Social media is a lot like high school. People striving to prove their popularity by counting fans and followers. But what should you do if you’re sitting at the popular table and no one’s talking to you?

This seems to be a challenge a lot of organizations are facing. It’s hard to have a conversation if no one is talking back.

If we accept the 90-9-1 assumption that 90 percent of your community are “lurkers,” who read online content but never comment, 9 percent are “active lurkers” who participate in some activity and 1 percent are content creators, how can we get the active lurkers to engage?

There’s a marketing rule of thumb that it takes three impressions before someone remembers your message. The same holds true for helping to convince your followers and fans to engage. Here are some simple ways you can help your followers and fans to engage more with you:

Listen and Share: This is really the first step in social media engagement. That’s why the Twitter retweet (RT) function and the “share” feature on Facebook are so important. They allow people to say “I agree with this” or “Check this out” without having to step out of their comfort zone.

#FollowFriday: One way to take your relationship with your community members to the next level is to recognize them on #FollowFriday (#FF). While some people like businessman and blogger, Chris Voss, think that #FF is just a lot of noise that clutters the Twitter stream, others like SocialNicole (and myself) think it can be used strategically as well. Especially if your goal is to break the wall of silence that sometimes separates you from your followers.

Who to Recommend? Once you’ve decided you want to begin using a #FF strategy, you need to decide who you should recommend. Probably the easiest thing to do is recommend people you retweet (RT) during the week, or people who have RTd you. They have already engaged in some capacity so it’s a great idea to recognize them and encourage them to participate further.

Be Selective: Rather than post a long list of #FF recommendations, consider recommending a smaller group of people and explain their commonalities. Skeeter Hansen and Al Ferretti from TwitterWatchDog also have some great #FF recommendations as well.  

Use Your Manners: Thank people for sharing information that interests you or people who have RTd you. When you do, this implies a more sincere and genuine relationship, even if you’ve never talked before.

Direct Messages: I love the direct message feature because it’s the private Twitter conversations that occur behind the scenes. You can only direct message (DM) people who are following you, so this helps to foster a closer relationship with your followers – provided you don’t send them spam. DMs make people feel more unique because they aren’t messages posted to the public Twitter stream.

Polls & Contests: Find ways to let your followers vote or rate content through contests or polls on your Facebook fan page. This is another way they can take a more active role, without stepping out of their comfort zone.

It takes time to form friendships. But by doing simple things to show that you care about your community, you can help bring engagement to the next level.

(Image originally found on My English Webmarks)