How to Engage Customers on Social Media

Over 2.77 billion people are actively using Social Media Platforms. It has become the place to be for all things communications for brands, trying to break the clutter and make their way into its customer’s subconscious. Direct Mail, Cold calls, Print and Television, were a few options available at brand’s disposal, a time ago. Now, Social media has put customers on the throne and brands are trying to reach and please its audiences in a competitive online space.

So here are the 10 tactics that brand communications should immediately dive into to engage customers on Social Media:

1. Research what your customers are talking about:

Know your audience, know what they are looking for, know how they are looking for it, and know when they are looking for it. An integrated marketing solutions agency can help the brand to figure out the answers to all these questions.

2. Leverage Instagram Stories and IGTV Videos to Improve your Reach:

Instagram launched Stories and IGTV in the near past, and both the features have gained huge popularity with over 300 million active users.

Stories are short and fun, and IGTVs are long and informative. All kinds of businesses can leverage these features to reach to their audience and share relevant content/information.

Brands like Netflix create UGC (User Generated Content) to engage its followers and to share ‘Shows and Movies to Watch Next’ on the platform.

3. Put your customers in the Spotlight:

Appreciating your customers for their time and effort by reposting their content on your feed works wonder. User-Generated Content demonstrates real people using and validating your product. This not only makes your brand look more authentic but also makes your customers more loyal towards your brand.

‘Animal Matters to Me’ is a Mumbai based Non-Profit Organisation that is working towards the well-being of animals. It grew from nothing to over 10,000 followers just by sharing and getting user-generated perspective. It was able to put people’s emotions towards animals in limelight and channelize the same to raise funds for their cause.

4. Take time to Connect with and Respond to Customers and their Grievances:

One negative comment about the brand on any social media platform can exploit the image of the brand. With this, when the brands are very casual about engaging and reverting to their customers online, it affects the brand’s user base.

Forrester’s report suggests that over 40% of the customers do not expect a brand to reply to their grievances. This is the opportunity for brands to make a difference.

Uber, Amazon, etc. take some time out of their marketing schedule every day to speak with its customers across social media platforms.

5. Recognize and Reward your Loyal Customer:

Who doesn’t love rewards? Well, every one! A brand is always striving to gain more customers, whatever size the business is. Now, Social Media reach allows you to recognize and reward your customers and gain more meanwhile the campaign is live.

Zomato has leveraged this method to expand its customer base for Zomato Gold offering and has become a synonym to online food ordering portal. Apart from clutter-breaking services, Zomato offers various cashback offers depending on the latest poll in the Indian market.

6. Allow Online Ordering through Facebook/Other Social Media Platforms:

Adding call-to-action can never go wrong. On the better side, it helps the brand convert its probable customers into end-users. Adding a ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Order Now’ or ‘Shop Here’ button on your social media page gives the brand even more exposure.

Using immediate Call-to-Action button is one of the biggest opportunities for Non-Profit Organizations. They can conveniently raise funds at the tip of a button without letting the audience get lost in the traffic. Not just NGO, but big e-commerce platforms also can benefit from this tactic.

7. Tap on an Influencer’s Social Media Reach and Arrange for a Social Media Takeover:

Why pay for Social Media Promotions when you can tap on influencer’s marketing solutions and reach, who best reflect with your brand messaging. It opens the door to an audience that was previously uninterested in your brand’s offerings, and now show a keen interest in them.

Social Media Takeovers have become a trend these days. Celebrities taking over brand’s social media handle and talking about their experiences, stories, daily to-dos, etc. are relevant, honest and effective. Humans of Bombay and Buzz Feed India are some of the organizations who take up such tactics to engage its audience.

8. Create your own Quirky Series:

‘Ask Me Anything’, ‘Give a word suggestion’, ‘Places to visit in Goa’, etc. such random content generation by brands/celebrities can get the traffic on the page; traffic that adds value to the brand and engages users.

Engaging the audience is the biggest challenge. Learn about your customers, create useful, valuable and unique content consistently and reply to their comments every single day.

KushaKapila is one such rising star in the Indian entertainment industry, who rose with her quirky content, and taglines. She has created a set of characters and series that are engaging and pertinent to new day world problems.

9. Give your customer a regular dose of your Product/Service through sample video:

Want to attract customers to your door? Well, Social Media is the gateway to that door, and free sample videos or any kind of freebie content is like a candy that’ll lure the probable customer to that door.

People can’t resist free stuff. Explore option on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and other platforms allow the customer to stick around the brand for a while, and can convert them as an end-user.

10. Pep-up your space with a ‘Selfie Spot’

Everything that a person does in real life goes online on his/her social media profile. A café/restaurant/club etc. brand can tap on this opportunity and make the most of it by pepping up the décor with some glamorous go-to photo background.

McDonald’s has placed the McDonald’s mannequin in each of its store which remarkets the brand without spending even a single penny.

Every brand can try such a tactic to stand out, and allow the audience to generate content that markets the brand.

Author Bio:

The Marcom Avenue is an Integrated Marketing Agency in Gurugram. We offer a wide portfolio of brand solutions ranging from Public Relations to Social Media Marketing to Website Development, which can help the brand meet its marketing goal and more.