Using social media to build customer relationships

More than ever before, social media is an essential part of the marketing mix for businesses. This blog will help you to identify which social media tools are right for you and how to build your presence to develop customer relationships.

In the UK alone, there are over 45 million active social media users. It’s no wonder that it can be difficult to stand out and reach your target audience.

Developing a social media presence

1. Choose the right channels

Focusing on one or two channels and spending time on your content can help bring more success than spreading yourself too thinly. Think about your audience and identify where they will consume their social content. For example, LinkedIn is a great social media tool for business to business operations. You will be able to reach the right targets this way rather than using other consumer-focused channels such as Snapchat or TikTok. If you’re a retailer and sell products then Facebook or Instagram could be really valuable tools. There is the opportunity to link to your e-commerce site or have your own purchasing site on these platforms to enhance the customer experience.

2. Be authentic

To achieve engagement and interest in your posts you need to show the personality of your brand. Social media is less formal than traditional advertising or PR and so businesses that show a more authentic approach often achieve better results. This could be showing the people behind your business, work in progress, or using customer case studies and testimonials to tell your story. Don’t be afraid to have a little fun too, you can still be professional and authentic with your content.

3. Develop your voice

Take some time to think about what you want to achieve, who you are targeting your content at, and plan what tools you will use. This could be blogs and links to your website, your shop, video clips, or photo content. Images on Facebook receive 37% more engagement than text alone so this is an important consideration. As with all marketing, put yourself in the mind of the customer. What would they like to see or read about your business? Think benefits and solutions. It’s often a good idea to mix up your messages so that you’re not just repeating the same sorts of message themes. This will just disengage your audience.

4. Be consistent and active

Posting once or twice a week will be sufficient for most businesses to create a social media presence that engages their audience. Think quality, not quantity. It’s important, however, to remain consistent and active and use a good mix of content to draw in potential customers.

5. Avoid overt selling

Social media posts should not just be used to push out your sales messages. You can do this occasionally, for example, to promote a special offer or advertise a promotion to your followers but, if all of your content is an active selling message then you will likely lose followers.

6. Be responsive

A key part of social media is customer service. Best practice would be to respond as soon as possible to direct messages. You can set up notifications so that you receive alerts when people comment, mention, or post on your channel. Thank people who leave reviews and comments on your channels. If you receive negative feedback, remember to act professionally and try to move the conversation away from an open platform as quickly as possible. You have the ability to hide or delete comments if required although it is often more authentic if you handle negative comments with an open response.

Building your audience

How do you extend your reach on social media?

One effective way is to use hashtags in your posts. For example, as a small business marketing expert, I could use #smallbusinessmarketing at the end of my post on any channel, and people looking for that type of post may come across mine and choose to follow or engage with me.

You can also advertise on all social media platforms. Take Facebook for example. You can choose to ‘boost’ a post to an audience of people in a geographical location or who have a certain demographic or interests, enabling you to target your audience. You can also set up a likes campaign to grow the number of likes to your page. This is often more expensive but means that people will then have the opportunity to see your future posts as a follower of your page.

Encourage friends and family to share and comment on your posts to increase your reach. Not all of your posts will be seen by all of your followers. As you receive more engagement on a post, it is then shown to more of your network and consequently generates more reach as the platform’s algorithms see it as being of interest to people.

Comment as your business on relevant posts to increase your social media profile. This could increase your brand presence and interest in your company as well as name recall. Groups are particularly good for this, for example on LinkedIn, where you may want to join an online networking group.

Not sure where to start?

If you need help with planning your social media or just don’t have the time to do it justice, please drop me a line for a no-obligation consultation. It’s a great way to bounce ideas and brainstorm and also free up some of your valuable time to do what you love to do most. Find out more about my digital marketing services and marketing strategy experience.