The way we communicate with our customers has shifted and to reach them, we must communicate through different channels – one being social media. Social media is here to serve your brand well. Afterall, if you are not advocating for your brand through a social media strategy, then who is? No one.
Having a social media account exist is just sub-par but having an active and engaging social media account, backed with a comprehensive strategy, will help drive the success of your brand. Implementing a strong strategy is crucial because social media is here to stay, and your customers are waiting on you! They want to talk to you, ask questions, give praise, and know how you and your business are progressing.
Whether this makes you cringe or not, gone are the days where customers will wait on hold for a customer service representative to answer a quick question for them. They go directly online, with hopes of a chatbot to assist as they multi-task through the day. Your consumers might even jump on Facebook and send you a direct message.
The most common reason why consumers reach out to brands on social media is because they have a question. 57% of consumers reported doing this. The second most common reason is to have an issue with a product or service resolved (45% of consumers reported doing this). A fair amount of people, 34% also reach out to brands on social media to comment them on their products or services. Lastly, almost 1 out of 4 consumers are more likely to buy from brands that they can reach on social media. It is safe to say that our customers are aggressively using social media to seek communication from brands.
Excellent customer service has never been more treasured. Offering excellent customer service ranks number one for the impact level of trust with a company (Dimensional Research). Have you ever read a social media post that shames another company? I know I have.
This can tarnish your brand and reputation, but you have an opportunity to turn that negative post into a better situation. People expect businesses to respond on social media, and fast. The beauty of communicating via social media is that we are able hear our customers, solve their problem, and make that unsatisfied customer, satisfied (and maybe even impress them)!
Your customers are on social media.
Not only are your customers on it, but your competition is too. There are over 60 million active business pages on Facebook swooning and stealing YOUR customers.
Communication
You can talk with your customers and find out how you can help improve their experience with you. Asking for feedback can help keep your company relevant. From there, you are also able to create more value by understanding the needs and wants of your customers. It’s also important to know your audience in order to develop a sustainable relationship and create interesting content. What are they looking for? What do they want to see from us? These are questions you can find out from your audience by seeking feedback.
Your engagement with your customers not only builds a relationship, but it stimulates brand loyalty, which is one of our biggest goals for being active on social media. How can we achieve this? It goes back to customer service. Four years ago, Forbes found that 62% of millennials say that if a brand engages them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. We know that a loyal customer is your cheerleader- they tell all their friends and family about how great you are! Building brand loyalty through engagement and consistency is like having a true relationship. They know about you; you know about them, and you communicate with one another.
Brand awareness
Let’s tell your story and add some personality to it. Afterall, you are the voice of your company through social media, so why not make this interesting? Your tribe wants to see the real side of your company, which is personal. It’s the side of your company that is not the perfect promotion, but it is the human-centric, authentic, raw content that is YOU. Your company’s uniqueness will help drive that loyalty. Get creative with your content and experiment. In your social media strategy, be sure to align your company’s mission, culture, and values into your messaging.
This is not just a movement or era. Statista is projecting an increase in social media users of 250M+ in the next two years. Overall, there could 3.02B social media users by 2021.
Now is the time to develop your social media strategy. THE HUB can guide you through identifying your audience, clarifying your message, and developing content for your brand. Reach out to us at [email protected] to get started!