Kaitlyn Hammond — February 28, 2019 — February 28, 2019
As a business owner, your priorities should not only be to make a sale, but to create a loyal customer from a one-time shopper. These days, offering a quality and innovative product or service is no longer enough to stay competitive in your niche. One of the biggest factors that separate successful companies from those that fail is an excellent social engagement strategy. What is social engagement, and how can you implement it for your company?
Social Engagement Explained
Just like any relationship takes work, so does the relationship with your customers. Although you likely do not have the time or resources to communicate with each person on an individual level, you can start a conversation online.
Social engagement involves communicating with your target audience in an online setting. Platforms such as social media, blogs, forums and your own website make it possible to stay connected to your online community.
Writing blogs with how-to tutorials on using your offerings, answering questions on forums and starting conversations relevant to your industry are all great ways to engage with your customers.
One study found that customers tend to spend upwards of 40% more on companies that they are engaged with! Utilize the tips below to boost your social engagement and raise sales!
Four Ways to Increase Social Engagement
Utilize Images
A picture is worth a thousand words—and boosts interaction rates by 85%! Online users are so overwhelmed by the information they digest online that imagery helps them notice your content and interact with it better. Including images in your content helps with free marketing, as that copy is shared 35% more than copy without images.
Utilize CTAs
You have a goal in mind when sharing content with your audience, so tell them what that goal is! Including a call to action (CTA) can have tremendous benefits to your marketing strategy—CTAs on Facebook have been found to increase click-through rates by 285%.
Consider what action you want the user to take—whether it is to visit your website, subscribe for your blog or share your content with others, indicate that in your CTA.
Create a Giveaway
Everyone loves to be a winner, so why not create a contest to increase your social engagement? Giveaways provide excellent opportunities to collect consumer data, market your brand to a new audience, generate leads and grow your social network.
Carefully think about the goal of the giveaway and create specific rules for entry. For example, if you want to focus on brand recognition, make it a requirement that entrants must share the contest with three of their own contacts to be eligible to win.
If your goal is to grow your lead base, ask entrants to like your page or subscribe to your blog, which will help you communicate with your audience later to promote your brand.
Become Your Brand’s Ambassador
Some of the best known companies have a face attached to their name, such as Elon Musk for Tesla and Mark Zuckerberg for Facebook. Become your own brand ambassador to help your audience create a true relationship with you and your company.
Share your story with your customers so they can get to know you, and understand your journey. Share tips on the best ways to use your products, and share images of yourself using them in your daily life. Create live videos where you interact with your audience and answer their questions. All of these strategies will help you forge a loyal relationship with your customers, and will keep them shopping with your company time and time again!
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