It seems like using social media for your business has unlimited possibilities, but the balance between creating a positive brand experience and annoying potential customers is a fine line to navigate.
Here are some positive ways to engage with Social Media
The Do's
Know Your Customers.
Your social media pages should be tailored to suit the needs and interests of your customers, and not you. Try to tap into posts that relate to them or give them reasons to visit your page often. Use the rule of 80/20, which means, 80% content that is relative to what your customers want, and 20% or less of your posts to be used for promoting your goods, services, or your business.
Quality Over Quantity.
Many people feel like they need to have their brand in other's feeds as much as possible, but it is rarely the case. When you try to post to often, you will find that people start to get annoyed with what you are posting and end up deleting you from their social media feed. Keep posts relevant, use high quality, and engaging articles that represent your brand, but more importantly, reflect the needs and wants of your customers. Spend more time creating quality posts, and less time searching for content to overload your feed.
Be Original.
Don't be afraid to show your personality in your posts. Make yourself stand out from your competitors, by providing entertaining and unique posts that catch your customers attention.
Time Matters.
Experiment with different posting times. You will know your customers best and when they look at their social media feeds. Keep track of what times work and don't work over time so that you can better target your audience.
Provide Great Service.
Never before has customer service been more important. You need to be a level above what people expect or you may here about it. This is what scares people away from using social media as an effective tool. Don't be afraid of it, use it to your advantage. With social media you now have the tools to monitor what your customers are saying about you, and the tools to fix the problem.
Use Social Media That Is Relevant.
Don't think that because everyone is using one social media app that you need to as well. Look for apps that you know your customers will make use of. There is no use in creating content for something like Twitter if all your customers are using Instagram for example. Before jumping into social media feet first, take the time to poll your customers and find out exactly what apps are the most relevant to them, and then tailor your social media strategy to your customer.
Here are some not so positive ways to interact with social media.
The Don't's
Don't Like Your Own Posts.
Of course you like your own posts! Why wouldn't you? However most customers find this a cheap trick for you to get your ads out to their personal feed. One thing that you should definitely do is encourage your staff to like and comment on your posts. Another great way is to tag your staff or customers if there is opportunity with posts that contain photo's or videos.
Don't Be Neglectful.
The biggest problem with a company getting into social media is that they start off with the best intentions, but within a short period of time, they start to neglect their pages. Be very aware that it is not simply enough to have a Facebook, Twitter or other social media account, you need to maintain it regularly.
Don't Connect With Everyone.
Don't just follow everyone that follows you. Think about each person you follow as a business client, and ask yourself if following them will in any way harm your business's reputation by association.
Don't Be Spammy.
Too often businesses re-use posts over and over again to try to promote their business, and who can blame them? Re-posting is much easier than finding fresh and relative content. This was the way we always advertised before. On social media this is the number one way to lose followers. People view their time on social media as private time where they get to choose what they want to engage in. If you don't have new and interesting content they will get annoyed and leave.
Don't Ignore Those Comments.
At times you will get comments from customers. The great thing about social media is that it allows you to connect with your customers in ways that were never possible till now. Remember that when they take the time to leave a comment however, that they expect a follow up. Deleting a negative comment is also not wise. Acknowledge their concerns briefly, then direct them to dealing with the problem in person. People will see that you care about the negative comment and are working to fix it. Nobody is perfect, they just expect you to try.
Don't Use Automation
Stay away from automated responses. Customers will be able to tell right away. Be ready to deal with the customers the same way you would deal with them at your place of business.
For more information about managing your social media, please contact us through this website. We would be more than happy to talk to you.