Ryan Pinkham
If you’re on social media, you know how rewarding it is to receive positive responses from your fans and followers.
But have you also thought about how you can return the favor and show some love back?
When it comes to building relationships on social media, a small gesture can make a big impact on how fans view your business and the likelihood that they’ll do business with you again.
Let’s take a look at a few easy things you can do to show your fans and followers some love:
1. Mention them
After getting home from a yoga class one night, my girlfriend Ashley received a notification on her phone. Her yoga teacher had mentioned her — and a few other people in the class — on the business’s Facebook page, congratulating them on a great class.
What may seem like a simple gesture from the studio was really a WOW! moment for Ashley who continues to be one of the studio’s biggest fans.
Look for similar opportunities when interacting with your own fans — online and in person. If you have a great conversation with a loyal customer or meet someone new at a local event, use social media to follow up and keep the conversation going.
2. Share their stuff
You want people to share your content so that you can reach a wider audience and hopefully introduce new people to your business. But have you ever thought about sharing other people’s stuff in return?
If you’re on Twitter for example, you can share a customer’s post by simply hitting “retweet.” If someone shares a helpful resource or something you think your fans and followers will find interesting, you can share it and include a note calling out the original sources (“Check out this great post from [@Mention them]”).
Keep an eye out for other opportunities to celebrate the great work your customers are doing. They’ll appreciate the support.
3. Feature them
Your social media presence can tell a lot about your business. If you’re a business that puts people first and values its customers, you want your Facebook Page and other social networks to reflect that.
Consider this example from Boston-based burrito restaurant, Boloco.
Boloco encourages customers to submit their best photos for the chance to be featured as the cover photo on the Boloco Facebook Page. Encouraging fans to share their photos is a great way to encourage customers to show their passion for your business. Highlighting them on your page in return shows you appreciate their support!
4. Work together
If you’re a fan of Constant Contact on Facebook, or follow our updates on Twitter, you know that we love to ask for your ideas to help educate our small business audience.
We’re lucky to be able to learn from our customers every day, and want to give our fans and followers the chance to show off their expertise whenever we can.
For example, this month we are asking our audience to tell us how they WOW! their customers. At the end of the month, we’ll compile our favorites and share these great stories on the Constant Contact Blog.
As a small business, you have the chance to work even more closely with your audience. Look for ways to work together and get them involved in your business.
5. Thank them
You know how difficult building an audience on social media can be. You put a lot of work into your Facebook Page and other social networks, and have likely had some challenges along the way.
Hopefully the result of all that hard work has been an audience of loyal fans who support your business and look forward to seeing your updates each day.
Let them know how much you appreciate them with a simple thank you message like this:
6. Be available
One of the easiest ways to show your fans and followers that you appreciate them is simply to be available when they really need you.
More and more people are turning to sites like Facebook and Twitter to connect with businesses and get their questions answered. In fact, many people turn to social first, rather than calling a business or sending an email.
Take the time to monitor and respond to any feedback you receive. All of the top social networks have the option to receive notifications on your mobile device so that you can respond as quickly as possible.
7. Reward them
There are a number of ways you can reward loyal fans and followers.
One of the simplest things you can do is to make your social networks the go-to place for relevant content and information. When you give your audience the information they want, and don’t clog up their feeds with irrelevant messages, you’re already rewarding them in a big way.
Take things a step further and create a special offer just for them. You can post a simple thank you message and tell your audience to “mention this post” to redeem an offer. Or use a tool like Constant Contact’s Facebook Promotion campaign to create a coupon fans can print out or show on their mobile device.
Ready to show your audience some love?
Choose one way to show your customers some extra love after Valentine’s Day.
What may seem like a small gesture to you can make a lasting impact on new fans and loyal customers.
How do you WOW! your customers on social media? Share your ideas in the comments below.
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