Topic: Social Media

Social media has become such great platforms for companies looking to communicate and expand with their consumers, and they provide an opportunity to deliver amazing customer service experience. Social media is useful for improving people’s ideas and impressions of the brand compared to conventional means of communications because when you solve problems for your customer online, thousands may see your response.

That being said, the risk of something going wrong can still exist. We’ve outlined a few practices for providing exceptional service through social media.

Find Customers

Delivering outstanding customer service takes time and resources, and you should choose wisely by determining which social media sites your consumers use the most. For most, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter are the most popular, but depending on your industry, your customers might be more engaged through other platforms.

The social media sites where you are having the most success, so most shares, most likes, and other engagements, should be the platforms you focus on since your target audience is most active, and most likely your customers are more to contact you with any concerns.

Listen to Concerns

Social media has changed the way that consumers interact with brands and the same the other way. Marketing is no longer placing ads in front of people that communicate you message, product and telling what the user should feel about your brand. Social Media has created two-way communication between your customers, potential new customers, and you. It’s now a source where customer directly respond to you and express thoughts about your product or service. That’s why it’s so important to pay attention to what people are saying about you and your brand, and how to know what to respond accordingly with.

Doing this will involve more than just checking your direct messages or have a set auto respond to reply. You must have a plan in place for ongoing checks of negative and positive comments left on your pages and posts, and also checking outside posting about you and or your brand, so you know what is being said.

Respond, respond, respond!

No one likes to be ignored, especially when you have a concern and need an answer. Making sure you respond to people who communicate with your brand is vital. Negative comments that go unanswered remain there for the world to see could make your brand look careless.

Also, never delete negative comments. People who are willing to go to the effort of posting a negative comment are more than willing to point out that the comment has been removed and this can screw up your social branding, big time. Responding to the negative comment and trying to make it a positive experience can and will up your social branding, because you are a problem solver for your customers, and that’s what customers want.

Responding to positive comments is always a plus as well, as it builds profitable relationships with people and makes your company appear positive and proactive.

Make Everything Efficient

Optimize your social media profiles so that communication with your company is as easy as possible for all consumers. This is vital if you receive a high number of messages.

For Facebook, enable instant replies to let consumers know that you will respond and addressing their concerns that they wrote you about. Add a “message” button to your Facebook as well as different contact buttons onto your other social media pages.

Allow your comments to be on when you post on any platform so that consumers can ask quick questions or speak to one another about the product or services.

Conclusion

Social Media isn’t a question of if, but how and what to do to make it better. Before you engage, think about what, how and when. Having a strong strategy of which platform, you are going to use to communicate which message where, and the level of activity on said platform will be all factors in your success. Especially when it comes to customer service and providing the best service you can.

We understand that social media can be overwhelming, and how they all differently effect your business. Here at Insiteful, we can help make a success plan for you and your social media success. We want to provide you with the results your business deserves on social media.

Give us a call today to start planning today!

What Social Media Should Your Business Use?

Whether you are creating a new business, or have been in the business for years, you know how important social media is to your business. But do you understand the depth of importance, with everything combined that you as a business owner must do for success? There are many steps to making a successful social platform for your business.

Have you ever audited your social media accounts? Have you noticed the pattern caused by social media to your business?

Regardless of your interest, or activity levels on social media, having a plan is vital. As life changes everyday, globally, social media advances as well.

Where do you spend your time and money? What social media will bring the most success? Your answer is based off your business and what type of social media can be the best for you.

There are six platforms that we are going to talk about, that all help your business in specific but different ways.

LinkedIn

If you are in the industry of selling to other businesses (B2B), then LinkedIn is your best friend. With 303 million monthly users, LinkedIn should never be overlooked.

This platform is an amazing way to show off your business and the important knowledge you have around the brand. By building your business’s influence and sharing perceptive content, you can gain connections that lead to transactions.

Some content examples are blog posting, quick tips, updated news with statistics, and curated content.

Facebook

With over 2 billion users, Facebook is a huge asset to any business. It has the affect of turning your customers into a family.

Creating a Facebook group is free, simple and creates a place for you to post whenever you want, and your customers to exchange information and form a sense of family.

Photos and videos are what drives success on Facebook. The key is to stand out and show the unique side of your business. If you have some money set aside for social media paid ads, with Facebook’s ads manager, you get a sophisticated targeting option, which is a great way to grow your business.

Twitter

With 330 million users, it’s a great way to increase brand awareness. Twitter is all about immediate information.

The one thing to remember is that you only will have 280 characters per post to convey your message. Once you are able to write with the small text space without stress, it’s a massive asset to your business with how easy it is for current customers, and new ones, to share or like a tweet.

Instagram

With over 1 billion user, it’s hard to not use this visual platform. If you have a younger targeted audience, then Instagram is the best platform for you. 50 percent of users are 34 years older and under. This age group is very comfortable with following brands on this platform and are even purchasing products from the app.

If marketing through influencers is something that is up your alley, then Instagram is for you. Influencer marketing is a content market project that allows you to promote your business and products, by partnering with someone on the app that has a big following, that can bring you more customers and followers.

Tiktok

With over 850 million users on this apps, Tiktok has made a huge name for themselves since the launch in 2017.

Tiktok has the same feel as Instagram on the content marketing side, but it is video based. They offer you paid advertising, organic content, and influencer marketing to promote your company. Your brand can go viral within a night, and this is based off the hashtags they use.

There is so many ways for Tiktok to help your business. You can throw challenges and games for your followers, and to gain more.

Pinterest

This is one of the social media platforms where the mainstream of its clients are mainly female. If you’re in the fashion, décor, wedding, art, travel business, and or food, you may find Pinterest very helpful to your company.

Pinterest is a great way to show off your brand’s products. This platform is not for everyone and their business, but if you use it properly, you will be super surprised how many people will come into contact with your “pins”.

Contact Insiteful Social Media Experts

We understand that social media can be overwhelming with how many different types there are, and how they all differently effect your business. Here at Insiteful, we can help make a success plan for you and your social media success.

We want to provide you with the results your business deserves on social media.

Give us a call today to start planning today!

Since the outbreak of COVID-19 the staff at Insiteful Solutions has been busy helping our clients in Markham and across the GTA ramp up their e-commerce sites and update client websites with the latest news and information related to the virus. The past stressful weeks have taught us more than ever the need to be prepared; we were fortunate that the majority of our staff were already working remotely so we could change our operations seamlessly.

One of the areas we have been most busy is advising clients on their use of social media. In the early days of COVID-19, with everything happening so quickly, social media channels turned out to be the fastest way our clients could communicate effectively with their customers.  To give you some idea of the reach of social media in Canada, it estimated that 64% of Canadians have a social media account and over 50% of Canadians are registered to one or more social media platforms. 70% of social media users said they logged on at least once a month.

The popularity of social media makes it a perfect medium to reach people in a crisis. With many provinces, including Ontario, ordering virtually all public activities to close suddenly to flatten the COVID-19 curve, businesses were left scrambling to figure out their new operations. Many businesses, such as restaurants and certain retailers, were able to transition to curb-side pick-up or delivery. Others were left not knowing how they were going to alter their operations to serve their customers. With all of this confusion it was a comfort for both business owners and their customers that they could keep in touch via social media. At Insiteful Solutions we help clients with all of their digital marketing needs; from building websites to their social media platforms, we make sure our clients are up today with the most recent trends and changes to the industry.

With the unprecedented times we are living in we have found the following to be helpful advice to our clients for their social media platforms. With the news changing almost daily it can be difficult for business owners to strike the right tone: hopeful or somber? Idealistic or realistic? While there is often no ‘right way’ to communicate with your customers via social media we have found that if you post content that is deemed insensitive it can negatively affect your brand. The following can hopefully serve as a guide or refresher on how to approach your clients on social media during a crisis.

Who you are in a Crisis?

Great brands and businesses are a result of great leadership and teamwork. The best businesses understand their customers and how to communicate with them. During a crisis is time to connect with your customers on a personal level; with something as serious as a global pandemic it’s crucial that you reach out and stay connected. The values that built your brand can also be on display. We advised our clients not to ‘sell’ anything to their clients with their early social media posts – no one wants to be sold to during a crisis. While some business people had the instinct to shutter their social media accounts we advised people to keep the lines of communication open. With people suddenly isolated and their worlds upended they need human contact, even if it’s over social media.

Know Your Audience

Many businesses post to their social media channels without fully knowing who their audience is. Fortunately companies like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have done the analytical work for you and you can easily tap into this data to learn more about who is viewing your social media platforms.  Knowing your audience is always important, but especially so during a crisis. Are you catering to the healthcare industry and you have many followers that are frontline workers? Then you would tailor your message to this industry. You want to make sure your social media content is reflective of your audience, that way you can curate your content to grab their attention. During a crisis is a key time to connect with new and old customers.

Be Sensitive to the Times

In 2014 the clothing brand American Apparel created a social media faux pas that is still being talked about. On July 4 of that year a well-meaning person in their social media department posted a July 4 greeting on the company’s social media platforms. The greeting was accompanied by an image of a plume of white cloud against a blue sky. The staffer thought the image was fireworks exploding – it wasn’t. It was actually a photograph of the Challenger Space Shuttle exploding shortly after takeoff – a fatal incident that occurred in 1986. The American Apparel post has been used ever since on what not to do on social media.  With the onset of COVID-19, many businesses began to struggle, while we advised clients to quickly improve their e-commerce offerings and switch to delivery or curbside pick-up we also advised them to understand the humanitarian aspect of these times and do what they could to assist others who may be struggling. Communicating the human side of your company during a crisis will let your customers know that your company cares.

Keep on Top of the Changing Landscape

COVID-19 has been challenging in more ways than one. It seems that daily the news about the virus changes and governments (and businesses!) are left scurrying to keep up. While most companies have a solid social media marketing calendar based on their business plan, times of crisis may have caused their plans to be paused or put on a complete hold. One industry especially hard hit by COVID-19 has been the restaurant and hospitality industry. With guidance from governments constantly updated restaurants have had to keep in touch with their customer. Being fluid in your planning and accurate with your information allows you to continue to control your brand messaging – even during a crisis.

Be Human

A distinct aspect of COVID-19 has been how it has affected everyone globally. While these times of crisis can be extraordinarily stressful it can also be a time to bring people together. While your customers will want to know the core information about your business and its operations, they will also appreciate a human touch to communications during this time. Don’t be afraid to communicate with customers on a more personal level.

At Insiteful Solutions we have worked for nearly 20 years with clients in Markham, the GTA and across Canada on all aspects of digital marketing campaigns including social media. Give us a call today to learn more about how we can help your business navigate this current crisis.

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