So, you’ve joined some social media sites and you’ve cobbled together a pretty nice collection of followers. Now the question is, “What the heck are you gonna do with them?” You can’t spam them with self-promotion because they’ll leave. You can’t ignore them because you won’t see any return on your initial social media investments. What you can do—nay, what you should do, is talk to them. After all, the ability to interact with customers, to personalize your company, and to seem like an approachable expert forms the basis of social media’s appeal.

Not sure what to talk about? Not to fear--we’ve come up with six examples of ways you can engage with your social media audience. (For consistency’s sake, we’re assuming that “you” are a fictional florist called Brenda’s Blooms in our examples.)

• Call fans to action with your status updates. EX: When the weather’s nice, post an update to Twitter, Facebook, or your blog encouraging your followers to take pictures of flowers they find during the day and post them to your wall. You could also set up a Flickr Group where your followers could post flower pictures as often as they like. Be sure to comment on as many entries as possible and ask your followers to share the project with their friends so more people can contribute to your virtual bouquet.

• Ask fans questions and solicit their opinions. EX: Ask people which blooms they associate with the season. Come up with a few new arrangements for Valentine’s Day/Mother’s Day/birthdays and ask your followers to vote on their favorite design. Find out what everyone’s favorite scent is.

• Continue a conversation that someone else has started. EX: If one of your fans compliments the centerpieces that you designed for her friend’s wedding, thank her, mention an enjoyable exchange that you had with the bride, keep the conversation going by asking a question if you can (“Mrs. Bride said she was having trouble deciding on a honeymoon destination. Did she opt for Bermuda or Niagara Falls?”)

• Update about something unrelated to your business. EX: If you couldn’t live without your Keurig coffee pot, go ahead and tweet about it. Seriously! A few of your followers might feel the same way and suddenly you’ve made a connection on a whole different level. The general rule is that up to 20% of your updates can be more personal than professional.

• Start conversations with others in your industry. EX: Comment on well-known blogs and related YouTube videos, and then share them with your followers if you think they’d find the information useful. If you’re following Francine’s Flowers on Twitter and you like one of her tweets, respond with an @FrancinesFlowers tweet of your own.
   
• Seek out conversations using a social listening service like Technorati or Radian6. EX: Is “Brenda’s Blooms” or “boutonniere” a trending topic on Twitter or in the blogosphere? If so, you might want to add your two cents. Just make sure what you say is valuable (if girls are all a-Twitter about whether or not they should buy boutonnieres for their prom dates, your tweet could read, “Boutonnieres look very sharp when coordinated w/ tuxes and suits & are inexpensive when made with just 1 rose.”)
   

Remember that your followers are logged in to the networks because they want to interact, and they chose to follow you because they want to connect. Oblige them before they start collecting dust!