3 Tips To Cultivate Meaningful Connections With Your Customers Online

Successful businesses have one thing in common: strong customer relationships. When you build meaningful relationships with consumers, you're laying the groundwork for increased customer loyalty and sales. 



Luckily, with the help of social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, connecting with customers is easier than ever. In this article, we'll discuss three ways business owners can create more meaningful connections with customers online.

Transparency Is Key

Any lasting relationship is built on trust. Even if customers are interested in your brand, they may only buy something if you prove you're trustworthy. Over 70% of customers say they won't purchase from a company they no longer trust. You're missing out on lots of business opportunities if you're not reliable.

So, how can you encourage customers to trust your brand?

When you're interacting with customers online, be honest and transparent. If you make promises or commitments, fulfill them every time. Trust takes time to build. Every time you have a positive interaction online, that's more evidence that customers can rely on you.

Encourage your existing customers to provide feedback and then share it on your social media pages. If you have case studies showing the positive impact you had on customers, share those too. Over time, these posts will build trust and credibility for your brand. You position yourself as a trusted advisor, making customers more likely to choose you instead of your competitors.

Show Your Appreciation

Customers want to feel appreciated. Consider how you can use social media to care for your customers and offer additional value.

Exclusive Deals

One option is offering exclusive deals to your social media followers. For example, you could announce a flash deal on social media or post a discount code that you don't publish anywhere else. This exclusivity shows you value your followers and gives them a reason to keep following your account. One of the best Facebook marketing tips is to offer concrete rewards for following your brand online. 

Giveaways

If you don't want to run deals on social media, another option is to do a simple giveaway. You can give away free products, samples, or coupons for free services — whatever works for your business. If you have merch, such as branded hats, coffee mugs, or shirts, you can use those in contests too!

In most social media giveaways, you ask users to interact with your post in some way to enter the giveaway. For example, they might need to like your post and tag a friend in the comments as their entry.

Make sure you provide all the contest details either in the post itself or the description, and beware of spam bots. Check to ensure the winner of your giveaway is a real person before announcing the results.

Improved Customer Experience

Consider improving your purchase experience too. Set up a chatbot, check your messages regularly, and address any customer concerns as soon as possible. When you improve the customer experience, consumers will keep coming back to your platforms.

Be Open to Feedback

Building meaningful relationships requires great communication. Your customers want to feel understood and have their questions answered promptly. In the age of digital communication, people expect quick responses.

Try to respond to comments on social media as soon as possible. Respectfully acknowledge any direct feedback on your products or services and say thank you! You can even offer special incentives for customers who leave reviews online, such as discount codes or entry into giveaways. Collecting evidence of your satisfied customers allows you to build trust with potential customers in the future.

Negative reviews are even more important to handle promptly and professionally. Instead of ignoring a negative comment, take it as an opportunity to make things right. Even if the specific customer who left the review is still unhappy afterward, making an effort goes a long way toward earning the trust of other customers. Diligently responding to feedback shows you care about the customer experience and are committed to high-quality service.

Beyond responding publicly, you should also incorporate customer feedback from social media into your business decisions. For example, if customers post about loving a certain feature of one of your products, you may also consider adding that feature to other products. Rely on customer feedback to continuously improve your current offerings.

Grow Your Business with Social Media Marketing

When you use social media for business, you have endless opportunities to connect with customers. Focus on being transparent, appreciative, and receptive to feedback. Before long, customers will trust and rely on your brand, giving you an advantage over the competition.

Optimize's team of social media professionals is here to help you develop your strategy and plan your content. To learn more about how Optimize can help you create more meaningful connections with your customers, schedule your free consultation today!