Any good business owner knows that customers are reached through various marketing efforts, not just one. However, across the board, businesses are utilizing social media to not only establish connections with their new customers, but also to engage in conversations with their current customers. Since so many people use social media today, this is an amazing, productive way to reach a large number of your clients. The most important aspect of using social media to market is to stay on top of the ever-changing trends.
Technology has greatly changed the way that businesses can interact with consumers. This doesn't just open the door for dialogue, but can also improve your conversion rate. By contacting consumers online, you can really increase the amount of business you're doing. Aside from just making a mark and educating more people on your company, you’ll also see a rise in sales. 25% of the world’s population is currently online and that number is quickly growing.
It's easy to engage in conversation with the people you're connected with on social media sites who are responding to you. When a customer or potential customer is commenting on posts that you put up on Facebook, for example, it's a no-brainer to respond to these people and start a conversation. The tricky part is engaging customers who are not as forthcoming. A majority of the people you’re connected to are either not seeing your posts or not responding to them. Here are 5 tips to help you change that and increase engagement with your online customers.
1. The key to getting the interested of these more quiet consumers is to tap into their personal interests. You may have to invest some time to browse their profiles and find out what they like to do, but the results will be worth it. Then you can gear your posts, pictures and overall approach to things that will target those specific clients.
2. To make targeting your market segments easier on yourself, you can group consumers by their interests. Then you can generate posts to communicate with groups of consumers who are all interested in the same things. Hopefully, you’ll be able to engage a majority of them simultaneously.
3. Another way to make your social media presence all-inclusive and to get attention from a majority of your consumers is to vary the ways you're using your many online profiles. From posting links to articles that apply to your business and posting photos of your store to using podcasts and even interactive applications and games, you can reach a lot of people at once. Not everybody responds to witty status updates or interesting quotes. You need to vary your approach in order to target your varying clientele.
4. Blogs are one of the best ways to promote a conversation with your online fans. You can appear more friendly and personal, showing a different side from your usual businesslike demeanor. While your website showcases your business’ finest points, your blog will make you seem more personable. Consumers today don't want to be talked to so much as they want to be talked with. Also, traditional sales approaches are no longer getting the response they used to. Customers want to know that your business is not just professional but also relatable.
5. Guest blogging is one of the best interactive tools a business can have because consumers can give you feedback on anything that you post. If you allow guest blogging, your customers can even post blogs about your business and company. This is a way to get both positive and negative information about your business. Both types of feedback are helpful in letting you know what areas need improvement and which efforts are working well.
Sam is a blogger with a background in Internet marketing. His latest endeavor has been to learn how to build an iPhone app and this is a skill he now finds to be very marketable.
I can see why there is a lot of scepticism over social media degrees but honestly, when it comes to marketing these days, it can be very valuable.