In the world we live in today, everything and everyone is on media of some form or another. It is through media that businesses can become a brilliant success or fail miserably. Today, I will provide you with a simple explanation of how relationship building through social media works, the steps you can take to build relationships with potential customers, and the tasks you can delegate as a CEO.
Relationship Building - A Simple Explanation of How it Works
Awareness
The first action that happens when using media to build relationships with customers is awareness. Your first goal is simply to make your customer base aware of your company, who you are, and what you offer.
Nurturing
The following action is nurturing that client base. By providing education and value through media, customers will learn that you are an expert in this realm. This, in turn, will gain their trust and begin creating connections and a community. Once your client base sees you as an expert, they will look to you when they have questions in your field. That is when you can take action with lead generation.
Generation
Once you have your clients' trust and they can easily see the value you are providing with your goods or services, you will have sale generation.
BUT, just because you have generated a sale once doesn't mean that your job is done. A truly successful business will integrate that lead into a marketing loop that involves social media, email newsletters, and other connections. In turn, that will lead to more sales, whether it is from them or the people they are advocating about your business.
Recent studies have shown that customers who are emotionally connected to a brand will stay with the brand longer (5.1 years vs. 3.4 years) and provide more recommendations (71% vs. 45%). Therefore, one of your primary goals is to continue to nurture that emotional connection, not just let that customer drop once they have bought something.
How Can I Build Relationships with My Customers?
The question likely at the forefront of your mind is, "how do I build relationships with my customers?" Excellent question; let's jump in.
Choose Your Platforms
The first choice you must make is what platforms you are going to use. I recommend taking the time to determine where your client base frequents the most and analyzing how much time you can honestly set aside solely for this.
Create Meaningful Content
Once you have chosen your platforms, you then need to produce meaningful content. Whether you are providing tips, data, or inspiration, the content must be of value for your potential customer to get them to stop long enough to read your post.
Be Human
An important aspect to consider when creating content is to be human. It can be easy to portray yourself as this perfect person, but a normal person can't connect with that. Remember, you must gain their trust, which means showing them all sides of the story, from the successes to the failures.
Initiate Conversations
Once you have created meaningful content that gets your audience involved, it is time to initiate conversations. When responding to comments or messages, make sure to take a moment to answer not only with knowledge but with feeling. Connect with each person and personalize your answers to them; don't just put out a copy and paste response.
Additionally, respond quickly. I recommend setting aside time each day to do your social media and email responses. This way, no one gets forgotten or has to wait forever for an answer.
Show Appreciation
Speaking of showing your audience that you care, appreciation posts or actions are another fabulous way to connect. Maybe it is a shout-out to a customer, or perhaps you host a giveaway contest. Either way, it generates engagement, leads, and even more trust in your brand.
Plus, you can also run exclusive promotions for your most dedicated fans. Those on your email list, in your Facebook Group, or those enrolled in your online course will feel the extra love, and it will encourage those who have not yet taken the leap to dive in.
Be Shareable
As you establish yourself as a trusted authority on the topic, try to make your content easily shareable. That way, your fans can spread the word to others, expanding your audience base with little effort from you.
Additionally, share others! Featuring customers who have purchased and shared about your product is gold (it's called '"user-generated content" or UGC). While you always need to ask permission first, UGC is essentially free advertising!
Build Communities
One of the most powerful actions you can take is building a community. Whether you start a Facebook group, create an online forum, host a weekly get-together, or offer free lessons on ClubHouse, you are in direct contact with your community. Just remember that building a community takes time and effort; it's not something you can do overnight.
CEO Tasks and What to Delegate
You may be thinking, "Julie, I don't have time to do all of this!" That's okay! You are busy running your business, and every successful business owner must eventually learn to delegate. I highly recommend hiring an assistant (in-person or virtual) to help you out.
There is a multitude of tasks that you can delegate to an assistant. Just a few include:
Scheduling social media posts
Managing social media
Creating graphics
Compiling data
Scheduling appointments
Organizing digital files
Researching and writing content for media
Essentially, your assistant can do anything that doesn't involve your "special touch." Of course, you do have to pay them, and it may take a while to get into the swing of things, but a good assistant is worth their weight in gold. Assistants can even help you stay accountable for your own tasks! For more information on how to stay accountable, check out my next blog post!
Comments