“Like” it or not, social media is here to stay. Not only is it staying, but it’s bringing friends. And this year more than ever, it’s all about making friends.
According to Social Media Today, Engagement is, or should be, one of the top priorities of our social marketing plans.
Infographic via Social Media Today
Even a brief look forward at the marketing trends for 2016 shows us that brands must focus on becoming more personal this year. And in addition to making sure our brands have a more personal presence, we need to get more personal with our customers.
Yes, we need to create valuable, usable, relatable content that our customers can connect with when, and how, they need it.
Yes, our websites need to be up to speed so our customers can connect quickly and conveniently with our content.
And, yes, mobile is definitely where it’s at when it comes to keeping our brands at our customers’ fingertips.
But building relationships with customers has never been more important, and thanks to to social media, creating and nurturing those relationships has never been easier.
Sort of.
It goes without saying, but it’s so important (and so easily forgotten) that it’s worth saying again: We first need to figure out who our customers are, and that’s an on-going process.
If we do it right, we’ll have an ever-increasing group of core customers and loyal followers who know and love our brands, and who will help carry our marketing messages to more and more people.
But people change. The things they like change. The way they interact changes as the times change and as options available to them change. So, we have to stay on top of our social marketing game by continuously connecting with and learning about our customers. We need to think about our existing customers, of course, but we also need to think about who our new customers are and who our future customers will be.
Ideally, existing customers help create the positive awareness of our brands that helps us attract new customers. So, creating a widely relatable and genuine voice that speaks to our customers and their current needs and preferences is very important. We also need to create a presence that adapts with our customers’ lifecycles, and the lifecycles within our marketplace in general.
So, what’s the key to understanding peoples’ needs? Glad you asked!
Engage
Create good conversations. Find ways to draw people in to conversations. Connect with customers in ways that matter to them.
Interact
Just putting ads and comments “out there” doesn’t cut it. Talk with people about what your brand offers for them. If someone leaves a comment, respond to it! By interacting with your customers and followers on social media, you’re strengthening your connections with them.
Provide Variety – Consistently
No one likes to see or hear the same old thing over and over again, so we have to find ways of repeating our messages that drive the point home without driving people away.
Watch, Listen, and Learn
Don’t just broadcast. Watch how followers interact with your brand on social media. Listen to what they’re saying. Learn what works – and what doesn’t – based on how your communities respond to your messaging.
Creating and maintaining personal interactions via social media is an on-going process to say the least. Social media itself, and the “rules” by which it plays, are fast moving targets. The players themselves – our customers and followers – move even faster. But they are the reason we’re here, so they are what we need to focus on more and more to be able to compete in their arenas.
If you’d like to learn how to get more personal with your customers and followers, just give Filament a call… We’re here to help you light up your social communities!
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