The effective use of social media for business is all about building trust, loyalty and eventually converting our followers and those we interact with into paying clients.

The relationship comes first and as your audience gets to know you, like you and trusts you, it will ultimately lead to a paying relationship.

Here are three sure strategies to engage your target market on social media to in order to build trust, brand loyalty and eventually get them to patronize your service.

1. Be a Resource Person of your Industry
   

This is one of the surest way to build an audience and eventually a brand loyal clientele base on social media.

On social media you need to clearly distinguish yourself as the go-to resource person. You need to build authority status as the trusted name when it comes to your industry.

You don’t have to be the most knowledgeable, you just have to be the one that gives out the best knowledge in a way and manner that is meaningful and impactful to your audience.

Those following you on social media don’t know the subject matter at all or as well as you do. They don’t know how much you know. If you are the one who shows them what they don’t know or makes it clearer to them, you will command authority in your space.

You should share content that meets the needs, interests and pain points of your audience. Share relevant statistics, research posts etc. that are of interest to your audience, fans and followers.

Keep them up to date on breaking news and events. Provide information that they will want to share with their friends and colleagues.

2. Effectively and Systematically Showcase your Services

Always remember that you are connecting with real people. Whether you connect directly with other brands, businesses or people directly, it is still human beings you are dealing with. Human beings are behind brands and businesses. Human beings make decisions.

Since human beings are behind businesses and brands, social media and business relationships are similar to how human beings relate directly with one another.

In a normal relationship, a guy doesn’t propose to a lady on the very first date. The relationship is built up over time before a marriage proposal becomes appropriate and has a better chance of being successful.

It is pretty much the same on social media. Proposing marriage on the very first date can be annoying and could destroy the hopes of going further.

Many end up just annoying potential clients, pushing them away. Build the relationship before you ask for a commitment.

Here are some strategies that are highly effective:

• Offering advice and teaching your followers how to do or handle a particular thing (How To tutorials, Do It yourself, etc.)
• Monitoring relevant hashtags and initiating conversations with prospects
• When you do post something promotional, include a ‘hook’ or interesting backstory to provide a background to your pitch. This is particularly important to avoid being seen as salesy.
• Using graphics to sell without being pushy: some examples are infographics, benefits of a service or product, etc. whatever you are using, the whole idea is to make your audience the ‘HERO’. Consider their interest first, before yours.

3. Provide Excellent Social Care

When prospective clients ask questions on social media, whether you like it or not, they expect you to respond to questions and complaints on social media – immediately. So, you got to respond!

According to the findings of jdpower.com, 67% of consumers have used a company’s social media site for customer service, compared to 33% for social marketing.

That means prospective clients or customers do not only expect brands to be available on social media, they expect them to respond to them with lightning speed.

On Twitter, 53% of users expect a brand to respond within 1 hour.

Here are some strategies you can use on social media to meet the needs of your audience:

• Respond promptly to questions and concerns raised by your fans and followers.
• Be transparent and respectful in your responses, and move potentially ‘hot’ issues offline if possible.
• Create Facebook groups for fans to ask questions, give feedback or get more personalized support.
• Engage in social listening to monitor brand and product mentions. Respond when appropriate.

If you expect your fans and followers to trust, like and patronise you, you need to be willing to build rapport and keep open lines of communication. When you do this, your business will really shine on social media.

As you become a trusted industry resource, you will be able to get more clients naturally. As you provide excellent social customer care, brand loyalty grows, and long-term mutually-beneficial relationships are formed.

Do you need training or more strategies on how to engage on social media to build trust, loyalty and eventual sales? Reach out to us.