6 Ways To Increase Customer Loyalty Using Social Media

It is worth noting that promotion on social networks, although it does not directly affect sales growth, with the right approach can become a good auxiliary tool even for large manufacturers in the luxury segment, an example of which is the numerous car dealer communities on Facebook.

We use the features of social networks

As mentioned earlier, the principles of community promotion do not change: you also need to spend time and effort, look for quality content and come up with relevant captions for pictures with cats. Let's take a closer look at how to attract the attention of potential buyers to your business. So, what can social media do for commercial use?

1. Access to your target audience.

In social networks, it is as easy as nowhere to “reach” your customers. After all, people voluntarily leave information about themselves in their profiles. In your community, you can gather leads and prepare them to make a purchase using social media marketing techniques. Attracting the right audience to the community can be done in different ways. Social networks themselves provide targeted ads for this, which allows you to create and display ads only to people with certain socio-demographic characteristics. Of course, this is not the easiest task, since it takes time and certain skills. Moreover, it is not the only effective way to attract leads. Often the best choice is to contact a digital agency that provides these services.

2. Collecting contacts.

A very important point. From your page on social networks, you can receive leads - contacts of potential customers. Typically, a user loyalty degree allows you to collect feedback for communities aimed at a wide variety of audiences. You can get customer contacts in different ways. A lot here depends on the specifics of the business being promoted. This can be, for example, a special application on Facebook - Iframe-page containing fields for data entry. About how to draw attention to filling out information about yourself, you have to think separately, solving specific tasks.

Getting leads is no longer cold contacts, but your potential customers who voluntarily share information about themselves with you, and this indicates their reciprocal interest in buying. Of course, lead generation is a laborious task, but it is quite feasible with the help of social networks.

3. Getting feedback

You will have a unique chance to see your business through the eyes of customers. Of course, criticism can be both constructive and unfounded. However, in any case, social networks are a simple and accessible channel of communication with users. In addition to the obvious benefits of receiving feedback, you will be able to collect suggestions, wishes and ideas for further development. For example, you can ask your customers directly which area is missing a new store or which items are missing on the site.

4. Ability to react quickly

With the simplicity of receiving feedback, we also get the simplicity of responses: accordingly, the response time will be minimized. Waiting a long time for a response annoys customers, as does standing in line, which can negatively impact brand loyalty. In your community, you will be able to constantly keep your finger on the pulse and solve any problems right away.

5. Getting viral coverage - free advertising

The virality effect of content (independent distribution of advertising or other content by users due to some of its unique properties, for example, an unusual creative idea) on social networks can be a good service to work on increasing sales. Social networks provide an opportunity to tell your friends about the most successful or elevating purchases, as well as to share interesting content. The phrase “I want this one for myself” is often a great recommendation.

The easiest way to get a viral effect is to fill the community with quality content. Even if you sell the most boring products in the world - a little fantasy and you can create really good content. Do you have a brick factory? Find pictures of beautiful homes and do not forget to sign that everyone who purchases your product can get the same.

6. We get to know the target audience and its problems

By communicating with the target audience, you can draw up a fairly accurate portrait of it or simply find out many important points that you may have only imagined about before. You will hear and see what your customers are talking about, what is close and important to them, what they fear and what they lack. Using this information, you can successfully influence sales.

7. Don't sit idly by

Before starting an active advertising campaign, you will need to work well with the audience, warm it up and generate interest in purchases from you. But in order to get the desired result, it is not enough just to create a community. Consider the interesting experience of the Scottish brewery BrewDog (https://www.facebook.com/BrewDogOfficial). They held a campaign in which social network participants were given the opportunity to independently brew beer by voting for each ingredient in the production. As a result of the user's choice, the brewed drink turned out to be brown ale with a strength of 7.5%, which then anyone could buy on the company's official website.

What's in your power?

The peculiarity of all the above advantages is that they are provided in a natural way when using the functionality of social networks as a promotion tool. However, to get the desired result, you need not only to invest a lot of effort and resources in the development of the community, but also to take into account some of the features of commercial promotion.

1. Branding the community

Upon entering your page, the user should immediately understand that this is a brand community, and not just a club of interests. But just the name of your company or site will also not tell the user anything. Try to find something in between, formulating in such a way as to interest the target audience and not forget about your own positioning, for example:

"Unusual gifts. Shop "Pink Elephant".

However, in the case when your business has already become a brand, you can limit yourself to just the name or even the site address. The same is true for the community avatar and post images. Your logo or link to the site will become an additional advertisement for quality material.

Example: Facebook page of the popular in Europe and the West online perfume and cosmetics store feelunique.com: https://www.facebook.com/feeluniquebeauty. The community header contains the address of the community itself, the logo and the image of the girl. Thus, the user who first entered the community:

- Understands that this is an online store (the site address is indicated in the title).

- Remembers the logo and brand name (avatar).

- He sees the category of goods - cosmetics (cover background).

2. Share your benefits

Using the usual rules of community conduct, which is that content should not be entirely advertising, we can quite unobtrusively tell potential consumers about ourselves. But you should not confuse users with complex technical characteristics, but, for example, an interesting description of the production process will increase the degree of confidence in the product. Let users see that you are doing your job with integrity. It is difficult to give specific recommendations here, since everything ultimately depends on the specifics of the industry. The main thing is that this is a great chance to show your competitive advantages.

3. Tell about your products

A group on a social network can also act as a virtual showcase. Try to tell interesting about your products: unusual qualities, interesting facts, a list of useful properties, or even just a well-executed description with beautiful photos will help you. And buttons “like” and “tell friends” will become additional pointers for customers on the way to your business. For example, if it's a chain of restaurants, it makes sense to talk about each dish or seasonal offer. Here's how McDonald's fast food chain deals with it:

You can also adopt this principle, whatever you do. People will be happy to receive accurate and useful information. Installing windows? Post a report on the good work of the wizard with photos and prices. Do you have a pet supplies store? A recommendation article about a specific type of food or cage for rodents will be a success.

4. Make a discount to participants

Another way to raise interest in your business using social media is community benefits. Offer a bonus for a recommendation to a friend or a good review of your work. Community members who receive a discount will feel their privileges and are more willing to make a purchase from you than from your competitors with similar offers.

5. Conduct a competition

At first glance, the recommendation is common. The trick here is not the competition itself, but the reward for it. Try as a prize to present not the products of a well-known apple company, but for example, a cumulative discount card or a free additional service. Thus, you can create motivation to buy from you. Be sure to consider these features in order to successfully implement the commercial part of the promotion on social networks.

6. I bought it, I'm happy and I'll tell my friends about it!

Another way to advertise your products is through social media widgets on your website. Give the customer the opportunity to brag about a purchase or tell friends about a great deal by placing social media buttons in the appropriate sections. This is especially true for online stores.

However, the very embedding of widgets is a technical process, not a marketing one, so we will leave the instructions for use to webmasters.

Conclusion

Thus, with the right strategy and the right goal setting, social media can be a powerful channel for increasing customer loyalty, and there is ample evidence of this. Nevertheless, there are rather subtle nuances here, on which the success of the undertakings largely depends.