You see the advice all the time, “Give your customers information they want and post where they hangout”. I’ve advised it several times in my own blog pieces. But, it occurred to me that what is everyday practice for me, might not seem so easy to a small business owner looking to use social media in their marketing plans. They might know their customers hangout on Facebook or Twitter, but do they know how to figure out their customers’ interests from there?
You might not yet understand how to use social media marketing in your business, but your customers are already pros. They tell others about their likes and dislikes all day, every day, in every which way. We just have to pay attention.
Socialize With Your Customers
As a business, you are not able to “Friend” individual people. But, you are able to look at the About section of the people who have liked your Facebook business page. The information they choose to list is a good way to discover what groups your followers belong to, music they like, places they frequent and other pages they follow. Once a month or so, take a quick look at who has liked your business page and find out what interests them. Ask yourself how your company and products/services align with those interests and craft posts that will connect with them based on those interests and similarities. Ask questions, respond to comments, and be social about it. Facebook is like a very large cocktail party. Mix, mingle, and socialize.
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Mining the Tweets
Even if you’re not fond of Twitter, your customers might be. Be sure to check out who else your followers are following. Who are those people and what do they do? What are they and your followers tweeting and retweeting? Not sure what information your Twitter followers like? They’re telling you!
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The LinkedIn Connection
If you are still of the mindset that LinkedIn is only good for looking for jobs and potential employees, I implore you to spend time on LinkedIn and check out the wealth of information being shared. Look over the profiles of the people you’ve connected to and see what information they have listed. What groups do they belong to? What news and companies do they follow? Which Influencers are they following? What projects are they working on? In addition to sharing your own company news, share timely information based on your connections’ interests.
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Pinterest-The Show and Tell of Interests
If Twitter followers are telling you what interests them, Pinterest followers are showing you. Check out your followers’ boards. Image may be NSFW.
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What kinds of boards do they have? What are they pinning? How are they categorizing their pins? Who else do they follow & pin? Create boards specific to your business, but also create boards with other topics, both fun and informative.
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Being social is more than just showing up and saying something. It’s about listening and thoughtfully responding to another. Your customer audience doesn’t necessarily want you asking them what you should share or post. They’ve already shared what interests them on multiple channels, in various ways.
Now it’s up to you to listen and engage with your followers in a way that is meaningful to them.
Be Well. Be Present. Be Social.
~Theresa
21st Century SMM
Filed under: social media marketing Tagged: business, Customer, customer audience, Facebook, followers, Following, LInkedIn, Pinterest, social media, social media marketing, Twitter Image may be NSFW.
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