Engaging customers through social media can be a difficult needle to thread. A good social media strategy is much more complicated than simply posting on a predictable schedule; it’s about forging connections with current and future customers, building a community with you and your business at the center. Social media has become a major driver of brand growth, and high levels of engagement are the key to unlocking its potential. Read on for our favorite strategies for increasing your customer engagement on social media.
1. Get to Know Your Audience on Social Media
Marketers face a unique challenge today in adapting traditional marketing strategies to meet the needs and expectations of the modern consumer— a consumer who prizes accessibility and personalization across all channels, and who has nearly endless options of where to spend their money.
But you don’t want to know about all customers; you want to know about your customers. Understanding your audience and what they respond well to is the key to successful marketing and boosting ROI both on and offline. You can create these customer persona profiles by conducting customer interviews, or by using one of the many online tools available to analyze your current engagement.
2. Find Out Where Your Audience Is Discussing You— And Join In On The Conversation
You won’t be able to effectively drive engagement without knowing where to spend your time and money— which means you need to know what platforms your customers use. One way to find this out is called social media listening, which involves AI-powered social media tools that scan platforms for mentions of your company and products. These tools give you an in-depth look at your customer engagement on social media across platforms, the content they respond well to, influencers they trust, and what they want from your brand. This will allow you to engage your customers with the right content, posted where they already spend their time.
3. Engage With Your Customers Consistently and Quickly
Engaging with your audience means responding to every comment (positive or negative, whether it’s a question, a review, or just a general statement). This shows you see your customers as people, not dollar signs. Because the public nature of social media means customers can see your activity and use it to evaluate your company, this conversational approach will build and maintain a positive brand image for you.
Letting your customers or clients feel seen is one of the fastest ways to boost your customer engagement on social media— and you can leverage user-generated content to do it. Every time a customer shares a positive experience about your business, it means you did a good job satisfying them— so why not toot your own horn by sharing it on your page?
4. Analyze How Your Customers Respond
Simply flooding the internet with branded content isn’t going to improve your customer engagement on social media. Once you launch a marketing campaign, you’re going to need to monitor your audience’s response to it. Social media sentiment analysis is a strategy that gives you insight into the content your customers respond most positively to, so you can replicate successes and take a different approach where needed.
Having hard data to back your impression of how your customers have responded to your content will help you improve by leaps and bounds. The ability to create campaigns tailored to your customers’ values and interests will improve customer engagement on social media, generate positive feedback, and increase the likelihood that your customers will spread the word about your brand.
5. Make Your Content More Accessible
In the digital age, accessibility is king— and not only for your customers with disabilities. Adding captions to videos, and image descriptions to photo posts, are the two main ways to show your customers you’re thinking about all of them, not just the “typical” consumer. Image descriptions are generally used for people with low vision and people who use screen readers; captions on videos not only assist the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community, but people with cognitive or auditory processing issues as well. Increasing accessibility will not only help those of your customers that need it, but will generally reflect well on your brand.
6. Show Them The Human Side of Your Business
You have a personality, and so does everyone who works for you— so why hide that behind a bland and boring social media account? Consumers today don’t respond to faceless corporations who want to sell them something; they respond to people with the same struggles and joys that they have. The most successful social media engagement is the one that talks to customers the way the people behind the accounts would talk to their friends: with humor, transparency, and acknowledgment of common experiences. People want to get to know the faces behind your products— it’s to your benefit if you let them.
7. Take a Stand on Social Issues
Following on from #6, one of the fastest ways to signal to your customers that you represent their values is to come out in support of a social issue. Studies show 75% of people are more likely to do business with a company that supports an issue important to them; they make decisions to spend money as a way to support issues they care about.
Of course there are potential downfalls to making any statement about social issues— but don’t let that deter you. The real risk is in choosing to support a cause that doesn’t reflect your brand purpose, or one that isn’t relevant to your audience. Surveying stakeholders, employees, and customers about the causes that matter to them is one way to make sure your thinking is in line with your brand’s identity.
Gauge Digital Media Helps You Increase Customer Engagement on Social Media
Working with a professional digital marketing company is the best way to improve your customer engagement on social media and build your brand online. We know how to help you create great content that attracts your target audience and build a community around your business. To learn more about the best digital marketing strategies for your company and reach a bigger audience than ever before, work with Gauge Digital Media. For a quote or to schedule a call, contact us at (443) 201-7709.
