Sure, posting to Facebook and Twitter are great! You can send out messages, run special coupon promotions, and remind people about your events. But what about after that? What comes next?

You Need to Keep the Social Media Conversation Going

Not only is it important to post information about your real world happenings on social media, it's important to continue the conversation, respond, reply and share. Your customers go on Facebook and Twitter to find out what is going on, but also to interact. Social media allows you to give customers, and potential customers, personalized interactions that make them feel like they are part of your community.

How To Keep the Conversation Going

You obviously don't want to jump around from one social media site to another. Squareberry's Social Conversations area allows you to manage the social conversation in one centralized place.

• Focus on answering questions or any alarming posts.
• Make sure to Retweet positive things people say.
• Thank people for sharing or occasionally Retweeting you.
• Ask questions to engage your followers.

Don't stress out about it. You do not have to right lengthy responses. Simple Retweets, "Thanks" responses and question answering can go a long way. You want to accomplish two things:

• 1. Let your current followers know they are being heard and you care about what they are saying.
• 2. Show prospective followers/customers that you care. People are more likely to join a comfortable community where they know they matter.

Just make sure you are not just speaking, you are listening. Social media is all about engagement and conversation. You want to show people you are not just a publisher, you are a reader and listener. You want to provide answers and show you appreciate feedback. Doing this will help get you more feedback and more interaction.