Interaction between customers and business owners is very crucial as it develops brand awareness and brand loyalty. One of the oldest yet powerful marketing strategy is WOMM ( Word of Mouth Marketing) in which a satisfied customer spread a good word about the business. This strategy is powerful since it brings more promising customers to business. In the initial days, WOMM was difficult to achieve but with advanced social media platforms, it became simple. Would you like to develop your brand and create brand loyalty? Then interacting with your customers is the key to spread the good word. This way customers will also get to know you and can share valuable feedback on your service.
In this fast moving world, there is not much time for customers to interact and give feedback. So how we can make them participate? Get into the platform where they connect. Social media ā the online space that people use to spend their dedicated time to connect, share and interact. A research says 90% Ā of customers would recommend the brand to others after interacting with them through social media and 4 out of 5 would be inclined to buy products after being exposed to their social media pages. These social media platforms are free to promote business which is a true value add. Few of the widely used social media suitable for business are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google+, Pinterest, Blogs, Flickr, Foursquare etc. You can choose any or all based on your business need and time that you can devote to each platform and thus you get undivided attention and constant response from your customers.
Interacting with your customers is as important as interacting in the right way. It is essential to create social media strategy before interacting with your customers which differ for each business. The strategy for an existing brand is creating brand loyalty by emotional connection with your customers; for a new brand, the strategy involves creating brand awareness by relevant and genuine conversation with customers. Here are 5 best ways for effective interaction with your customers:
Contests
One of the successful ways to make your customers participate. The theme for the contest can be related directly to your product or your brand message. Facebook, Twitter and youtube are the perfect social media to run contests. The winners should be rewarded with prizes or offers based on the marketing budget. This is the most promising way to promote your business as it turns brand customers into brand fans.
Offers
Offers attract customers to buy more and through facebook, it also helps in interacting with them. To improve interaction, we should imply a simple rule that in order to avail offer, customers should be a part of the brand’s social media page which creates brand visibility and brand loyalty. Most business owners provide offers through gift coupons which can digitalized. Giving away digital coupons through social media has an added advantage: your offer reaches the right crowd and will be spread to more potential customers easily.
Photos and posts
A picture speaks thousand words. So use more images that depict your brand and products yet interesting to the customers. Posts can be short, like an update on your business or any informative facts related to your products. Facebook, Google+, Flickr and Pinterest are the right choice for posts and photos where people can respond through likes, comments and shares. This way you can also interact with your customers through comments.
Q & A
Questions and answers are interesting way to make customers participate. The feedback on your business can be assessed by simple questions related to the product. For example, which is your favourite dish served in our restaurant?. People will be more intrigued to answer such short surveys, usually yes or no questions receive best response from social media users.
Videos
Videos are the most effective way to make an impression about your brand to your customers. Videos are used for businesses that involves visual representation of the products. Even the course of the contests can be made visual and uploaded so that customers get to know your brand easily. Another way of interaction is calling your brand customers to upload videos which will increase their participation.
Do’s and Don’ts in social media interaction
- Always respond to your customers, let it be a query or a mere feedback. Do not let them wait for your reply.
- Keep your posts short and to the point. Use blog or video options if you like to express more about your brand.
- Try to keep your social media pages active. Users will expect something new and fresh everyday. Stagnant pages lose its fans.
- Post informative and entertaining stuff relevant only to your business because deviating from the brand message will decrease branding.
- Reward your social media fan with exclusive offers or pre sale intimations which will bring more loyal fans.
- Accept negative feedback just like the positive ones and respond to it. Always remember every critic is an opportunity to improve.
- Do not over sell in social media. It is a platform to communicate with your customers rather than a mere marketing tool.
- Reply genuinely and try to build trust with your customers. Remember they are real people who are your potential customers.
With the boom of social media, a business owner connecting to his customers is only a click away. With advanced technology comes the responsibility to keep your social pages active and relevant as this is directly effective on your business. At mercuryMinds, we help our clients in developing their business through social media. Our service doesn’t stop with creating and maintaining social media pages but also suggesting the right social media platform that best suit their business and strategize their social media marketing for a lucrative business development.