With a freshly-minted Facebook page published, many business owners think it’s time to just let it fly. Engage, ask for likes and the social world will find its way to your inner circle.
Nice thought, but not likely. Folio’s Roy Beagley advises that you start with a strategy.
“Whether you engage people via a Web site, an iPad or smart phone app, through email or via any other platform, you need to have a strategy in place to make sure your customers or prospects engage with you for a long time to come—wherever they are. Assuming you plan to reach people through more than one platform, you’ll need a strategy to integrate all of them,” Beagley preaches in a recent article.
He gives some good advice. In addition to having a strategy, you need a good understanding of your customer base and a clue as to how they like to communicate. All good things for any marketer to know.
We wish Beagley had taken this article a couple of steps further. He left out a key component to successful customer engagement.
In seeking to engage, you have to understand your “why.” Why are you reaching out, and what do you hope to give or offer to your readers? If you don’t have a clear understanding of that, the best strategy will fall flat.
Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy, indeed even skeptical, of promotional tricks thinly veiled as “engagement.”
Be real, be authentic and keep your customer in mind at all times. You’re doing this for them.
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