There is a frantic effort to collect as many digital consumer contacts as possible. Companies are springing up to seek and sell digital data. A list purchase is no panacea for your digital database. Remember you have to connect and if you do it well you will not only connet but you will also keep your consumer engaged.
On a positive note, you don’t have to mail post cards, run an ad on TV, or even have a phone blitz to seek consumer contacts. You can leverage the web for engagement. Some organizations may ask you to ‘Become our Fan on Facebook’ or ‘Follow us on Twitter’ or ‘Read our Blogs.’
Focus on intrigue, a genuine dialogue, & real time relevance to get more consumers to join your conversations.
Here are a few simple suggestions in how you can use Facebook, your Twitter account, & your Blog to make connections.
Ask people to join you on Facebook to see the latest pictures from your ‘special events.’ Encourage people to upload their own events and this is what gets the dialogue going.
Give people a few reasons to follow you on Twitter – perhaps a special promotion code, a white paper, good information, or even using Twitter to answer questions.
Offer part of your story in your Tweet or your Facebook update – put the rest of the story up on your Blog. You can use the blog to consolidate information and provide a headquarter location for all your social media.
Don’t forget to tie all social media sites back to your consumer information file. Provide a link to allow consumers to update their preference pages. Your preference pages need to be cross channel. Be sure to ask for social contacts, email addresses, & mobile numbers as part of your engagement strategy.
Think about specific reasons why one should come to your social media sites. List those reasons down, and try to leverage them into your conversations with recipient.
Many organizations still block their ‘workers’ from social media sites. Instead you should mentor them on the use of social media and train them to engage the customer / prospect in a cross channel dialogue.
You have call centers and stores that are training their employees to direct people to social media sites. They list the question and the answer on the blog, they tweet about it, and even offer solutions on Facebook.
Social Media is here to stay. You have to learn to grow your database of contacts and plan out how you communicate with those that you connect with. Engagement has to become part of your natural conversation.