Social Media. There is a lot of conversation around the pros and cons of social media today, but it truly is the best way for you to engage with your customers. Social is a wonderful platform to not only attract new customers, but also engage with current ones!
How to Effectively Engage Clients with Social Media
First, understand this – there’s no single solution that works for everyone. Different industries will have varying results using different strategies. So when you find something that works – go with it!
Start by asking yourself… who is my audience? What demographic do they fit in? What are their interests? Most importantly, what do they want from your business? These types of questions are can be fairly easy to answer, although they will take a bit of time and effort from your team. All you have to do is listen.
Read the comments your customers leave on your profiles and respond to them, especially if they ask you a question. Same goes for any kind of reviews on Facebook or Google. Say thank you to show you appreciate their opinion, and doing so on your Google reviews also boosts your rank.
You should be asking questions, posting surveys, and creating engagement on social media. Try and make sure each interaction is relevant, on topic, and information is exchanged. The more active a presence you have on social media, the more useful and frequent you’ll find your interactions. Use social as an opportunity to learn what makes your customers tick.
Give Them Something They Want
Just like the crowd goes wild at a hockey game when the t-shirt cannon comes out, social media goes wild when they have the chance to “win” something. Whether it’s 20% off your newest product or service, or a free koozie with your company’s logo on it, people want it.
Bring out that digital t-shirt cannon and fire away to the first 50 people who tag a friend. Or give a discount to the ten best captions in a photo caption contest. A week later, ask your followers to post pictures of themselves in their new swag! You could keep it going even longer and take those pictures and have the rest of your audience vote on customer of the week!
Need help coming up with contest ideas? Check out this article.
Be A Part Of Your Business Community
Social media is meant to be… well, social. So dump the ‘us versus them’ mentality when it comes to competitors, and get on board. Seek out and follow other businesses that are similar to yours. If one posts a fantastic blog that has relevant information for your customers, share it! Be supportive, and they’ll be much more likely to return the favor in the future.
Keep track of relevant topics and companies by using tools such as Google Alerts and Owler. That way, any time a topic of interest is published or a similar company has news in your industry, you’ll be notified immediately. You can make as many Google Alerts as you’d like and even set the frequency if you’d rather not get them in real-time and only once per day.
Be A Friend, Not A Salesperson
Remember that you are on social media and not sending a cold email. 9 times out of 10 a person will completely breeze past a sales-like post, or worse, hide all posts from your company. After all, that’s what ads are for. The average click-through rate in Facebook ads across all industries is .90%, according to a study from WordStream.
So keep it subtle if you’re trying to use social media to get the word out about a new product. This is best achieved by integrating your message in an exciting picture or compelling video, and always as part of a strategic social media campaign. The only thing worse than a blatant sales pitch is a poorly planned and executed marketing strategy. Need some inspiration? Check out some of the greats from last year.
Treat Your Social Audience How You’d Want To Be Treated
No one strikes social media gold in one post. Be responsible, be strategic and keep at it. You will eventually see your following grow, and your bottom line too. As always, if you need help developing your media footprint, we are always here to help!
