Are you ready to start building your brand’s presence on social media platforms? Getting followers is simply the first step of your community-building process. What you really want is for them to return frequently, engage in discussions and share your content. However, managing your social media channel/s can be a challenging task. Maintaining a community means dealing with all manner of people and remaining sensitive to individual issues as well as to group concerns. Social media communication has its own set of rules to follow. Let’s unpack these rules and learn how to effectively communicate with your social media audience. It’s easy, just use our rules for excellent social media, below.
Five social media communication rules you should be following:
Rule 1: Listen
One of the most important aspects of communication is to listen. Pay attention to what customers are saying as this will give you great insight into how they feel about your products and services. It’s also important to realise your social media channel is not a platform you can control. Rather, it is a shared social space that you can use to direct customers towards your marketing message. Be prepared to surrender your voice to your followers, and react to their comments and activity. Remember that social media communication is about engaging in an online dialogue. If you listen carefully, you might even pick up a few ideas for products or services that your audience is looking for.
Rule 2: Respond
Direct and personalised communication is vital in social media. If a customer addresses you, respond to them in the same medium. However, if a customer asks a generalised question, it’s better to respond with a direct answer. Don’t forget, timing is everything. It is essential to respond as quickly as possible – speed and relevance are appreciated by customers. And always be polite. Thank your customers for ratings and useful feedback.
If somebody complains about a problem, address it by speaking directly to the complainant and emphasise your interest for open dialogue. Never ignore, or even worse, delete comments.
Rule 3: Honesty
It is of great significance to be truthful on social media. Make sure that your responses are not vague and misleading, and never make promises you are unable to meet. If your products or services have a flaw or you have made a mistake, apologise directly and rectify the issue as quickly as possible. Any dishonesty or misrepresentation will be criticised by the community, which will harm your social media channel/s and more importantly, your reputation.
Rule 4: Relevance
Every audience is looking for engaging content. Only post new, appealing, and customer-appropriate material. Sharing relevant information that is further shared by your readers creates progressive engagement and reach on your social media channel/s. Keep an eye on current trends and find ways to link them back to your products or services. For example, since consumers are becoming more and more environmentally conscious, highlight how your product or service could help protect the environment.
Rule 5: Find a balance
Although it is important to remain relevant and current, you also need to find a balance between relevance and how often you post. Consider both your own time constraints and the nature of the social media platform. Feel free to post daily, but have a meaningful strategy in place. After all, your customers can only absorb so much before they feel overloaded.
There you have it! If you keep these five rules in mind when managing your social media channels, you’re already a step ahead of the rest. Alternatively, contact us today to manage your social media communication to ensure optimal visibility.
