Imagine you’re on a first date and your sitting there listening to a perfect stranger chat about themselves all night long. Are you going to agree to a second date? I would imagine not. In fact, chances are you’ll be making your excuses to get outta there pretty sharpish!
What does this have to do with social media I hear you cry?! Well, you have to listen to your date, or in this case, your customer (or potential customer) otherwise it’s all one sided and that kind of conversation does not last long. When you want to connect as a business, you need to give your date (aka customer) a chance to tell you all about themselves, share their funny stories, their opinions and you h ave to get to know one another.
How many posts do you share telling the world about your latest offers or cool features of your products? Do you shout out to the world without letting them have the opportunity to interact?
Things have changed in recent years and no longer does just being on social media cut it, it’s time to build meaningful relationships, and get that second date, or even better a loyal customer.
Connecting via social media is essential and no company should be without an online presence, but it’s how you use it that makes the difference and I’m going to share some ways to help make that difference.
We are lucky to have the opportunity to reach millions of people in today’s digital world, something previously reserved only for big companies with million dollar budgets. The playing field has most certainly been levelled and now individuals with big ideas and small pockets can have the same impact on the world and without the enormous costs.
When we talked previously about creating your brand we discussed the importance of a human connection between a business and its audience. We want to speak directly to our audience and show them we too are human. That we understand their problems and can provide a product or service can can help solve those problems.
6 Reasons why is it important to connect with your audience on social media
- Show you care, about your customer and how you can help them. You can show them who you really are, how passionate you are about helping them and that most importantly you are interested in them as a person.
- Listening to what people want and meeting those needs can be achieved by careful and strategic monitoring and listening on social media. Look at what is happening in your industry and stay ahead of the game. Listen to what your customers or potential customers want that you can provide.
- Talk to unhappy customers, show that you want to make things right, quite often a disgruntled customer (your fault or not) will take to their keyboard to voice their concerns and complaints. You can respond, show them you want to make things right and help them. It may just be a misunderstanding you can set right or if a problem has occurred you can quickly right it. Either way, you can show not just that one person that you provide excellent customer service, but you can show the rest of the world too. Bonus points for your reputation as people who have had a negative experience turned into a positive one will tell more people.
- Potential customers may also have questions about your product, answering them in a public forum helps others who may also have the same questions, thus saving you or your team precious time fielding those questions individually but also worth nothing those questions you can provide on an FAQ (frequently asked questions) or you can improve the clarity of your next advertising campaign. Always reflect and learn from any feedback or questions your customers may have.
- Provide value to your audience, help them out with good advice, tips and tricks or share some fun and entertain them. Of course, it depends on your audience and in some industries, humour may not be appropriate or may show lack of professionalism. Showing your knowledge is vital whatever your industry. Positioning yourself as an expert in your field and sharing your ability to help through your product or service will help you connect with your audience and build trust.
- People who engage with you on social media and get excited about what you have to say are more likely to share content with others either via sharing your posts on social platforms or by talking about their experiences with their friends and family. By getting people to talk to you, rather than simply listening to you, means they are active participants in the conversation. People love to talk about themselves and you can give them that opportunity whilst creating raving fans in the process.
Take every opportunity to understand your customer, listen and monitor on social media and create a strategic social media plan to address the needs of your audience, provide content which educates, entertains and inspires.
We can’t help you with getting a date, but we are your ideal parter for creating the perfect content and social media strategy, make a date for a call!
