Posts Tagged ‘social engagement’
Resolve to Win Customers Over in 2014 By Showing Them Some Love
Posted by: Jacqueline Hayes on: January 10, 2014
The reality is, businesses need paying customers to stay afloat. But, as the marketing machine continues to churn out new ways of attracting them, often times, as business owners, we find ourselves moving further and further away from the very people we’re trying to connect with – customers.
As a marketer, I’ll admit, things are different. While the fundamental principles of marketing still stand, the ‘how’ has changed. There’s no longer a need to log into five different social media accounts to post an update. Thanks to Hootsuite, you can do it all in one place and even schedule them in advance.
In fact, if you’re looking to house your customer database, email and social media marketing, and lead building activity under one tent, marketing automation tools like InfusionSoft have got you covered.
Yet, despite all these great tools that make it easier than ever to reach out and touch customers – to gather names, email addresses, and phone numbers – something’s still missing.
Could our efforts to brand our names across the memories of those we seek have caused us to alienate them instead? Maybe, but why?
Perhaps we’re asking for too much with too little in return.
Love Don’t Cost A Thing
With every post and every email, chances are, we’re asking customers for something.
Open my email or download my report.
And in a very real sense, we’re asking them to purchase our content – perhaps not with dollars and cents, but with something just as precious – their right not to be pursued after they open the email or download the report.
Hearts and Flowers
Don’t misunderstand – lead building, nurturing, and tracking the insights from those activities are essential to business growth.
But, as you set into motion your plans for 2014, resolve not to just ‘push.’ Push your content. Push your offers.
Also, try listening more, in real-time. Try helping without expecting to see immediate returns. Try…
- Finding trending hashtags (#) for your industry and looking for opportunities to use your skills and experience to answer questions.
- Joining groups on Google+ and LinkedIn or chiming in during a Twitter chat. Monitor customer forums. Infiltrate the customer space and drop some knowledge.
- Doing something crazy like creating an app for your business, if it makes sense. One of my favorites, Retail Me Not, is free and easy. With its help, the moment I drive by a mall, my phone lights up like a Christmas tree with coupons and deals. I love it so I tell everybody (including you). And for Retail Me Not’s stakeholders, the retailers using the site as a marketing channel to increase sales, it’s a win-win.
- Picking up the phone and calling your customers randomly. Express appreciation or solve an issue. Do what they don’t expect you to do – be available.
In 2014, let’s not mistake technology for connecting. Engage the crowd and eventually, you’ll win the customer.
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Building an Audience: 7 Twitter Habits To Start Today
Posted by: Jacqueline Hayes on: November 21, 2013
Have you ever wondered how some businesses get so many Twitter followers and you’ve been stuck at 10 for months now? Well, you’re in good company. That’s a challenge for many small businesses, including my own. Building a social following takes time.
But, while time certainly is a factor, so is effort. Building a social following, or audience, takes more than setting up a profile or page. It’s bigger than posting the blogs you’ve written or coupons you’re offering.
It’s about engaging in a two-way conversation.
Unfortunately, that’s the part many of us get wrong. So using one of my favorite social media platforms, Twitter, I’ll share seven actions you can take today to start pushing your numbers up.
But first, what is social engagement, anyway?
Social Engagement Defined
Social engagement refers to your degree of participation in a community. And if you think about it, each social platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, and so on are like their own little community. And when you’re a part of a community, what do you do? You get involved.
Think about the neighborhood you live in. There’s always one anti-social neighbor who never speaks or waves. They don’t do picnics, neighborhood meetings, buy cookies…nothing.
So, no one really knows them, nor do they care to.
And in business, that’s what many of us do. We build our social house, move in, but never step outside to greet the neighbors.
Welcome to the Neighborhood!
Thankfully, the social community is forgiving and with a little effort, you can make new friends. While it still takes time, these seven habits helped me and I’m sure they’ll help you. You’ll be president of the welcoming committee in no time.
- Tidy up the house. No one wants to visit the shack on the street! Work with a graphic designer to create a header and wallpaper that best articulates your brand. The look and feel of it should match that of your website and other branded materials.
- Landscape your yard. Everybody loves seeing a well-manicured lawn. So when tweeting, speak legibly and professionally. While your Twitter audience understands that you only have 140 characters to play with, don’t make them work too hard to figure out what you’re saying.
- Hang out and chat after work. Driving straight into the garage and letting the door down won’t win you any friends. Get out of the car and chat for a few minutes. To do that, post your tweets when the audience is listening. Engage while they’re talking.
- Join the fun at the next cookout. Think of Twitter as the ultimate block party. So come on out and join the fun. How do you do that? By actually reading your Twitter feed. How else are you going to see and be seen? This is where you’re going to find articles you want to RT and folks you want to reach out to.
- Don’t forget to bring a dish. Don’t you dare show up to the party empty handed! Tweet at least once a day, sharing relevant content like good articles or videos.
- When you post, try changing the article title into a question.
- Retweet (RT) posts when it makes sense. This “forward button” allows your post or the posts of others to be seen by not only your followers, but theirs too. Leave 15 or so characters free in your tweet so people can add comments.
- Remember everyone’s name. By now, you should know your next door neighbor’s name, for Pete’s sake. Use @mentions to let people know that you’ve mentioned them. Removing this info when sharing a post is tempting, but since we’re building relationship here, resist.
- Check out other neighborhoods, too! Go visit your friend’s neighborhood. You might find someone else you know. Try using hashtags (#) to help you get found and enjoy better reach. If you have a small following, this is a great way to get your post seen by more people. Hashtags can also help boost SEO. But, don’t go overboard!
Let’s Talk About It…