When you wake up in the morning and leap out of bed as we all do, why are your first words of the day almost always ” good morning”? Is it really an exceptionally ‘good’ morning most of the time or is this turn of phrase more useful as a way to generally be friendly ? To be approachable to the people that you care about ? To engage these indivuals and furthermore to create a platform from which you can see how they are, what they are up to and what their plans are.
On a personal level this is seen as the norm but what most people want to know is how can a business go about engaging with its clients in a similar way, especially on a much larger scale. A 9 o’clock phone call to all business partners with an automated message simply saying “good morning” may not go down too well on a Monday. The answer is social media.
By being able to use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter effectively a company is able to humanise their business and offer a means by which a customer can engage in conversation, offer feedback and ideas. In this sense social media is unique in the way it allows a company to listen to customers rather than just bombard them with offers like in traditional advertising. A company that is able to listen to its customers well and take actions from the feedback they are receiving is obviously going in the right direction of creating a high level of customer satisfaction, which will help the business to bring about customer retention in the long term and thus all but eliminating the hard sell.
Whilst the use of social media is becoming a more and more important aspect of a successful business and a great way of keeping yourself on the lips of your clients a business must first ensure the basics are in place to succeed. A great product and website are essential for success or despite how friendly, engaging and approachable the company may be the business is fighting a losing battle to gain and retain customers. By communicating valuable insights online regarding research, statistics and usability of a new product the business is able to engage clients and spark questions and conversation as apposed to a poor social media technique which may simply say ” we have a new product “.
The way in which you engage with your followers will depend on the type of business that you are. A B2B company will need to consider different strategies to that of a company who deals directly to the public. When dealing with the public you are often communicating directly to the person who will make a decision on whether to use your company meaning you can be quite direct in your communications. B2B companies need to realise that the person running the social media accounts for your potential clients may not be a decision maker. This means that it becomes more about brand awareness getting your brand in front of them, liking their content and sharing their content. Ultimately trying to get in front of the decision maker when the person running the account goes back to them with their social media activity.
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