Social Media Presence
Below are four tips that can help you boost your presence.
1. Look for opportunities for discussion
What is the latest hot topic in your niche? Are there any questions that are very important to your target audience? For example, if you are selling chocolate bars, you may ask a question like: Do your customers like a sweet bar which has cookie pieces inside or do they like a bar which is slightly salty with nuts or sea salt? How do they choose that perfect chocolate bar?
To find out what most of your customers like, it is a good idea to carry out a simple poll. However, it should not be all about answering a question but should also offer the customer the opportunity to engage in debate or discussion.
For example, you may ask the question: “sweet or salty?” Tell us why! “What is your favorite chocolate add-in?” Give us the answer in the comments. “Given a chance to come up with the perfect chocolate, how would it be like?”
Open-ended questions are very effective as they create more debate and discussion compared to multiple choice questions. For complicated marketing campaigns, there are equally complex topics that will enable you to engage your followers in debate and discussions long past their bedtime.
As an added advantage, each and every time someone comments on your posts, it is more likely that they will see the next one and that others will see it, also. However, you need to avoid very complex questions. The best questions are those that are understandable and still leave plenty of room for differing opinions.
2. Set up Chat Times
The larger your business, the harder it is to connect with your customers on a personal level. However, for small business owners, personal interaction is the best way to have satisfied customers.
You can achieve this by choosing a social media platform, creating an event or a hashtag and have the opportunity to chat with your customers. Give the customer troubleshooting tips on how to use a certain product that may be causing customers problems. Suggest to them about how you can make their experience with your products or service better.
Ask for their questions and give serious, thoughtful answers. Chatting with your customer is a good customer interaction tools as they are specific times when your customers know that they can reach you. When planning chat times, it is a wise idea to have a list of topics ahead of time.
However, you should not be trapped by your listed topics. A good strategy is to let customers be the one to take lead and show you the topics that interest them. If the conversation starts lagging, go back to your list of topics to re-engage them in the discussion.
In most cases, it is a good idea to have several members of your marketing team around to help you deal with the traffic and answering the questions. Even though it may take some trial and error to know the perfect mix for your business, you will appreciate how beneficial it can be once you find out the best mix.
3. Look at the Content that Drives Interaction
The main reason why you are using social media is to engage your customer. Therefore, let your customers determine the type of interaction you use. First, you need to find out the social media platforms that most of your customers are active in.
Do most of your customers interact with you on Facebook or Twitter? What is the number of views your products are getting on Pinterest? And what about the photos on Instagram are you getting many Instagram views? Which ones are your customers really interested in?
Look over that content on a regular basis. Pay careful attention to those posts that receive either far more or less interaction than usual. However, keep an eye on your median interaction also.
Which topics are going to grab the attention of your customers and make them return to the post to chat over a period of hours or even days? Those marketing a business dealing with clothes may, for example, find it effective talking about the newest colors or designs as the surefire topics to achieve this.
Produce collectibles? A new announcement is usually the surest way to generate attention. However, preparing for the big reveal beforehand can increase customer excitement and generate more interaction.
4. Tie in Blog Posts
Most social media posts should be relatively short. You can write up to a certain number of characters and if you exceed this, the platform will cut you off and tell you that you are out of space. Even if you have unlimited characters to work with, it is not wise to write more than you know that your customer will be able to read.
However, this is not to say that you should not share longer content on social media platforms. Use your social media platforms to help drive traffic to your blog and your website.
Offer a teaser, a graphic from the post that will surely grab the attention of the customer or you can ask a question that will require the customers to read the whole post. This will bring the required interaction to your social media platforms and also boost traffic to your blog.
You should also not be afraid of putting a bit of budget behind your content. I assure you that you will be surprised by what a small amount of money can achieve.
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