47. Get a social life

Even if you’re not using social media your customers are. So no matter what you think of Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest et al it is time to join in the conversation(s) and let your customers choose just how they want to stay in touch with you. The effort you put into making users feel special by positive interaction, information or rewards will be repaid many times over.

Once upon a time companies ignored social media as being nothing but platforms for kids to talk about music. Now those platforms are a key part of online marketing. If you have a web site but no social media to feed it then your online platform is a two-legged table.

I Didn’t Know You Were a Blogger

Adding a weblog (or blog) to your site will only suit certain businesses, but if the hat fits, wear it with pride. The beauty of weblogs is that they can contain absolutely anything, no matter how obscure or irrelevant. There is a bit of a buzz attached to creating a blog and knowing that your words, no matter how off the cuff, are being read on the internet. As readers, we feel that we are really getting into the mind of the author and will often read for far longer than we would on the regular part of the web site because the language is chattier and less sales orientated.

If you really do have something to say then think about going beyond traditional blogging and try a blog with a social media angle. Services like Tumblr provide a quick and easy way to create simple blogs that others users can then ‘follow’ if they like your content. Everyone who follows your blog is effectively recommending it to those that follow them so your fan base quickly starts to grow.

Welcome To Our World

Users are also interested in hearing news from the frontline. Now, some information will obviously be highly sensitive or under NDA (non-disclosure agreement) – like the MD’s latest pay increase and/or redundancy proposals – but if you are able to, reveal or just hint at what deals may be in the pipeline, forthcoming advertising runs, staff successes – even details of your manufacturers’ and suppliers’ forthcoming products if you’re privy to them. It all helps in the war to win visitors. The key is to make the news accessible, which is where instant news services like Twitter come into their own. You may also be surprised at how much instant feedback you get from your clients and suppliers.

Split Personalities

If social media is how you connect to your users then think about a little professional schizophrenia. Twitter makes it easy to have multiple identities and you may want to create separate accounts for different client segments or for your personal and professional messages. There’s nothing more annoying than social media streams that fail to tailor their messages for their audiences and mix up messages from private and personal lives. Don’t forget that everything you Tweet or blog is instantly published so give a thought to any commercial or legal implications of what you are going to say before you say it. Be prepared for the fact that you may see yourself as the voice of authority saying it like it is but social media is a two-way street and your audience will come right back at you with their own opinions on the matter. Take the time to deal with that responsibly (and with a sense of humour) and you will win hearts and minds. Ignore the feedback and you will find that things can easily turn sour.

What Can You Do For Me?

Keeping users truly happy does mean treating your loyal customers and registered users with the occasional perk or special offer that both acknowledges and rewards their continued presence on your site. Social media provides a truly great way to offer rewards in return for feedback or ideas. Don’t just go hard sell and use your media streams to promote new products – instead offer a bit of give and take by means of vouchers, special offers, or competitions that increase interaction and help reward loyalty. People are often willing to give up a lot of information about themselves if they think they may win something and if your prize is something that has to be sent by post then you can be pretty sure that you will reap real addresses.

Stroking Your Customers

Social media is a two way street so try not to treat it as a digital loud hailer. If you have a company blog and other blogs link to it is considered good manners (‘netiquette’) to create a link back to them – presuming they aren’t offensive of course. Twitter is a slightly different kettle of Tweets since people don’t expect you to follow the people who follow you but you may want to acknowledge key customers, colleagues and even rivals by creating Twitter Lists by subject. Twitter lists can be made public so that anyone who follows you can see your list of recommended sources and follow them all with a single click. The fact that you have put the effort into creating lists of recommended reading is both a service to your community and a way of showing your authority in the subject.

How did it go?

Q. Our sales manager thinks that users who would have bought products might spend their time on our site reading the blog instead. As she says, our web site is there to sell stuff. Is she right to think like this?

A. This is a bit of a ‘sticky’ point, actually. The blog won’t directly increase sales, but nor will it diminish them. Adding the blog allows users to feel more comfortable with your site and your offering. If the user learns to trust you by getting to know you, it will help sales indirectly.

Q. Is there a different way to achieve the same aim without actually writing a blog?

A. Yes. You can also create scrapbooks of content created by other people. Tools like Scoop It and Pinterest enable you to pull together material on a subject and link to the original while creating your own ‘curated’ content that other interested parties can follow.

Here is an idea for you…

Give some thought to location based services like FourSquare. They are not suited for every business since they work around the idea that users/members ‘check in’ to your location when they spend time their but if you have retail premises it means that users advertise their presence to each other, and it gives you a way to spot influential customers and implement reward schemes for frequent visitors.

Defining idea…

‘The meeting of two personalities is like the contact of two chemical substances: if there is any reaction, both are transformed.’

Carl Jung

Defining idea…

‘I want freedom for the full expression of my personality.’

Mahatma Gandhi