There are a lot of reasons why X (formerly Twitter) is one of the best platforms for branding and marketing online. To begin with, it includes a large audience eager to consume and share content. It’s easy to post content and get it shared. It gives you a platform to post your thoughts, effectively raising the value of your business and personal brand.
One of the best reasons you need to use X for marketing, however, is because it connects you with your audience in ways that weren’t possible before this social network rose to power.
X is very conversational, and prior to using it as a business platform, professionals and SMBs didn’t have many heart-to-hearts with their audience and consumer base. Now businesses are finding that using X to connect with customers, boosts their brand image, customer loyalty and sends sales skyrocketing.
If you want to engage with your audience more, we’ve got a lot of tools to help you out, but it all starts with you. These seven methods for customer engagement will help you get started.
1. Take advantage of lists for important and VIP customers
Some customers are more important than others – at least in terms of marketing. An average consumer won’t give you lots of advertising, leads and word-of-mouth marketing opportunities, but sometimes your services or products are endorsed by someone who has a little more clout, like an industry thought leader or celebrity.
These customers need to be courted, and you can be more attentive to them via X lists. You can also include very active sharers to this list so you nurture those who do the most for you.
2. Always respond quickly
It’s unrealistic to assume someone is on social media 24/7 – but many X users aren’t realistic in this area. They want responses quickly and need answers fast. There’s no use losing sleep to try to please them, but what you can do is make sure you respond quickly when you are on. Your consumers will appreciate it.
If you don’t have a team monitoring your social media at all times, what you can do to put your consumer’s mind at ease is to put your active hours in your bio section. Better yet, you may use Fedica’s Post Alert feature to look out for any term you decide, and get email notifications right into your Inbox.
3. Reach out
When someone follows your account, don’t wait for them to mention you to get the conversation started. Post them first – and offer them a friendly greeting and something of value. “Thank you for following! Did you see our latest blog post? You may find it very interesting.” Something like this shows you as a friendly business that has their followers in mind.
4. Be aware of your brand voice
If you don’t have your brand voice cemented yet, the time to do that is yesterday. In this day and age, a brand voice needs to be professional yet personal, friendly yet knowledgeable. Whenever you communicate with a consumer, this voice should be what they’re reading.
5. Don’t settle for copy-pasted messages
Many consumers reach out for support on X. When it comes to automated emails, consumers understand that that’s typically an industry best practice, but social media has a different culture. They want to hear from a real person.
Take customer support opportunities as a time to engage, not just inform. Talk to someone about their problem; don’t just CTRL+C and CTRL+V stock support responses.
6. Reward X loyalty
Whenever you see someone doing something for you on X, don’t just be silent. Reward them. This isn’t just about tossing them a mention, either. Give them a discount code or a free product opportunity.
You can also reward followers at certain milestones, like 500 or 1,000 followers achieved, by sending out DM campaign messages, which Fedica can help you with in a way that is segmented, focused, managed and conversational.
7. Always use analytics and customer insight
Pay attention to what your followers are saying and doing. You can do this both by looking at your timeline, but also by using Fedica solutions to look into what your followers are thinking, doing and sharing.
Overall, engagement is about understanding your followers and interacting with them based on this knowledge. Try to interact with your followers in some way every single day and you’ll find that your image will evolve in their eyes. When you interact and engage with your X followers, they’ll do the same for you – and for a business. Now, that’s a huge success.