It’s more important than ever to set yourself apart on social media, and we have a way for you to do this without spending a dime.
We’re talking about interacting with the friends and followers of your business beyond a regular post.
Hootsuite posted a blog on “The Things Brands Do on Social Media That People Hate” and at the very top of that list was brands that don’t actively communicating with their audience.
When you think about it, the whole point of social media is to create a constant stream of communication between the users. Just because a business page is different than a personal page does not mean that two-way communication is less important. If anything, it’s more important because there’s a lot more at stake.
It’s easy to log into your Facebook or Instagram account and post once or twice a day, but that’s not utilizing these platforms the way they were made to be. We’re talking about actively engaging with your followers through their comments and reviews.
Telling someone you appreciate their comment or hear their concern is really powerful. It validates the time they spent reaching out to you and encourages an environment of mutual respect and consideration.
It can also create a bridge between a potential customer and a customer. People often reach out over social media for answers about products or services. If they never hear a response, then you haven’t given them any motivation to continue looking into what you’re offering.
While you want to reach out to these people, it’s also important that you don’t sound generic in your appreciation. Customers can see through that, and you don’t want to seem fake. Try to personalize each response as much as you can, given the situation and information that you have.
A Different Kind of Post
One effective way to establish a back-and-forth between you and your followers is by posting things that require their participation. This can include asking their opinions or preferences on something.
We did this post a little while ago for Phenomenal Fudge, a Vermont-based fudge company, and were happy with the participation we saw.
Reviews
When it comes to reviews, most of us just want to ignore the bad as much as we can, but this is the place where you can affect the most change. If you take the time to read the review, see why this person is unhappy, and offer a solution, you might be saving a lot more than just one customer.
People are more likely to talk about why they dislike a company than why they like another, and this is based on proven psychology. The human brain tends to spend more time thinking about negative emotions and because of that we tend to remember bad experiences more often than good. (NY Times)
I had an experience with an online shopping service that was so bad that I wrote my first-ever negative review of a company and posted it on their Facebook page. This was after seeing many other reviews with the same problem as me, so I knew something fishy was going on.
The company was quick to respond to my review, but their wording was almost identical to other responses I had seen. Never mind that they were telling me to contact the same office that I had outlined as being the problem.
I still receive comments on that post today which goes to show how effective a review can be (my review was posted around a year ago). Moral of my story: If you make an effort to respond to a review make sure you can back it up.
If you leave a positive impression with someone who was previously dissatisfied, they will be much less likely to go ranting to their friends about why they should never use your business.
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