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Your customers are the lifeblood of your business; the people who can make or break your reputation by the things that they say to others.
Of course, this is assuming that they talk about your business at all. If they don’t make the effort to share information about your business, it’s either because they have nothing they want to say or that they simply can’t be bothered! It’s for these reasons that you should be proactive. If you can encourage your customers to talk about your business (in a nice way), you will increase their affiliation to your business and potentially gain new customers as a consequence.
The first thing you need to do of course is improve your customer service. Your customers will have less reason to grumble if you do and they will have more reason to say positive things about your business.
You then need to encourage conversation, discussion, and positive feedback. In short, you need to get your customers talking. This can happen in the following ways.
#1: Use a community platform
People value community which is why social media networks are so popular. However, you don’t need to rely on Facebook groups and the like when you’re trying to build a community base from your customers. You can set up a separate online platform to host your community with all the tools they need to talk to one another, share information about products they have bought from your brand, and to make regular contact with you. Follow the previous link for one example of a community platform.
#2: Enable comments on your blog posts
If you’re able to write engaging blog posts, your customers will have more inclination to comment about what you have written. They might even share your blog posts with others on social media networks. Positive comments on your blog posts will encourage new customers to buy from you. If you reply to these comments, you will also build relationships with your customers and this could drive their loyalty to your brand.
#3: Encourage them to write reviews
Some customers will naturally gravitate to business review sites, be that to write something positive or negative. However, some customers will need a gentle push so this is something you might want to do if your business isn’t getting much of a mention online. If you already have customers that are loyal to you, it might be that the offer of a discount or freebie will encourage them to write something. Or you might simply need to ask without any promise of reward. PLEASE NOTE: We aren’t suggesting you tell your customers to tell lies. But if you know they are happy with your business, asking them to pass on word of your business makes perfect sense. Online reviews are essential for gaining trust from new customers so don’t be afraid to ask your loyal buyers.
These are just some of the things you can do to get customers talking about your business. Consider each suggestion and then do what you can to ensure their loyalty, as this will give them an incentive to communicate with others about your brand.
