Customers are your best advertisers. If they are happy with your services, they are likely to recommend you to their friends and colleagues. If your customers are dissatisfied, they are liable to tell others to avoid your business. This could possibly cause some damage to your reputation. It’s imperative to have ecstatic customers who can let everyone know how happy they are with the product or service your company provides.
A convenient way to let customers stay in touch and provide feedback on their experience is through social media. Consider different ways to encourage pleased customers to share their thoughts through social media and review pages.
Consumers trust other consumers for reliable information on a company more than they trust brands. A referral is easier to convert to a sale than it is to convert someone who just walked off the street.
Utilize your customer feedback
This article goes over how to leverage social media interactions to benefit your business and to connect with your customers and prospective leads by building relationships.
Social Media
The best avenue for interacting with customers is to go where they are, and these days most people are on social media. By going to the customer and encouraging interaction on grounds they are familiar with will help them to form trust and a connection with your brand. Direct customers to your social media feeds through your wherever you can.
This can be through your website, such as in the footer, seen here on SmartMove:
You can also promote your social media by adding a clickable link within your business email signature. If there is a physical store, display signs with your username. You can even print out large QR codes. Your customers can scan them and then go to your company’s social media page.
Interact with other brands and customers to draw traffic to your site as well. If applicable, engage with an Instagram influencer to showcase your product or a YouTube star can talk about your product and offer a discount on your products to their viewers. You can then post these interactions or relationships on your own social media platforms. If you are interacting with a celebrity or well-known figure, people will be more likely to pay attention.
Monitor your social media channels
Here is a pro tip about using social media to connect and communicate with your customers and potential customers. Set up and monitor all social media channels that can function as reviews. This doesn’t mean solely posting on your page, but it is also integral to interact with others in your niche, too. Liking, commenting on or sharing another person’s or company’s posts can help increase your follower count as well as increase your relevance as a thought leader in the industry. By using and encouraging others to use unique hashtags associated with your brand, you allow your audience to tell their own stories using your company as a starting point.
Respond quickly on social media
When posting on social media, people expect a response almost immediately. A response two hours later, especially to a problem or complaint will simply not cut it. It would be beneficial to have a dedicated customer service representative to monitor social media to maintain the brand image. A customer who has a problem and then sees it fixed quickly and effectively, will be more satisfied and trusting of your company than someone who never has a problem.
Implement surveys on social media to see what people like and don’t like. Find out what they think about your products and services. Use social media to learn what your audience’s concerns are and tailor your marketing to address those concerns. Pull content from these platforms to host on your site and vice versa. Social media can be a great place to market sales and promotions as well as to do customer surveys.
Review and testimonial pages
It is vital to incorporate reviews on your site. People like to know that you have successfully helped others before investing their own money into your company. Post reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers on your site or link to positive reviews on other sites. This will also show people that you care about your customers. It will snow that your company will work hard to resolve any issues that may arise.
Have a dedicated review or testimonial page or section on your website. That way you can put all your good reviews in one place. Those who are search your site will see them. If the review section has its own page, link to it from the homepage so people can easily find it.
When you have a satisfied customer, encourage them to post a positive review. Offer an incentive like a gift or a discount on a future purchase for doing so. Have a link to get more information on your products or specific services on the testimonials page. It is great if the testimonial is connected to something specific. If someone is looking, it means they are interested in your company, and your products and services.
Ask in-person
While social media reviews and testimonials try to make the most of a business’s online presence, don’t discount the power of in-person interaction. In the age of internet and social media people face-to-face interactions are becoming less common place in the business world. In-person interactions can bring that personal connection. Enhance those interactions on social media.
If you have a brick and mortar location, use those interactions to ask for reviews or for customers to follow you on social media. Let them know that you have a social media page. Encourage them to use it to let you know if there is a problem or, even better, if they’re appreciative of your company. Brick and mortar locations are also a great place to display written reviews. If you can, record people giving satisfied reviews of your products and play a video in your office for visitors to see.
In person feedback can build that personal connection like nothing else. When interacting with customers in the store, be sure to ask them for their feedback on your products and services. They may not provide it naturally. Just be sure to try and resolve any issues that come up on the spot. You want to avoid them publishing anything negative online.
Utilize your customer feedback. Customers want to feel like they you are listening to them. Don’t miss an opportunity to show that you are truly listening to them.
Utilize your customer feedback
Getting and listening to customer feedback is essential for making sure that your products and services are meeting your customer’s needs. Make sure your customers are satisfied. If they have an unresolved issue, they will let others know.
Social media is ubiquitous in our lives today. While platforms like Instagram don’t always have the best reputation, they are also impossible to avoid if you are trying to reach customers where they are to advertise your company.
Use social media to interact with your customers, utilize customer feedback, and let your customers tell you about their issues. Then, show them how you solve their issues. The more you show your customers you care and want to help them, the more people will come to your company!
This guest blog was written by Emily Banks. She got tired of San Francisco’s cold beaches and decided to move to San Diego, Calif. She is currently a contributing editor for 365BusinessTips.com as well as a marketing expert for an online faucet supplier.
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