Many companies use social media, but are they using it wisely?
You’ve heard it all before. Social media is the place to be to find online success as it plays a huge role in customer service, brand awareness and product promotion. The younger generation won’t use call centres to complain about a product, give it 2 minutes and their message can be shared on Facebook/Twitter to 1,000’s of others, so it’s important for social media accounts to monitor and fix what people are saying about your company as a whole. Simply being on social media alone isn’t enough and these five facts will make your campaigns as a whole much more successful.
Be social
A big hint in the name here, yet many companies miss the point on what it is to be ‘social’. Interact with your customer base; let them know you’re there! The only time people will really search for your brand is either going to be an appraisal or a complaint, so get in there first. Search your company name, your products or services and see what people are saying about you. It’s always good to strike whilst the irons hot instead of letting the fire burn out.
Get connected
Whilst pro actively searching your social network for your fans, you’ve got to build connections with your audience. Just taking notice isn’t enough, you must build bridges with your audience and never be afraid to cross them every once in a while. Engage in conversations, follow them, offer them competitions, funny content and more.
Break up content
Don’t let your feed be just your bog standard text posts. Implement pictures, videos, website links, interactive websites and more. Offer them good content, so be light hearted and humorous. Be sure to retweet and share other people opinions, thoughts and posts, it’s good to build a strong connection with customers, both existing and potential!
Here’s an example from our very own Twitter (@strategyplusweb) to give you an idea. Twitter brilliantly incorporates the ability to search hashtags and keywords, so it really isn’t difficult to find content, even in niché markets.
Be consistent
It’s brilliant to have engaging content, but not it’s pointless when you post every few days or so. Some people think its fine to post weekly. It’s important to be consistent in the world of social media. The average tweet has a life span of 24 minutes, so daily posts and RT’s will keep people aware of your brand, increasing your chances of new followers, likes and brand awareness. Be active and be reachable, even if it’s for a question or a quick chat, customer’s like to think they have a point of contact and friendly ongoing service is vital.
Educate and inspire before driving a sale
It’s not all about making a sale, but obviously social media can be a great tool to push a product or service. You will turn off pretty much every customer by simply trying to self promote with every post. Think of it as a friendship: you wouldn’t walk up to a stranger in the street and ask them for a favour or offer them to buy something from you (unless you’re a shady character). Build on your friendship first. This ties in well with offering them good, useful content. You’ll eventually be viewed as an authority figure and you’ll be trusted, therefore turning friends into customers and making those conversion rates to your website sky rocket.
To find out more about the social media services we offer, contact us!
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