Building an online community through social media is a powerful way to drive your business objectives.
Because you want to get more sales, right?
But doing so means you’ll need to focus on a higher level of engagement with customers. And there are plenty of reasons why building a social media community is a great idea:
- You’ll give customers a consistent way to get closer to your brand. And this can increase revenues and promote better customer loyalty
- You can pick up and address any concerns or misconceptions
- You’ll gain insights into your customers’ behaviour, which will help you adapt to their habits
So, how can you look to set up and build an online community through social media? Here are our tips.
Let customers communicate with you the way they want
Building a strong social media community requires regular interaction and communication through the right channels. TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, you name it. And you can find out which channels work best by testing and analysing results on social media channels using Google Analytics.
Once you have a sense of the best platforms then allocate a member of your team to become your online social media manager. Give them the responsibility to manage what goes out onto social channels and to engage with customers comments, queries, or concerns with regular interaction.
Think about taking an omnichannel approach
Statistics show that businesses who promote strong engagement using an ‘omnichannel approach’ retain almost 90% of the customers.
And becoming omnichannel means giving a seamless experience between platforms. So here are a few to think about engaging your customers with.
Instagram stories: Using the ‘Stories’ feature on Instagram keeps you in the minds of customers and gets their attention.
Facebook messenger: Messenger is a surprisingly dynamic feature of Facebook, and we found some tricks that may help.
Live Chat: WhatsApp, Slack, or even LiveChat are popular ways for younger generations to communicate in a regular way.
Content is key
Of course, the best way to keep your customers engaged is to promote regular valuable content. In other words, blogs, articles, videos or photos that give your customers a good reason to keep you in their minds.
But make sure you’re clear on the goal of your content, which should always be to increase engagement within your community.
But what do we mean by that?
Well, likes, reshares, comments can all be individual metrics to measure. But you really need to focus on the conversation you’re having with your community. Gain their interest, but make sure to also start a conversation.
Our Tip: Ask your customers questions that engage them in a conversation. Think surveys, help on a problem you’re trying to fix or ask their opinion on a new product offer.
Highlight your values and let your community share them
Over 80% of shoppers have said they’d be loyal to a brand that has the same values as they do. And in 2021, values-based shopping is bigger than ever.
So, if you’re not doing so already, consider how you can promote any worthy causes or charities in your local area. Or, causes that resonate with the types of services you offer.
Take Ben & Jerry’s, for example. They embed values throughout their company mission, and even have a ‘social’ mission to make the world a better place.
Help your community to solve its problems
In a 2018 survey, over half the number of consumers polled said they wanted to see more video content from the brands and businesses they supported. So if your customers are hungry for it, why wouldn’t you give them what they want?
Consider producing regular video content—using platforms like TikTok or YouTube, for example—to show people how they can solve a problem or to find ways to add value to their lives.
Customers will appreciate that you have their needs in mind and that you’re doing everything you can do make their lives better.
Add value for your customers and keep them loyal
Finding ways to add value to the customer experience isn’t hard. But it does take creativity, planning and little help from technology. And with the right ePOS system, you can leverage the benefits of social media and create a committed social media community.
