Top 10 Social Media Tips for Improving Your Brands Customer Relationships
Managing your social media channels is like being in a committed relationship. It takes time, patience, effort and most importantly, great communication skills to be successful. Without putting in the hard work, you won’t see the results – but building relationships doesn’t have to be difficult, or laborious. Here are our 10 top tips for improving your brand and customer relationships:
1. Be honest with yourself
When it comes to building relationships online, it is important that you are honest with yourself and only commit to what you can manage, not what you think is required by industry standards. Your customers do not want to be bombarded with content, but they do expect reliability and consistency.
2. Realtime interaction
Keep things interesting by being topical, reactive and staying on top of trending topics on Facebook and Twitter, therefore enhancing your relevance and keeping your customers engaged for longer. Compelling content will help to improve your reach and will also have a longer life cycle – so your brand will be remembered for longer!
3. Value your customers
Showing your customers that you value them helps to increase customer lifetime loyalty to your brand, and also increases your brand awareness. Brand loyalty is not only about an appreciation for your products, but an appreciation for who you are as a brand – that’s what will keep customers coming back.
4. Keep it real
Customers want to know who you are, and exactly what they can expect from your brand; they want to see that you’re human. Therefore, developing a strong brand persona is a great way to interact with your customers.
5. Accept what you can’t control
It is easy to see why many are put off by social media, especially when so much work has been put into building a following, only to receive negative comments and reviews. However, it doesn’t have to be a scary place. In fact, how your brand responds to negative feedback can improve your brand’s perception among customers, or new prospects.
6. It’s all about balance
The more time you put in to your social media relationships, the more value you eventually get out of it – it’s about finding balance. Committing a small amount of time each day to assess what is working, what is not, and develop original content from your findings can provide great rewards over time. Plus, a little bit of time and effort is hugely effective marketing for free!
7. Listen to your customers
Social media isn’t just about broadcasting messages, and creating awareness about your latest offers and campaigns. Instead, it’s a great way to answer questions, reply to feedback and truly understand what your customers love about your brand and what they want from it. Social listening software, such as HootSuite, which helps you stay on top of social chatter in realtime, is a perfect way to keep track of how your brand is being perceived within in the industry.
8. Likes attract likes
The best thing about social media is it lets you build your own audience, create your own content and share it for free. Take advantage of the endless possibilities you have, to create amazing content; keeping your audience reading and coming back for more. The more people reading and sharing your content, the likelier chance you’ll attract new prospects.
9. Don’t take your customers for granted
If your customers don’t feel valued, it only takes a click of a button for them to disengage with your brand. Show your customers you care about them by helping to boost their following, whilst gaining their trust and making them feel good about your brand.
10. Build a long-lasting relationship
By spending time to build long-lasting relationships with your customers, they are more likely to recommend your brand to others, therefore increasing your brand awareness and your online engagement.
Building lasting relationships on your social media channels does not have to be complicated, but like all relationships, if the passion fizzles out, so will your customers.
Does your social media need a little TLC? Sign up for our exclusive ‘Love your Social Media package’ offering you help and advice to improve your social media relationships.
