Browsing social media is one of the most popular activities online. According to the latest reports, 49% of the worldwide population is on Social, which is around 63% of eligible audiences.
If your ideal customer is anything like the average social media user, they have an account on eight different social media channels and spend up to two and a half hours every day using them. Being where your customers spend their free time is not just an option anymore. It’s actually one of the crucial factors of your startup’s success.
The fact is that businesses need a strong social media presence nowadays just to keep their competitive edge, grow their customer base, and build their customers’ loyalty. To achieve these goals and use social media as a way to their customers, businesses need a carefully curated and managed social media presence.
Scroll down for five tips on how to make social media work for you.
Find the Channels That Work For You
And more importantly, for your audience!
First things first – you can’t manage your presence on every social media channel or at least manage them well. You need to determine the channels that are dominant in your industry for the services and the products you’re offering.
You can target two or three channels. Then, focus all your efforts on delivering high-quality content that will engage your audience, leading to conversions and loyal customers.
To determine the dominant channels, try answering the following questions:
- What channels do my target customers use?
- Where is my competition?
- Is there an untapped opportunity I could use?
- How many channels can I manage?
- Are there any geographical differences I should take into consideration?
Answering these questions will make it easier for you to choose your preferred channels and focus on them.
READ ALSO: The 7 Ideal Social Media Principles for Startups
Form Meaningful Relationships With Your Audience
However, it’s not only about your startup showing up on social media to advertise your products and services.
Many businesses approach social media this way. They use it as yet another channel for self-promotion. Sometimes not even bothering to respond to their followers’ comments and queries.
The crucial part of social media is interaction. Actually, it’s the way your business engages with your audience that truly matters.
Use your social media channels to form meaningful relationships with your target audience. Offer high-quality content that fits their specific needs, interests, and pain points. Digital marketing consultants can help you learn how to create and send you well-tailored messages directly to your target audience.
If you know their pain points, offer them a solution. Whether they have a recurring problem with using your product, share a video tutorial, and teach them how to do it.
You should also know that your potential customers feel underrepresented in advertising, as 70% of women do, stand for your values as Dove did with their Campaign for Real Beauty.
By addressing the needs of your customers, you’ll show your genuine interest in making their life better. This is a surefire way to create trust and form meaningful relationships.
Excell Your Social Media Customer Support
With the rise of digital technologies, your customers’ expectations have also increased. There are many behaviors your followers just won’t tolerate on social media, and that they will punish you harshly for. Failing to respond to comments on social media can lead to a 15% increase in your customer churn.
Statistics also show that 54% of customers would rather use social media channels than email or phone for customer service. When they make a complaint, they expect the answer to come within the hour. So, you should do your best to not only meet their expectations but also exceed them.
Fortunately, there are some great tools available that can make you respond to the comments and complaints of your customers promptly.
As many customers won’t post complaints directly on your page, you can use social media listening tools to receive mentions of your brand online.
And when it comes to providing customer support via your social media channels, AI-powered chatbots can be there for your customers 24/7/365. These can successfully resolve up to 80% of the most common queries in a personalized, human-like way.
By leveraging your social media channels for customer support, you will not only solve your customers’ issues faster and make them happier, but you will also do it in a way that is 83% cheaper than via a call center interaction.
Use Social Media to Learn About Your Audience
Social networks are an excellent resource for you to learn more about your customers. You can use this knowledge to improve both the products and the services that you’re offering. You can as well adjust your marketing and sales campaigns and fit them better to your customers’ needs.
Social media gives you an insight into your target customers’ demographic, their behavior online, and their response to your campaigns. Specialized tools you use, such as chatbots, for example, can gather many other details about each one of your customers, from various sources.
As they have access to the records of every touchpoint between your customers and your brand, these tools can provide personalized content that matches the needs of every individual customer.
You can also use social networks to run surveys and polls. Ask your customers for their opinion so that you can collect the feedback you need directly from your customers.
The best way to capitalize on your social media channels is by being more responsive to your customers’ needs and requests. In other words, listening to them should always come first.
