Your company social media pages are used by your customers for all different kinds of purposes: for information (content marketing anyone?), entertainment, research, discount shopping. Whatever purpose, once your customer or potential customer has “used” your social media page, they’ve moved on.
Or maybe they haven’t.
For sure, many of your customers do move on. But there’s an opportunity—a missed opportunity in many cases—to get their attention on social media, and take a potential customer to a loyal and engaged customer. How can you tell who they are? Here are the classic signs of an engaged customer:
- They respond by liking , favoriting, or commenting on your posts.
- They leave online reviews.
- They refer your services.
- They share your posts (the ultimate engagement).
Gaining engaged customers isn’t a simple, one-size-fits-all formula (if only it was), but it is under your control. If you have employees, you should make them aware that it’s under their control too.
Engagement isn’t just built on social media.
Your engaged social media customers are not just cultivated exclusively through social media interactions. Obviously, it helps, but engaged customers are also loyal customers because of your in-person, phone, and email conversations.
Provide excellent customer service.
We’ve wrote about this before in our recent post about the rules of excellent online customer service. Treat every encounter like it’s a first date. Respond to your customers promptly during business hours, and deliver the same service you provide to customers that walk in or call you on the phone.
Give them value.
Once someone has liked or followed you, what are you doing to keep their attention? Are you giving them information that’s entertaining, can answer their questions, and that they want to share with their friends? This is a two part strategy: provide relevant content and media (i.e. photos, graphics, video, etc.), which statistics show can get you significantly more engagement. Know what your customers want, and deliver.
Find your voice.
What sets your social media page apart from your competitors? Being sweet and cuddly in person doesn’t count online; find your unique voice and use it in all your marketing materials.
Make them want more.
Social media marketing is not a sprint; it’s a marathon. Provide regular, relevant information for optimal social media results—or hire a company that can.
