Social Media User Experience: How People Follow Your Brand

We’re talking a lot about User Experience (“UX”) this month. You can Google “User Experience” and find a thousand different articles on the topic, but we’re going to focus on social media user experience as it directly relates to customers’ interactions with a company.

Oh, and if you don’t mind, because people – rather than acronyms – are the core of this conversation, we’re going to refer to “people” – our “clients” and “customers”. In social media terms, we “Like” to refer to them as “fans,” “friends,” and “followers”.

As you know, everything from your website to your email campaigns, customer service to sales promotions, external signage to in-store displays, and every single communication in between, impacts a customer’s experience with your company.

We’re always hearing about new research indicating when we should post, how we should interact with our followers, and even which social media avenues are the best places to focus our attention. No matter what, we all question how often we should post to maximize the impact our social marketing has on our customers.

But, as Marketing Profs puts it:

“…converting social media fans requires more than constant sharing;

it requires understanding the ways they interact and build relationships.”

We all have our “extrovert” followers. Those amazing cheerleaders that never miss a post and share our brand’s news with all the excitement that we hoped it would muster. If we post a question, they’re there to comment on it. We can always count on the fact that they’ll Like our stuff. We love them and the enthusiasm they help bring to our brand.

Our biggest fans are a special breed. We know how they respond to us. We know how they interact with us. We know that they like our brand and our products and services because they tell us they do with their Likes and comments and rave reviews.

But they are just the tip of the iceberg.

If we market just to our more outspoken followers, we may not be connecting with up to 90% or more of our less active, but equally as important, social followers.

Image source: Nielsen Norman Group

So, what about our more “introverted” fans and followers – the people we rarely, if ever, hear from beyond their initial Like or follow? How do you know if you’re reaching them? How do you know what gets their attention?

By thinking the way they do rather than from your marketing perspective. By connecting with them in ways that are important to them, which is typically in a more personal manner.

Not everyone responds to the “bandwagon” approach. Some people – let’s call them social wallflowers – prefer to participate passively. They may not be giving brands a virtual thumbs-up every time a post crosses their feed, but they’re still getting the messages.

And because they’re getting the messages, they’re showing up at your door to buy what you’re selling – even if they’re not publicizing it.

Social media is an all-important avenue, but make sure to provide more than one way to follow your brand for those who will be responding in different ways. Offers and information provided via mobile, email, snail mail, and in-store promotion all have to connect with your social media messaging in order for them to work. Each call to action (“CTA”) should also have more than one option so people can act on it in the manner that’s most convenient for them. The more convenient you make it for people to connect with – and respond to – your brand, the more they’ll do so!

It definitely takes some strategic planning and even more strategic quantifying, but personalizing your messaging to address how people follow your brand is the single smartest marketing communication maneuver you can make. Remember, it’s not about you!

Wondering how you can make your marketing efforts more effective by making it more about your customers? We can help!