In a world where everyone and their mother, no really, is on social media, it can be tough to stand out. The space for your business to appear on a Facebook newsfeed is quickly being taken up by baby pictures, #TBT posts, cat pictures, and more. Instead of folding under pressure, let’s get creative and give people a reason to keep coming back.
1. Encourage check-ins
As Facebook continues to build Places pages, it’s important to encourage customers to check in. A check-in by your customers creates brand visibility to all of their friends on Facebook and is tied in with Facebook search.
I recently did a search for “pet stores visited by my friends” because, as a consumer, I want to see where my friends are shopping and if others had enjoyed their experiences there as well.
Businesses can offer incentives for customers to check in – and it doesn’t have to be an offer that’s going to break the bank! Something as simple as $2 off or a free appetizer is a great incentive!
2. Use Customer Content as Advertising
One of the benefits of social media is the content can be so engaging. Photos are beautiful and we’ve started to see videos pop up more and more. If customers are sharing photos that are connected to your business, share it! This is a great way to get a customer review on your Facebook page and it’s free advertising for your business.
This is an example of a very powerful product promotion post that cost this dealer absolutely no money! A customer sent them a before and after photo from a recent project using a lawn edger. As a consumer, if I had an upcoming summer project this post would certainly inspire me to rent from this store!
The same idea goes for customers who post photos or videos straight to your page or tag your business in them. Share all of this free content from your customers to increase engagement and give your customers a moment to shine on your page!
3. Give Customers a Reason to Keep Engaging
Something that we love here at NMR is Trivia Tuesday. It’s tried and true and it’s a great way to build engagement on your page on a weekly basis. During the month of July, we had a dealer attach a little incentive to it to really amp up the involvement. Powell Feed gave away a $25 gift card to one lucky winner – all the customer had to do was comment on a Trivia Tuesday post during the month to be entered to win! This increased their engagement like crazy, we typically get between 5-7 comments per week, but during this promotion we had 53 comments in the first week!
There was a time when simply being on social media was enough to generate buzz about your business. However, given the fact that several social media sites have high numbers of users, a competitive presence is necessary. In the end it comes down to connecting with your customers on social media in a creative, fun and highly engaging manner.