As well as providing a great customer experience in-person, a key part to any successful business’ strategy is their online activity. Whether it be a social media strategy, personalised email marketing or a regularly updated website, engaging with customers online is pivotal for long term success in this new technological world. So, in this post, we’re going to cover 7 different ways you can engage with your customers online…
How To: Successfully Engage With Your Customers Online
01. Regularly Post On Your Socials
An easy way to talk to the masses, your social media channels are the perfect place to easily talk to people who are interested in your business. Working out which platforms are the most impactful for your business will depend on a number of factors including; the age and demographics of your customers as well as the type of content you want to share. For those with a younger audience base, Instagram and TikTok might be the best platforms to utilise rather than, say, Facebook or Twitter. The platform(s) you decide to focus on will all have their own best practices in terms of post frequency and the style of content, but the key to success is consistency. If you don’t already, posting on social media is a great way to successfully engage with your customers online.
02. Schedule Regular Email Newsletters
A more visual, detailed way to communicate with your customers, an email newsletter is quick and easy to put together and can deliver a lot of value. It’s important to note, however, that to be in accordance with the law, all recipients must have opted in to receive the communication from you, you cannot just send it. To make creating your business’ newsletter a breeze, an easy-to-use email builder is a necessity. There are many available on the market, many of which even come with free-to-use templates, and an email newsletter can be created in a matter of minutes. Sending a monthly or bi-monthly newsletter is an effective way to keep your customers updated with any changes to your service.
03. Provide A Chatbot On Your Website
If customers on your website can’t find an answer to their query, a chatbot is a quick way for them to find out what they need there and then. With many platforms allowing full automation, as well as integrations to book appointments etc, a chatbot is an easy way to help your customers engage with your business with ease. With the majority of platforms linking with Facebook Messenger, messages can be sent to your team’s devices and answered within a matter of seconds.
04. Reply To All Of Your Online Reviews
Whether they’re five stars or one, it’s important to reply to all of your business’ online reviews. Not only does this show that you’re grateful for their feedback, but it also allows you to apologise where needed and turn things around for your customers. In fact, Google themselves have said that responding to reviews improves your local SEO. Replying to reviews is one thing, but collecting them is another. Unaro Connect allows you to automatically request feedback from your customers and grow your online presence.
05. Keep Your Website Relevant And Up To Date
If people are looking for information about your business, it’s likely that your website is the first place they’ll look for answers. Keeping your contact information, opening hours and other operational details up to date enables a seamless experience with your business. To make this easier to keep on top of, add regular website reviews to your calendar and manage your website’s content every few months (or as often as necessary).
06. Create An Online Community
Perhaps easier said than done, creating a social media group full of people interested in your business is an ideal way to communicate with your brand’s most loyal customers. In such groups you can share ideas or sneak previews, ask for feedback and most importantly, your customers can ask questions and have them answered directly by yourselves (or other members of the community).
07. Write Industry-Related Blogs & Articles
For those really interested in what your business’ sector does, an industry-related blog is a great opportunity for online customer engagement. If you’re in the hospitality industry, perhaps try publishing recipes or posts about seasonal ingredients. For those in a medical sector, new and innovative treatments are key as well as self-help guides. Whilst blogs and other written articles might feel fairly one sided, allowing comments on your posts enables a two way conversation between you and your customers. Your posts can also be shared on social media, opening up the discussion even further and expanding your blog’s reach.
From a social media schedule or monthly blog post, to a chatbot on your website, there are many different ways your business can engage with your customers online. A comprehensive strategy would include a few of these techniques in one. Here at Unaro, we understand that this might take up a lot of your time, that’s why we created our suite of products. We understand that not everyone has the time and/or resources for a full marketing team. Our software makes it easy to connect with your customers and engage with them on a regular basis. Whether it be through online feedback, aesthetically pleasing emails or extra followers on your social media, we’re here to help. Interested in hearing what we can offer to your business? Simply enter your details in our form and we’ll be in touch.
