3 Simple Ideas to Connect with Customers on Social Media

Jill Kurtz, Owner, Kurtz Digital StrategySocial media marketing isn’t just about setting up accounts and posting. You need to provide your customers with opportunities to interact with your business.Through that interaction, you build relationships that keep them connected and engaged with you.Here are three ideas for your social media marketing plan.Be on TrendWhat’s the latest topic or trend in your field? Are there questions that are important to your customer base?Discuss these on social media. You can create your own content or share links to relevant content that has been posted by others.Invite people to add ideas and comments. Open-ended questions create far better opportunities for discussion and debate than multiple-choice questions. Ask questions that your followers understand well enough to be able to contribute their opinions.Find Time to be Real-TimePersonal interaction can be the best way to increase customer satisfaction. Choose a social-media platform, create an event or a hashtag and take the opportunity to live chat with your customers.Offer troubleshooting tips about how to use a product or advice on how to get the most from a service engagement. Ask for questions and give thoughtful answers.When you plan for live engagement, have content prepared. Be open to participants guiding the conversation, but you want to have content at the ready to make sure there is always fresh information to share to keep everyone interested.Also consider inviting a few key customers or followers to be particularly engaged. They can help to keep the conversation flowing.Connect it TogetherBe sure to tie all of your content together. Your website should list all your social media channels. Your social media profiles should link to your website.When you post content, make sure you are regularly posting items that link to content at your website and/or other social media channels. Help the people who are interested in you to find you every place you live online. Chances are they will pick one or two places to engage, but they will appreciate knowing all the choices of how to be connected. [author]About the Author: Jill Kurtz founded Kurtz Digital Strategy to help clients see the communication potential of the newest trends and technologies. She is an expert at website strategy and redesign, social media planning, and developing exceptional content.[/author]