Digital · Marketing · Social Media · Start-up · Strategy
How to Maintain a Better Online Relationship
Social media is based on relationship building, on creating and maintaining connections with people. This doesn’t just apply on a social-personal level; it is very much a core element of modern business practices. So how do you go about building better, more genuine relationships with your online audiences?
Customer Experience.
Just as in the store or in the household, the customer experience is possibly the most important thing to focus on when building a relationship with your customers. So how do you go about this? It comes down to communication. You need to initiate a dialogue with visitors to your social media pages. You should focus on maintaining a speedy response time, replying politely and informatively to comments however negative, and keep your finger on the pulse of your page. What content are people responding well to? Are your opening times up to date? Are there any creative elements that don’t fit with your branding?
An Engaging Social Media Strategy.
It all comes down to strategy. Putting statuses, images and videos up without a plan is dooming you to failure. You should continuously be tailoring your approach based on the subtle (and often not so subtle) feedback you get from your page visitors. If a particular piece of content performs well then it can be best to replicate it, however, do this too often and you risk boring your audience. There’s a fine line to tread!
When people arrive at your page, they should find something that keeps them scrolling, whether that be down your timeline or through your feed, if what you’re selling doesn’t capture the imagination then you’re going to have to find something else that makes people click. Be sure to keep a unifying theme and also don’t post anything likely to offend or go against your businesses’ principles and brand. This is your business page, not your personal.
Stay Relevant.
It’s very important that you follow industry and social trends. Just because something worked for you last year does not mean it will work again now. For your brand, this could mean exploring new platforms such as TikTok or embracing newer elements of the platforms you are already using, perhaps explore Instagram Stories or live streaming on Facebook as an option. Currently, influencers are king, and that includes micro-influencers. People look to others when forming their opinions offline, and it’s exactly the same online. This is another area that should be explored if you are to stay relevant, maybe it will work for your brand, maybe it won’t.
As cynical as it may sound, to protect your brand you must embrace a good CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy and show that your company can be socially responsible and aware of issues locally and internationally. This can have a considerable impact on your customer’s buying decisions, and if you don’t step carefully here, you risk the wrath of online mobs.
Get ready to be nitpicked!
When your business is online, you are exposed 24 hours a day, and we know just how critical and pernickety people can be! It’s essential that you are always presenting your best face. Watch out for those typos, keep your copy error-free and make sure you are following the law and site-specific policies to a tee or you will be called out on it. You should have a good in-house policy for dealing with criticism, leave the personal battles for your own personal page and don’t engage with trolls!
Feeling a bit overwhelmed? Don’t be. Air Social can deal with all of this for you. Social media can be a rough sea to navigate, but we’ve got the wind in our sails and are weathered for the storm! We are a full-service agency and can put our digital marketing and web designing experts to work to create the landing pages that your business needs to thrive. Get in touch today here.
Article courtesy of Alex Vinall, Air Social Digital Marketing
