Why is your business on social media? What are you hoping to achieve with this tool? In order to create a truly effective social media presence, you need to have a clear understanding of the ‘why’. Most businesses use social media to create sales, attract new customers, retain current customers and create brand ambassadors. However, to achieve any of those goals, you need to make people want to engage with you. That means that you want them to comment, reply to, retweet, share and any other way that they can possibly interact with your post. What you don’t want is for your posts to go unnoticed and ignored. Here are some tips that will help you get your customers talking:
Ask them a question. Some people will not interact online unless they are specifically invited to. However, if you ask them a question, they may be willing to respond. It doesn’t have to be anything elaborate; a simple “How is your family spending Labour Day weekend?” is enough. Just keep your brand in mind when creating your question. You may also find it effective to end your blogs with a question just to get the conversation started.
Know your customer well. It’s not enough to know that your customer is health conscious. You need to know that your customer is eating kale chips when they would rather be eating potato chips because they want to look amazing in their skinny jeans! If you know what keeps them up at night, you’ll be able to reach them.
Respond to comments. If you want your customers to talk to you, then you need to talk to them! Answer their questions and respond to their comments in a timely manner. Most people are more likely to join a conversation than they are to start one.
Be timely. Social media favours posts that are current and on trend. What matters to your customers today? It helps to set up an editorial calendar so that you can synch your posts with the seasons. After that you just need to pay attention to what’s happening and comment on it.
Have great headlines. Your headlines are what determine whether or not people are going to read your post. Since there is so much web content competing for their attention, your headline has to really grab them. Keep it short and punchy and try to stir up some emotion.
Often the only way to find a killer strategy on social media is trial and error; you find something that works and you build on it. The best way to determine whether or not a strategy is working is to measure your interactions. If you would like to engage your customers through social media, but aren’t sure how to go about it, call us! We would love to help you!