I recently purchased a product at the mall for my father that he had been wanting to get for a very long time. To make a long story short the product as it turned out seemed to have a number of defects. It was still functional but the features that were important to my dad were just not working. It takes me almost an hour to get back to the mall where the product was purchased so I was pleasantly surprised to see that the company had a page set up on Facebook. I saw it as a good way to ask a couple questions and perhaps provide a few recommendations. Turns out that this company had no clue on how to put their social media presence to good use. They were all talk and were not listening to their customers.
If you are the company that never shuts up long enough to listen, read on.
Your Customers or Fans Have Something To Say Too
Believe it or not those people that you’re sending out updates to are actually talking back. Yes, it’s important to send out updates and even to use the available tools to automate them but social networking is more than increasing your following and giving thought to the post that you share with others. You have to invest the time needed to see how people are responding, to hear what they are saying. It’s true, you need to!
Aside from that you can learn a thing or two if you just check in to see what people are saying about things in general. You might regret those missed opportunities to forge friendships, to help someone out and have him/her become a loyal customer and to respond to a consumer complaint or request.
This mid-sized company, whose name I won’t disclose had a number of questions and complaints on their page but no one took the time to respond. Meanwhile every two days we saw updates being magically added to the page itself.
Communication is half listening and half talking
If there is a single piece of advice I could give to companies starting out in social media that would be to listen, listen and listen some more. Your prospects and customers want more than anything to be heard. Taking the time to listen makes them feel respected and it will help them develop trust in your brand.
If it means taking a couple hours out of every day, then consider it time well worth invested. Some companies might even need to hire a social media specialist whether in house or outsourced to make sure that they have someone who is listening for them. Those success stories you hear about on social media did not achieve success by talking. It came through a willingness to listen and respond to what their fans were saying.
Something as simple as leaving a thank you note for someone who took the time to leave a message on your page goes a long way to show that you are tuned in. There is really no magical formula it’s just having a real appreciation and concern for the people who choose to “like” you.
Get Tuned In
If you have failed in the past it is time to clean up your act and be proactive with your social networking. Some ways you can do so include:
Never look at this time invested as a wasted opportunity. Even if you outsource it that is money well invested if you follow a proven formula. Now that you know what are you waiting for to get started?
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