPS) study of 25 top Detroit professional service firms (as ranked by Crain’s Detroit Business) showed that an average of some 94 percent of these firms’ social media posts on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter are not of this interactive category.

Interactive posts engage more because they target the one subject that the follower is most interested in – himself or herself. The best interactive posts ask for opinions, viewpoints or preferences. They allow the participant to talk about, or express, themselves … or to share their knowledge or creativity.
Here are 7 ways you can make your firm’s posts more interactive:

• Ask a question. Seek people’s views about a trend, issue or a practice. “Love or Hate?” “Real or Fake?” “What do you think about X?”
• Have them fill in the blank. Another interactive way for followers to share their point of view. “I love Google because _________.”
• Share trivia. Most followers appreciate a little company history or an interesting factoid, especially if you have a graphic to go with the text.
• Poll or survey your fans. If you’re working on a new door design, post three of your concepts and have them pick their favorite.
• Hold a contest. Post a humorous photo and ask followers to “caption this.” Or ask followers to post their own photos of their first car or favorite pet. Award small prizes.
• Ask for nominations. Ask followers to nominate one of your people who does a great job for High Five or Helpful Hero recognition. Or a colleague for some industry recognition.
• Ask for their stories. How did they solve a problem? Who’s their favorite mentor and why? How did they handle an irate customer? Everyone has a story to share.

 
Whatever you do, make it fun and create custom posts – on a regular basis – that will appeal to your followers as human beings.
The bottom line:
If you want to generate more engagement in your firm’s social media channels, spend more time and effort creating and posting thoughtful questions, contests or opportunities that encourage your followers to interact. The metrics will follow.
What are your tips for best practice on social media? Leave a comment below or tweet @bianchipr.
Bianchi Public Relations’ professional service social media study reviewed social media usage for a three-month period in early 2015 by top Detroit professional service organizations (law firms, accounting firms, engineering companies, architectural firms and staffing companies) as ranked by Crain’s Detroit Business.
Read the original blog post by Bianchi PR here.