It has always been a challenge for businesses to engage their customers, as well as employees, in order to establish a loyal base. In addition to meeting advertising and sales goals, many companies learned early on that networking was an effective means of staying in touch with their customers. By knowing the people in many of the same circles, business-wise and socially, companies can have a better feel of how their business is perceived by others.
Attracting potential customers with the help of social networks
With the growth of online social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, there has grown another avenue for business to engage their customers. Today, most online businesses also have a Facebook page and make their customers who become “fans” of the page feel special. The feedback received through their pages also helps businesses adjust their product mix, as well as many of their policies, to meet the desires of their customers.
Offer specials and promote new deals to your fans and followers
In addition to gaining access to customers, businesses can also use their social networking sites to send messages to customers about upcoming special deals and sales. Many businesses offer these deals only to the fans on their pages, adding to the exclusive feeling the customers have about being a customer. Additionally, knowing these specials are only available to friends of the site, more people are inclined to sign up to become a friend of the business.
Product reviews from both the customers and the business can be posted on these sites and, in the case of Twitter, short tweets can be sent to those following your company to highlight short-term specials being offered.
Integrating the social media into your marketing plan
MySpace and YouTube are also in the mix when it comes to social marketing and many businesses have taken the plunge to expose themselves on them. Some businesses have seen the advantages of meeting their customers in all areas by devoting one person in the payroll to establish a presence in and maintain those social sites. This business-related expense is often justified, as social media networking can be integrated into a business’ marketing and sales plan.
When considering budgets, typically include money for advertising, public relations, promotional sales and marketing, as well as publicity. Social networking has made these processes easier as well as more financially feasible, especially for businesses starting out with a small budget. The more friends you have on the sites, the better your response is for many of the efforts put forth.
Unfortunately, most people are not going to simply stumble across your page on a social networking site, so some of the older advertising methods may still need to be used. A direct link on your web page to your social networking page(s) can help people find you, and when they do, you need to give them a reason to become friends on your social page; therefore, frequent updates to the content are needed.
Keeping your social networking pages positive should be the goal of every business, but there are bound to be some negative comments posted on your site. The urge may be to delete them, but your visitors will be better served if you respond to the input and try to solve any issues brought to light.