‘What’s the big deal about building a community on social media? My marketing team is well-equipped with creativity and resources and they can produce the best advertisements to appeal to consumers.’
Is that enough? No!
A band of followers singing and praising your products and luring new sets of consumers to your doorstep. Isn’t it cool?
Of course, your team can appeal to them to spread word-of-mouth but a social media community will drive more traction. Why? Because people trust people (like real people and not celebrities faking their experience)
Convinced enough? Now that we are on the same page, it will be pertinent to mention that building a community is not an easy task and requires consistency and the will to do work. So, if you have made up your mind to ride the bus here are some effective tips that will help you build an engaged social media community.
Communication is the key
You have a website and you promote your business on social media platforms. But how long can you hide behind your website and still expect a band of loyal followers advocating your business? They say communication is the key to a healthy relationship. Well, it is. You want to build a community on social media which implies you want to strengthen your relationship with your followers. If they cannot have a conversation with you, or even have the idea that they can communicate with you, you won’t have a community. Make it easy for your followers to communicate with you. Something like this may be;
Know what your audience wants
You will have to produce good content that your audience will want to consume. To do that you must know their needs, interests, habits, hobbies, and behaviors. But they are not a homogeneous group with similar interests; rather each individual has a different set of reasoning and behavior. Segmenting your audience based on demographic and psychological factors can help you communicate better. Also, you can use various social media features like polls, quizzes, Q&As to know what they want to talk about or what type of content might interest them. When you have grabbed a good amount of information from your audience, you can work on generating content based on their preferences.
Also Check: 5 Dont’s For Social Media Marketing
Be honest and accept your mistakes
Perfection has lost its way and authenticity is holding the throne. Consumers want to associate with businesses they can trust, and often companies forget that dishonesty can make them pay a heavy price. If you have committed a mistake feel free to accept it and move forward. By doing so you will gain loyal followers and be more likely to get recognized by consumers who had not heard about you before. On the other hand, if you try to mask a bad situation, you will lose the trust of your customers and acquire a bad reputation within your industry. Take inspiration from this apologetic letter.
Solve the problems of your customers
Happy customers will advocate for your brand and lead more customers to your door. To make them happy the surest thing you can do (without spending a penny) is to provide real-time value- by solving their problems. Your competitors might provide the same services but what will make you stand out from them is your dedication to support your followers. You can create bite-sized how-to videos related to your business, or invite an expert and have a motivational live session.
Remember it’s the people and not the product
Being salesly for business is alright, but when it comes to building a community it is no more a business. Social media was designed with the purpose to make and maintain connections. The same goes for you. If you treat your followers like regular customers and have a passive approach to them, you might not receive their trust and loyalty, rather they might not even go back to your page next time. Here comes the importance of the first point- communication. Interact and communicate with your followers more often so that they know that you care about them.
You must have realized that building a community requires effort but is done out of love, and this should not be crossed off your list. We hope these takeaways will guide you to build the desired community on social media.
