The Power of Social Media in Building Strong Customer Relationships
Long gone are the days where we hopped onto social media to keep up with old friends and family. Social media is now one of the most ubiquitous and most powerful tools for businesses to use for engagement with their customers. In today's world, having a good social media marketing strategy will increase business success. Social media platforms are crucial channels for businesses to reach out to customers to build strong and long lasting relationships!
Why Social Media is Important for Customer Relationships
There are many advantages of social media, one of the biggest is that it's a direct line of communication between point A to B. Businesses to customers. Businesses are able to gain valuable insights, in real time, on what their customers want, need, and dislike. If they choose to, they can respond to the customer feedback, thus strengthening the relationships, and building loyalty over time.
It also allows businesses to show their personality more by using content styles that are more human like and intriguing to the customers. Behind the scenes content, success stories, setbacks in the business - to how they overcame them, and more. All creating a more human like experience for their customers and building the trust needed to maintain the relationship.
Best Practices for Building Strong Customer Relationships on Social Media
Be authentic: Nothing is worse than seeing a business TRY to be authentic…and trust me, people notice. So connect with your audience in a way that truly represents your brand and your core values…don't try to force what isn't there. Inauthenticity will have your customers running in the opposite direction, plus it's cringey!
Be responsive: There's tons of ways to give timely responses to customers, create teams who do this task so responses are actually coming from a human. But hey, if you can't devote the budget for teams to do this, at least set up an automated message that's personable when you're telling customers the timeframe in which an actual human will connect back!
Use engaging content: Kind of a no brainer right, but devote the time to learn how, or hire the resources to help create eye catching content for your customers. This increases customer engagement. Capture moments and film content that resonates with what people like in the moment. As well as styles that work over an extended time. Don't be lazy with the content you put out…if you are, the efforts will have been wasted.
Personalize interactions: When responding to comments or DM's, whenever possible, connect with customers by using their names. Stop the generic reaching out as much as possible, it's old school, and no one really likes it. People want to feel like a human is engaging with them.
To Sum It Up
Social media is an essential tool for businesses to build strong relationships with customers. By being authentic, responsive, and using engaging content, businesses can create a human-like experience for their customers and build the trust needed to maintain the relationship. These best practices are key components of a successful social media marketing strategy.