5 Ways to Increase Customer Engagement

Many businesses have a massive social media following, yet it doesn’t translate into a tangible brand presence. One of the reasons behinds this is because customers value authenticity and engagement over a fake storefront. Starting a social media account solely to rake up likes and followers will not get you far. Instead, focus your marketing efforts to make your customers feel happy and cared for, even in the fast-paced world of social media.

Increased customer engagement can mean increased growth and success for your business. Oftentimes marketing can be what makes or breaks your business potential.

If you are encountering great shifts in your business direction and structure, it is advised to consult an expert to get a professional business valuation. This can help you make important business-related decisions and understand the standing of your business within the industry.

Focusing on customer engagement is an especially useful strategy for small businesses, as it doesn’t rely on expensive programs or huge amounts of manpower. In fact, once you shift your focus to fostering valuable exchanges rather than large numbers of likes or follows, you might find that social media marketing becomes an overall smoother experience for your small business.

Thankfully, we’ve compiled some excellent customer engagement strategies to help increase your brand influence and loyalty.  

1. Think value-added marketing

Think about your favorite brand. Maybe it’s Tesla or Nike, or perhaps someone else. Why do you love them? Is it because they have high-quality products? Maybe. But perhaps it’s also because they provide extra value.

Value-added marketing turns customers from consumers to loyal communities. It’s more impacting than regular advertisements because it builds personal and intimate relationships. From educating your customers to keeping them entertained and informed, value-added content can transform your brand image for the better. 

 You can practice value-added marketing to increase engagement in many ways. This could be in the form of a humorous meme, informative blog post, or an engaging Instagram poll. The key is to blur the lines between promotional and non-promotional content, bringing the two together. 

2. Offer personalized service

In today’s fast-paced world, where everything feels inauthentic and forced, personalization is vital. 

Your customers want the traditional touch of a salesperson, with products tailored to their needs and services. Personalization can help with this. 

Thankfully, there are many ways to offer a personalized service effectively. Here are some ideas for inspiration:

• Humanized chatbots: Automation is a great way to work around limited customer service resources. Humanized chatbots allow you to be ever-present for your customers without making them feel like they’re talking to trained parrots. Many companies use chatbots that give personalized and prompt responses ? two hallmarks of excellent customer service. You should, too. 
• Discounts and giveaways: Consider giveaways and discounts for your loyal customers. This is an excellent way of saying “Thank you for your continued interest in brand.”
• Customer spotlighting: Have a customer that loved your product or service? Ask them to make a short video sharing their experience and post it on your social media account. This is another excellent way to give your promotions a personal touch and increase customer engagement. 

3. Use analytics to map customer experience

Analytics is the lifeblood of your customer engagement efforts. How are customers finding your website design? Which pages of your result in the most leads? Knowing the answer to these questions can help you learn from your mistakes and make amends.

A great way to get aggregated insights is heat mapping. Heat mapping “creates color maps” to map your customer’s journey on your website. This allows you to understand how far your customers are scrolling down, which content they’re spending more time on, and a wide range of other behaviors. You can use this data to redesign your website to promote customer convenience.

The easier it is for customers to find what they’re looking for, the better your customer engagement indicators. 

4. Engage in social media activities

Social Media is the virtual dwelling place of billions of users. However, tapping into this massive audience isn’t enough. You should have a strategy to engage and convert. 

Here are some excellent tips to increase customer engagement through Social Media:

• Be consistent: To stay relevant on social media, you need to post regularly. This doesn’t mean you should churn out useless content and prioritize quantity over quality. Instead, post something that titillates the audience’s PAIN points and promotes your brand visibility. When you create targeted, digestible and easy-to-read content, people share it, boosting your promotion and engagement. 
• Embrace social listening. Engagement sometimes boils down to how good of an eavesdropper you are. When you know what people are saying about your brand, you can respond to criticism quickly and keep the faith alive in your brands. 
• Practice social monitoring: Another great way to keep an eye on your brand’s performance. You can use digital tools like Hootsuite to track mentions, tags, re-tweets, keywords, and costs associated with your business to find out how people like your services. 
• Use built-in social media tools. Make the best of built-in social media tools like Instagram polls and Facebook live to host webinars and get customer surveys. 

5. Influencer Marketing

If you can’t handle promotion on your own, hire an influencer to do it for you. Influencer marketing is one of the hottest trends of the social media age. Many big brands have teamed up with influencers to create engaging content for their customers. 

Even if you’re on a shoestring budget, you can utilize influencer marketing. To start, search for micro-influencers or –nano-influencers with limited followings but great engagement rates.

Sure, influencers are willing to work with brands that pay big, but they also love to partner up with businesses that give them space and freedom to show their mettle. Put simply, if your communication with an influencer is personalized, you’re in with a chance even if you can’t compensate handsomely.

Final Thoughts

Increasing customer engagement is about knowing who your “people” and what they love. When you understand your audience, you can create content to meet their specific needs and preferences. The good news is that you don’t have to do it alone. Many tools and platforms can provide a helping hand. And the more help you have, the less the learning curve and the faster the improvement.

This article was contributed by Andrew Matherson.