Even before a global pandemic changed the way people shop, savvy business owners were finding ways to connect with customers and prospects virtually. By building a brand and an online community, they crafted a loyal fan base that added to their bottom line pre-COVID and is helping them stay afloat today.
It’s Not Too Late to Build Virtual Connections—But Don’t Put it Off
We get it. When you don’t have a full-time team dedicated to social media, keeping up a consistent posting schedule plus staying on top of comments and direct messages add a lot to your workload. But with more people shopping online, the competition to grab consumers’ attention is fierce.
If you’ve got a shuttered storefront—or you were forced to drastically reduce your shop hours—it’s time to find new ways to connect with your customers. We’ve got a few ideas to help you get started.
1. Go Live
Live sessions are a great way to interact with your customers when they can’t visit your shop in person. If you’ve done your user analysis, you have a good idea of when your customers are online, so why not jump onto an Instagram or Facebook live and have a chat with them? If you operate a restaurant or sell gourmet snacks, pop on at lunchtime and whet some appetites!
If you’re nervous about finding ideas to start a conversation, try planning a live session ahead of time. Set a day and time, then create a post on your feed or in Stories (or both) announcing your upcoming live session and invite your customers to ask you questions. You can build conversations around those questions and avoid dead air.
2. Everybody’s Got a Story
No, really. Every major social media platform has mimicked Snapchat’s functionality to create temporary stories. You can create them on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. Like Snapchat, stories on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter disappear from your Stories feed after 24 hours.
Stories are another great way to connect to your customers more casually. Use hashtags to help users find your content (while it’s still available) and add stickers that enable customers to find your physical location, buy a gift card, or order take out.
Many social media platforms require you to post stories natively in the app; however, there are third-party applications that you can use to schedule stories for TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram ahead of time. This allows you to time your stories to be fresh when your customers are likely to be online (and take action).
3. Go Behind the Scenes #WithMe
Although not as interactive as Live sessions, video remains a powerful tool to virtually connect you to your customers. With the COVID pandemic forcing physical distancing, video has emerged as a way for people to be less socially distant through memes such as #WithMe and TikTok’s wildly popular “This or That” challenge.
Since services like TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram have diverse audiences, you can create and edit video content to suit each platform. Got a new product to tease or have some tips and tricks to share? Instagram Reels and TikTok are ideal for quick-hit videos. Although TikTok allows you to cross-post your blockbuster to Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, it’s important to remember different services cater to different audiences, so you should create and post your content with that in mind.
Even though TikTok and Instagram Reels are widely used—particularly among the Gen-Z crowd—long-form videos such as product unboxing, #WithMe, and Behind the Scenes remain popular on YouTube, Facebook, and IGTV.
You don’t need a studio or expensive equipment to get started. Just grab your smartphone, find some good light (or drop $10 on a ring light with a phone holder), and start recording. Pro tip: it’s a good idea to at least write out an outline or some notes before you start filming and keep them where you can easily refer to them without disengaging with your audience.
4. Hold a Contest
People LOVE to win free stuff. Entice them to visit your social media channel by holding a contest or a pop-up event on your page. If you have a new product, you can go live or record a product demonstration to post later. Then give your customers a chance to win that item (or a gift card) by having them leave a comment on your post. You can also encourage your customers to create their own posts that show them using one of your other products and include a hashtag unique to your contest.
Contests and pop-ups not only give you another way to interact with your customer base but resharing their content also keeps your feed fresh and creates goodwill since people typically view reposting as an endorsement.
5. Share Your Expertise
Let’s face it: a social media feed that’s Sell, Sell, Sell can be a turn-off. Many “rules” dictate what percentage of your posts should be original content vs. user-generated content (resharing) vs. sales. A good rule of thumb is to not have more than 20% of your posts focused on promotions and sales.
One way to create original content that can help you gain conversions through your website is to create tutorials or webinars. Remember how we mentioned earlier that people like free stuff? That goes for information, too.
For example, if you run a café, you can offer a virtual cooking demo, showing your customers how to create one of your more popular dishes at home. Your tutorial can be live or pre-recorded and include shopping links for the ingredients, utensils, and cookware.
Webinars typically run longer than tutorials, combine media (ex: video and slide decks), and include substantially more actionable information that prospective customers can use immediately. At the end of the webinar, you can offer customers special access to additional education or services for a webinar-only reduced fee.
Some Closing Tips and Tricks
We’ve shown you several ways that you can use the power of social media to build your brand and connect virtually with your customers. Something to keep in mind as you create your content is to be sure that you:
- Keep it consistent with your brand’s look and feel
- Ensure that the tone and messaging align with your brand image while blending in with the social media channel’s tone.
Learning how to virtually connect with your customers takes time and effort. But when you put in the work, you’ll be rewarded with an engaged customer base who is willing to stick with you through thick or thin. Don’t be afraid to seek expert assistance to get you started. Digital marketing experts can help your business connect to your customers by making the most efficient use of your resources.