Consumer trends: What do your customers want from you on social media?
Social media isn’t just about posting a video or an image. In order to be successful on social media - that is consistently successful and not just “viral” - you need to give your customers what they want.
So what do they want? Let’s take a look at 3 things that customers want from brands on social media.
Connection
Social media is great at connecting people with one another and that extends to brands too. It’s important for brands to build connections with their customers through social media. In fact, according to a report by Sprout Social - 64% of consumers want brands to connect with them. Additionally 57% also say they would increase their spending with a brand they feel connected to.
There are several ways you can build connections through social media. For example, you could engage with your audience (like and reply to their comments, like their posts, etc.), respond to direct messages, post consistently, and more. Sprout Social also found that 70% of consumers report feeling more connected to a brand whose CEO is active on social media, and 72% feel more connected when the brand’s employees share information on social media.
Check out our blog, How to use social media to build better customer relationships to learn more.
Authenticity
It’s important to be authentic and transparent on social media and according to a report by Stackla, a whopping 88% of consumers say that authenticity is important when choosing which brands to support. There are several ways that brands can be authentic on social media. They could work with influencers, integrate user generated content, be transparent and vocal about important causes, and more.
Why do these things work? Let’s take a look at a few quick stats. 69% of consumers reported that they are more likely to trust an influencer over a brand. User generated content is a great way to build authenticity because it means using content your consumers are creating. 79% of people say that UGC highly impacts their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, 72% want to see photos and videos from real customers on e-commerce sites.
Here are some of our current blogs to help guide you when building authencity:
Customer Service
Good customer service is key for any brand - even on social media… Maybe ESPECIALLY on social media! Like the examples above, there are so many ways brands can offer great customer service on social media. For example, be social - like and reply to comments and direct messages, comment and like UGC and posts about your brand, answer questions and make sure you also address concerns or bad experiences.
If you’d like more tips, check out our blog 3 ways to use social media for great customer service.
To give your customers what they want on social media, you also have to know WHO they are, what’s important to them, and how to market to them. We’ve created 3 guides to help businesses whose target market is millennials, Gen Z, or Gen X. Check them out below:
If you’ve read this guide as well as some of our others linked here, but would still like more guidance, let’s connect! Book your free 20-minute consultation to find out how we can help!