Marketing in the Silent Customer Age and Why Lurkers Matter Most

Engagement plays a significant role in determining the content that social media platforms show to users. Many creators focus on pleasing this group of people, overlooking the silent majority, or those who lurk.

These are people who consume your content without leaving a trace. They don't like, comment on, or share your posts. However, they are still critical to the growth of your brand. This article looks into why you should also market to the lurkers.

What is the Lurker Mode?

Lurker mode refers to someone who reads and understands your post without leaving a trace, such as likes, comments, or shares. Statistics indicate that 90% of social media users can be categorized as lurkers. That means if you are using engagement to measure your success level, that may not provide a clear picture. 

You can end up feeling stressed or even disheartened. Regardless of their reasons for not participating online, lurkers still engage with your content passively. While you may not know it, they still find your content valuable.

Why People Lurk

There are several reasons why people lurk. These include:

Fear of Trolling

Some people may find it scary to put themselves out there for thousands or millions of people to see. They not only feel intimidated but also anxious, especially if they have ever suffered from social media bullying. They ask themselves questions such as: “What if people troll their posts or ignore them?” This fear becomes a barrier that prevents them from posting, commenting, or liking posts online.

Self-Doubt

Some people don't believe in their ideas and don't think they can make any valuable contribution. They believe that their knowledge isn't good enough, even when it is. Others may have just joined social media and are still learning the ropes, so they choose to stay out of all conversations. This is understandable, as people may need time to become completely comfortable online.

Fear of Commitment

People must commit to seeing results in many aspects of life, which also applies to social media. While you can easily make one of your social media posts go viral, this may not happen as often as you hope. Since posting, commenting, and responding to comments add value to others, they can also be time-consuming and may cause a fear of commitment in some individuals. 

They ask themselves whether they will ever get anything out of their posting and responding. While many people are interested in social media, they are often unsure whether they want to commit to it fully. However, this is entirely fine, as they can still consume the content and act later.

An Impostor Syndrome

Many creators are intimidated by words such as "influencer" or "thought leader," especially when there are many imposters. This often results in impostor syndrome, an internal experience where people may not perceive themselves as competent as they actually are. Although this description is usually associated with intelligence and achievement, it also applies to social media.

Many people don’t consider themselves thought leaders and, therefore, feel like people may not care about their posts. However, there will still be people who look up to you and will find value in your posts. Whether you have a social network of 300 or 10,000 people, they will still find value in your shared posts. 

Other reasons why people lurk include:

• Lack of enough time. Engaging with content consumes time. Therefore, people in a hurry tend to quickly scroll past the feed, consuming the content they see without stopping.
• Privacy concerns. Some lurkers are concerned about their privacy and choose not to leave a digital footprint.
• Uncertainty. At times, people may have no idea how to respond to your content or may feel awkward sharing their thoughts, especially in a professional setting. This often causes them to choose silence.
• Passivity. By nature, people tend to prefer remaining silent and watching from the sidelines rather than engaging in conversations.

When you understand why people remain silent, you can see that it doesn't mean they lack interest in your content when they stay quiet. It's just their choice of how they prefer to engage with your content.

How Lurkers Impact Your Social Media Content

When people do not like, comment on, or share your content, you can easily conclude that they aren't interested. However, this is not always the case. Many people can view your content without clicking the like button. You may have met people in the past who referenced your previous posts, even when they didn't like or comment on those posts. This is a clear indication that lurkers exist.

Lurkers are usually observant and discerning, so they clearly understand your brand even though they don't engage with it. And if you understand their thought process, it can be hard to tap them. However, when you do, you can create strategies to produce content that meets their needs and unique preferences, while engaging them to start interacting with your content. 

Therefore, you should realize that even when you are not experiencing a high engagement rate, this is not a sign that your content is not resonating with your audience. The lurkers and silent majority are reading the posts without engaging with them. 

Does a Lack of Engagement Mean a Lack of Interest?

When people notice that they are not receiving likes, comments, or post shares, they assume their content isn't working. They keep checking their number of clicks, views, and video plays. There is nothing wrong with that, as engagement level can be a greater indicator of whether people are finding value in your posts.

However, as we noted earlier, the fact that people aren't engaging with your content doesn't mean they have no interest. Therefore, you should avoid getting caught up in the engagement game. Otherwise, you might change your content strategy or try to hack the algorithm while your content is acceptable. 

With 90% of social media users being categorized as lurkers, they can consume your content without taking action. Some skillful people post content with low engagement, but later, buyers say their decisions were impacted by the content. This means you should stop worrying about the engagement rate of your posts.

Is Social Media Lurking Bad?

Lurking on social media isn't necessarily bad unless it becomes an obsession or you start stalking people. Even in a business context, people not engaging with your content isn't a bad thing, as they may still buy from you.

In fact, every brand has people who lurk and don’t engage or interact with their brand content, ads, or employees. All they do is read and process information that can still impact their buying decision or brand awareness. If the people lurking are your employees, it doesn't have to worry you. 

This is because it demonstrates they are learning from others. It is common for people not to comment or like the content they are learning from. Sometimes, not having an opinion on a topic doesn't mean that one doesn't find the content entertaining or educational. 

How to Uncover Lurkers

If you are wondering how to market to lurkers, here are several strategies you can consider: 

Social Media Analytics

Your social media analytics are filled with information that can help you determine the preferences of your silent social media followers. By carefully analyzing the data, you can gain essential insights into the lurkers' behaviors, such as their favorite content format and the best posting time. You can then use this information to create content tailored to their needs, increasing the chances of higher engagement.

The 28-Day Trickle Effects

Using ads to promote your content has many benefits, including determining whether your audience took action within the last 28 days. You can check the analytics data to see consumers who saw your ad and took action on it, even though they didn't like, comment on, or visit your company website in the last 28 days. 

This data will help identify the lurkers who resonated with this message, even though they did not engage with it. You can then use the data to retarget lurkers with a well-optimized ad. The goal is to send them to your site again while encouraging them to take action. 

Review Offline Action 

You can leverage SEO tools to improve your strategy. Data from Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools, such as Salesforce or HubSpot, can provide insights into the people who saw your ad versus those who took an offline action. For instance, if you announce in-store sales using a holiday ad while targeting a particular social media audience, you can compare the list of people who made the in-store purchase during the sales through email addresses and credit card data. You can use the analysis to credit an online ad with a buying decision even when a consumer didn't engage with the ad.

Anecdotal Feedback

You can ask your customer service team, company leaders, or retail workers who interact with their followers to share anecdotes about people who saw the post. Keep the feedback on a spreadsheet outlining which platform they saw the content, the topics of the post, and the action they took after seeing the post. The data collected over time may help you identify the impact of influencers and provide insights into the content that prompted them to purchase the product. You can then use the information to create soft content that converts.

Strategies to Encourage Lurkers to Engage

To nurture the lurkers to engage more with your brand and even convert, here are a few steps you should consider using:

Be Consistent

When you know that a large part of your audience are lurking, this should motivate you to keep creating content and sharing for several reasons:

• Silent validation. The fact that people aren't actively engaging doesn't mean you have invaluable content. These silent followers can also turn into loyal supporters, partners, or potential partners.
• Trust building. You can position yourself as an authority when you post high-quality content regularly. Over time, lurkers can also become your active customers and engaged users.
• Higher brand awareness. When you stay consistent, you will remain in your audience’s feed. Even when they don't engage with your content, you understand they are seeing it, which means staying on their radar.

How to Use Employee Advocacy to Overcome Lurking

One way to help people overcome their fears of sharing or engaging on social media is through employee advocacy. This is effective as it acts as a rallying call for people to remain informed, connected, and engaged. It removes some of the above mentioned barriers that prevent people from engaging on social media. You are not forcing people to create or share, but you are making the whole process less intimidating and enjoyable.

Also, lurking can happen in the employees' content. When you see a low engagement level on their post, you don't have to feel like their posts serve no purpose. Remember that even some of your employees may still be hesitant to share content. Some employees will only serve well when they are cheering others. Provide employees with specific engagement instructions on which posts to engage with and when.

Create a Welcoming and Inclusive Community

One of the reasons lurkers don't like engaging is their lack of confidence or the fear of getting judged. You can break these barriers by fostering a welcoming and inclusive community on social media. Once you create a safe space where the opinions and thoughts of the lurkers are respected, you can easily encourage them to participate actively.

Contests and Giveaways

If you provide lurkers with good reasons to engage with your content, they will surely do so. One way you can do that is through giveaways and contests. You can increase engagement by offering a lead magnet in exchange for social media comments.

However, ensure that the giveaway or gift is valuable, not just any product they could find online. For instance, an e-book may be readily available online, but a proven blueprint featuring excellent case studies may not be readily accessible online.

AMA Offers

You can also make the lurkers come out of their cocoon shells through AMA sessions. An AMA feels like a once-in-a-lifetime event, and can encourage people who rarely engage with your providers to participate. You can even entice them by putting a time box around one or two hours. This can entice them more as they fear missing out, since it creates a sense of urgency.

This would work perfectly for creators with a large following. But suppose you don’t have an excellent background or even a big social media following. In that case, you can partner with an influencer with a considerable following so they do an AMA with your audience. The AMA can be conducted live or via video, using written text.

Respond to Comments

One of the reasons people do not engage with social media content is that they don't want to be ignored. They may feel nobody has responded to their previous posts or comments. Therefore, when you start responding to a lurker's comment, it may be just the motivation they need to engage with the content. Additionally, when people see that the author of a post is responding, they are more likely to ask questions.

You can also tailor-make your CTA to provide users with personalized experiences. Instead of a generic CTA such as Ask Any Question in the comment, you can have something like, “Anyone struggling to use our software? Comment below, and I will send you personalized assistance. Since these kinds of opportunities don't come often, a social media lurker might take advantage of the customized assistance.

This can also help you build a stronger relationship with your audience as it gives you a glimpse of their pain points and enables you to serve them better in the future. They will feel they are closer to you if you provide personalized assistance. 

Some people also lurk because they don’t want to make the first comment, fearing they might do it wrong. Therefore, lead them by making the first comment, and you will reduce the pressure on them. Don't let the conversation fizzle.

Create Content that Encourages Engagement

Create content that encourages engagement among both active and silent followers. Use a combination of thought-provoking stories, engaging posts, and CTAs for the action steps that must be implemented. You should also include visually appealing content. When creating social media content, ensure you understand the key elements that contribute to successful posts. These include:

• Headlines and captions. You can combine a short headline with a more extended caption or both. Add a secondary headline if you want to provide more information on the headline.
• Special emojis and characters. Emojis and characters can draw the eye, making your brand more relatable. According to a recent study, emojis can enhance audience engagement. However, be cautious not to overuse them, and use emojis only when appropriate. Emojis will not only convey the emotions of your brand but also lend it a more distinct brand personality. 
• Call to action. Ensure that all your posts begin and end with a call to action. For instance, if you are opening a new store, you can ask your audience to comment on the post for a chance to win a reward redeemable at the location.
• Mention. As part of building your social network, you can mention other contributors, organizations, influencers, and businesses in your social media posts. Ensure you thank or promote a partner to increase brand exposure and encourage other parties to share your posts reciprocally. Interactions such as likes, comments, and shares on such posts can increase your engagement level and make the algorithm push your content on the user’s feeds.
• Hashtags are words preceded by the # symbol. They are a good choice for identifying brands, themes, content, campaigns, and trends. Social media users can use them to search on social media, making your post more discoverable and your brand easier to discover.
• Most social media platforms are usually visual, making visual content a good choice for increasing engagement. Statistics indicate visual posts get more comments, shares, and clicks than text-only content. Therefore, combine images with memes, videos, etc., to add to your post’s visuals. At the same time, not all posts will be suitable for visuals. You should assess how visuals contribute to audience engagement and adjust your strategy accordingly.
• Repurpose content. If you find it challenging to create all content from scratch, you can curate content from other sources and repurpose it for sharing. Such content can help keep your audience engaged.
• Understand your audience. Different social media platforms serve different goals and purposes, and users' behavior can change according to the platforms. When you understand how people use social media platforms, you can adjust your strategy to meet users' needs and expand your reach. Therefore, consider the content that keeps your audience engaged on each platform and the best practices for all networks. Not all social networks will work well, so perform research to determine which platform will serve your audience well.

Final Thoughts

Lurkers can play a key role in the success of your brand. When you understand their minds and create content that meets their needs, you can unlock the power of these silent supporters. You should also remember that if they don’t engage with your content, it doesn't mean they are uninterested. By reading our guide, you can understand how to encourage engagement from lurkers and even effectively market to them.