One of the best ways to foster community and conversation as a company on social media is to show your fans that you care.
When you show your audience that you care about them, you inspire and incentivize them to pay attention to your updates and engage.
Before we dive into how you can show that you care, let’s first understand the mindset of the user on social media.
Understanding the mentality of your customers will help you craft content that resonates with them.
Adopting a social mindset:
People share on social media as a way of creating connection. When people post on social, they are in a personal, casual mindset.
We share stories and snapshots as a way of showing out network what we’re thinking about or working on.
If your company wants to create content that resonates, you need to match that mindset.
Crafting short and sweet updates with a casual tone of voice will be extremely effective.
Caring through content:
It’s not hard to show your fans that you care. There are dozens of articles that point towards ideas for how to do so.
If you think strategically, there are a lot of ways to showcase your thoughtful spirit on social.
Below are six ideas to try:
- Ask questions: Show your audience that you care about their opinion by posting questions and asking your fans to share their answers in the comments. Asking questions is a simple, straight-forward way to get feedback and insight into your audience’s preferences and pain points.
- Feature fans: Share quotes and photos from your fans that they have posted online. Take a written review and turn that into an update where you share the person’s name. Share your customers stories! People trust people more than brands, so featuring your fans in your content is a great way to build trust.
- Provide exclusive access: Treat your loyal fans like VIPs. Provide your most loyal and engaged fans with exclusive access to private Facebook groups, resources and guides that will benefit them.
- Give stuff away: Give away valuable insights, tips and takeaways for FREE to your fans. By providing great information to your audience, you increase your credibility. Similarly, this makes your fans feel valued and cared for. Most importantly, it gets your fans thinking “if she’s willing to give something this good away for FREE, I wonder what she gives to paying customers.”
- Respond to reviews: Every review should get a response, whether it’s positive or negative. There is no easier way to show your fans that you care than to respond to their comments, reviews and requests. Take advantage of the opportunity to create a connection by being personable in your response and signing it with your REAL name.
- Own your actions: We all make mistakes. Rather than try to shy away from them, own up to them. As a company, you show your audience that you care when you apologize for missteps and show a desire to right your wrongs.
By featuring your fans, asking them for feedback and providing them with access to spectacular content, you will create a closer connection to them.
Your fans will be left feeling cared for and thought of; this is a memorable feeling that drives action.
In fact, it’s proven that responses to customer complaints or reviews increase customer advocacy by 25%.
Caring consistently:
It’s not enough to show your fans that you care through a few pieces of content or one campaign.
If you want to make a monumental impact on your social engagement and reputation, you need to show that you care consistently.
Caring consistently can be done in a number of ways.
For starters, you can consistently embrace complaints.
Rather than looking at criticism as a failure, you can look at it as useful feedback.
You can use negative reviews as an opportunity to learn and adjust.
Another way that you can consistently care is to treat all customers the same online.
When an issue or opportunity arises, don’t just use canned responses. Be human and personable, and treat each customer like the unique individual they are.
Conclusion:
Social media is crowded and noisy, which makes caring for customers even more important.
It’s no longer enough to post about your promotions. It’s no longer enough to “like” an update that a customer shares about you.
If you want to create long-term connections to your customers, if you want to keep them coming back to your profiles day after day, you have to show you care through content.
By featuring your fans, asking them questions, responding to reviews and providing valuable information for free, your fans won’t feel like they’re interacting with a corporate company; they’ll feel like they’re a part of a caring community.
How do YOU show your fans that you care? Send me a message on Snapchat!
