The 3 Rs of Better Social Customer Engagement
Social media now informs every aspect of the buyer’s journey, from first learning about a brand right through to post-purchase.
Whether were looking for a new car or complaining about poor customer service, were increasingly turning to social media to do it.
Take the example of the travel industry. In 2014, over 80 percent of travelers used social networks for inspiration when researching hotels or vacation destinations, according to a Google travel study.
On the one hand, this is great for brands. With a direct link to customers, brands have more ways than ever of connecting with and understanding their audience. But on the flip side, there’s now so much data and so many touch points that keeping track and staying up to speed is pretty challenging. In this article, you can read about The 3 Rs of Better Social Customer Engagement.
These are The 3 Rs of Better Social Customer Engagement:
1. Research
Researching your audience, community, and potential customers have always been an important part of business. But with social media, the number of people publicly talking about your brand or industry has exponentially increased and the way that people talk and express themselves is changing too.
By understanding not just how to speak to their target community, but also how to present themselves to this community, you can boost your social media strategy and build better relationships with your audience.
2. React
In many ways, social media is the new word-of-mouth.
In the age of visual content, one of the best ways to both showcase your brand and reach your fan base is user-generated content (UGC). A study conducted by Ipsos and Crowdtap, revealed that millennials trust UGC just as much as professional reviews. UGC is also 20 percent more influential when it comes to purchasing and 35 percent more memorable than other types of media.
So how does social listening data fit in?
User-generated content can be found by searching for your hashtag, tracking @mentions, or monitoring brand and product keywords. However, people often won’t add your brand name or hashtag to a post. In this case, you may want to use a social listening platform that is able to pick out brand logos in images.
3. Repurpose
The best practices for using social networks are changing all the time, as the big players add new features and new networks begin to make headway.
This means that brands, news media, and individuals are trying out new things all the time to see what makes the biggest impact.
The secret? Keep a close eye on what´s working and see if something similar can work for your brand.
It’s possible to do this manually but analyzing social data can help you keep track of what’s trending or popular at all times.
If you´re able to use advanced search functions you can, for example, see which Instagram posts are getting the most engagement worldwide or which Facebook videos are getting the most shares.
By regularly sifting through the top performing content, you make sure you stay on top and up to speed with all the latest developments.
