In small business, people often wonder why people aren't talking to them.  They put out conversation and blogs and statuses so why aren't they being mentioned.  Firstly, Iit takes a while.  You have to keep at it.  You have to look at baby steps of things people do that indicate their engaging with you.

Next, I compare an initial social media presence to a public presentation. When people come to your presentation, you can warm them up but there's no guarantee that everyone will engage you.  Some portion will have their eyes glazed over because they are not yet ready to engage in the topic.  Some portion will actively ask questions and create an interactive environment.  They may even do so and derail the conversation.  That's why managing your presentation as well as your social media conversations are important.  There are many ways to do this.

If their eyes glaze over, in social media, likely they are not really reading or engaging with your conversation.  If they are actively commenting on your posts, they are the same as the people who ask questions or provide comments from the audience.

Next, the greatest portion of your audience may sit their quietly yet attentatively watching everything and everyone who speaks, give that unconscious nod of agreement or acknowledgement and possibly, actively take a few notes from time to time.  Afterwards, you may find a few people who approach you offline about questions more privately or engaging you to take things to another level.

To measure people who are paying attention but aren't asking questions, you need some measurements and statistics of what they are reading or viewing.  In the early stages, these are some of your indicators of success.  If someone approaches you about some business after having read a specific blog or article or post, these are similar to people who will approach you offline after your presentation.

And, finally, there will be people who enjoyed your presentation very much and share their experience with other people.  This is the same as when people RETWEET your Twitter posts or SHARE your Facebook posts.  The terms might be slightly different but when people share your blogs or posts, they are providing you with the same accolades as sharing their experience with colleagues over a business lunch.

So, the next time you were hoping for more conversation, take a look at how you might measure your engagement in other ways as well.  It's a good form of listening and will help you create landmarks for your progress.

Listening is a big topic.  I'll be looking at posting more in the near future.