How are you going to make your voice heard amongst the social media noise? The answer is to foster ENGAGEMENT. Who are you trying to engage? Your customers! These are the people that are going to help you have your voice heard. One way to accomplish engagement is by using a few simple guidelines: (1) be consistent, (2) offer the freedom to speak, and (3) be unique!
Social Media Noise – How to Make Your Voice Heard
1. Consistency…
The best way to be consistent is to not post, tweet, update, etc. once a month or once a week. Updating your site multiple times during the week, or even the day will provide more engagement, and show your audience that you are serious. The most successful business social sites are continuously updating and ‘speaking’ to their customers. They are tweeting about various events with the company, promotions, sales, or even new products entering the company. They are always trying to attract a new eye by showing off what they have. If you are in a sales industry, promoting and getting excited over new products and services to be offered.
Take Starbucks as an example; I am a huge fan of Starbucks and frequent the company’s social media sites often. The company stands out from social media noise to me with social media success because the company is posting, engaging, and ‘making noise’ quite often. I like to use this company as a example because their Facebook page has stood out to me because they don’t just promote Happy Hours, but also will post interesting pictures. This company engages the consumer on a more personal level through the use of holiday pictures, inspirational quotes, or just funny pictures. This engages the consumer on a less ‘threatening’ level because the posts are not just about sales and products, it is a company sharing something entertaining as if Starbucks was a friend of yours. This level of connection with the consumer then allows Starbucks to post promotions and products, etc. without making it look like a “sales pitch.”
This level of casual engagement allows the consumers to feel comfortable with the company. This means that they can feel comfortable speaking out if they have a problem, question, or general comment to share.
2. Freedom of speech…
Allowing the customers the ability to ‘vent’ or speak freely, whether it be good or bad, is a very important factor when it comes to social media. Offering a place for customers to freely speak about experiences, ask questions, or even just give general comments will do wonders for your presence. This also relates to consistency, responding to comments, questions and thanking your customers for their experiences in a timely manner will improve the name of the company. Especially if the negative reviews and comments are tended to in a timely manner. Lending an ear to your customers to help make them feel appreciated and heard is key. A lot of companies all too often ignore the bad and only respond to the good. This is a huge flaw in my opinion, I feel as though if you can improve your customer’s experience by effectively satisfying their needs out in the open, the company will be seen in a new light.
An industry that I feel can do a better job with ‘avoiding the negative’ is the wireless industries. I see these companies taking concerns out of the public view. Some instances are because the complaints or questions are pertaining to account information which cannot be publicly addressed, but even with non-sensitive information these companies seem to address the negative behind closed doors. I feel as though this hurts them in the public eye because the observers of these conversations are not seeing the end result. I feel as though these non-sensitive complaints should be addressed and resolved when/where they are brought up.
3. Uniqueness…
Not being afraid to resolve issues with others seeing the resolution is going to be a huge factor in what will make your company unique. If your company can make and keep happy customers without fearing the negative, you will be set apart from the pack and raise you above the social media noise. Not only is customer satisfaction going to make you unique to your customers, but also the style of your site. This can include the font on your site, color scheme, logos, etc. Find something that is different than the rest and that makes your company stand out from your competitors. Another tip to being unique is keeping your information personal, maintaining postings and updates that are close to the company (without giving away too much) will also help keep you memorable and stand out.
All in all, keep your customer entertained, engaged, and happy and you will make enough of your own social media noise to be heard over the pack in the social media world.
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Category: Advanced Tactics