So you’ve built up your social following. Your Facebook, Instagram and Twitter are really booming and your followers are engaged and focused on what you are sharing each week. This following is actually providing follow through in the sense of leads and actual sales. Great job! Now comes the slightly more significant part; client retention. Keeping your customers coming back and staying loyal to your brand takes focus and attention to detail.
Whether providing a service or selling a product, your customer’s journey doesn’t have to expire after the first “purchase”. Consider what the next steps need to be in your marketing strategy. What should you implement to encourage repeat purchases, customer loyalty and recommendations?
Continue to maintain your website, social media accounts, email and print marketing. Research what your audience wants and expects and keep producing that content. Don’t assume once you’ve built up your following and gained sales that you can become stagnant with your marketing efforts. The more you share your own content, the more insight you provide into your company and supporting facts, the stronger the bonds will be with your audience.
Feed off of the loyal following and use it to your advantage. Collect testimonials, respond to social reviews and comments. Gather that unfiltered material and share it with new and existing customers. Let them see what others have seen. Allow them to compare their situation or experience to others. Build a sense of connection and community between your followers. Encourage engagement and interaction within your group and watch the confidence build around your brand.
“Emotionally connected customers have a 306% higher lifetime value (LTV), stay with a brand for an average of 5.1 years vs. 3.4 years, and will recommend brands at a much higher rate (71% vs. 45%).”
Consider something new. Create a new Facebook group, update your Insta stories, start a group chat or personalize your emails. Creating a sense of “exclusivity” for your loyal customers allows them to feel special and welcomed. Building a community via social groups will humanize your brand, it will give it a voice through the eyes of your consumers and it will give your customers a chance to be heard. Allowing them to be a part of something and share their experience with others of similar interest will create positive sustenance. Try personalizing your email marketing. Send reminders, spark their interests with reminders of what they left behind or new things coming down the line.
Let them know you’ve heard them, you pay attention and you understand what they are looking for. Introduce a loyalty program to honor repeat purchases. With the simple act of something like a loyalty program, you can build client retention and devotion. You know they love what you are offering, give them a reason to stay.
Don’t be too proud to show your appreciation. You wouldn’t be where you are without your customers and you need to do all you can to keep them coming back. If you need help determining what stage you are in with your audience, give us a call, we can help!
