How do I go from marketing on social media to actually engaging customers?

Michael,
Depending on the tool that you are using, whether that is Facebook, Twitter or whatever else, switching to engaging is pretty simple...if you have an audience.

You see, if I'm following a page that is all marketing information about the company all the time, I'm probably not going to be as connected to it. Depending on what we are talking about here, brand-wise, making the switch can be as simple as asking. BUT do not be discouraged if the first post asking a question doesn't get a response. Many times businesses need to change their entire approach to the social media activity and make it more of a dialogue.

For example, if you have a dry cleaning business that tweet and tweets and tweets specials and then you start asking questions, people may freak out a little bit. You've established that Twitter account as a blast of messages, not a friendly place to ask questions, seek advice on a lost shirt or complain about lousy service by the 16 year old behind the counter on her phone. Making the brand open and approachable AFTER it's been shouting messages can actually be much harder than if you just created the brand to be open in the first place.

But, I do like where you are headed with this question. It means you are wanting to use social media for the social part, not the media part. Good luck!

I always try different strategies like questions, polls, videos, etc. about the product or service. You need to measure where your audience interact the most and focus on that.

I found always when you yourself in the shoes of customers, you ENGAGE them.

Most SMBs can do it fairly naturally when they're owner managed. If they're in broadcast mode, ask them how they'd feel if they went into a room full of strangers and someone immediately lobbed into a sales pitch - it's more or less the same thing.

I try and find analogies that will resonate with the individual, such as the coffee shop - you might share a joke with a stranger on the next table, you might pass them a nugget of information if you heard them talking about something, and you might even tap them on the shoulder and tell them about your services if they were openly discussing the need for them. But you'd rarely march up and start a sales pitch...

Find out what your user community is doing and join in - gently

My recommendation is to begin with engagement in mind up front, commit to building a network of followers first, establish your subject matter expertise or value proposition along the way, and the marketing will take care of itself. My reaction to those on social media sites that fill my streams with promotional ads or links to their websites is negative more often than not. I respond favorably to no strings attached offers of information and the prospect of developing relationships with those whom I interact.

I agree with Joe. You begin with engagement. Build your community. Give them a reason to care about what you do. give them something THEY want. And, listen to them. This will increase your top-of-mind with them and make them more likely to spend when the time is right. Also, consider giving them special rewards/offers for participating.

These are good engagement comments and recommendations. I'll go down the other path of the question "How can you persuade higher ups to switch?" It's needs to be more than a switch but part of the "Purpose and Plan" from the beginning (http://www.sevenfoundationprinciples.com/Principle1-Have_a_Sound_Purpose_and_...). For business, the most important reason to establish a Social Media Marketing program is to 1) acquire new customers and 2) retain loyal customers. Customers want to be heard and know their supplier, vendor, etc is listening to them, recognizing them and where appropriate, adopting their ideas. Customers who are brand advocates or raving fans will even offer fellow customer support through Q&A and Forum areas, moderated by company support staff. Wouldn't that be great "Mr Higher Ups" having our customers support our customers through a strong internal/private social community. This is the new success strategy for adopting Social Media.