Top 20 Tips to engagement
21/09/2011
So you want to engage with your customers more?
Here are 20 Top Tips to help you on your way.
Perspektiv’s 20 top tips are all proven ways you can improve customer engagement across your company using a variety of different marketing channels. Obviously, not all of them will be relevant to you and your activities, but all of them will give you food for thought.
1. Don’t interrupt – engage
The old Attention, Interest, Desire and Action model of interacting with customers just doesn’t cut it anymore. This ‘interruptive marketing’ intruded into the consumer’s mind and took control of his or her decision making process. Marketing now is moving from interruptive to engagement oriented.
2. Use online AND offline
Social media is all the rage but offline shouldn’t be forgotten. In fact, the best response can come from cross media marketing which combines direct mail, email, web and mobile communication channels to produce highly targeted marketing.
3. Find and identify
Spot the areas in the social media landscape where the people who engage with your brand are talking about you.
4. Watch
Listen to the conversations and set up online tools (there are plenty to choose from) to regularly update you on these conversations.
5. Don't just jump in
Before getting involved in groups, blogs, forums and so on think carefully about your approach. Sometimes it's good to let your advocates do the talking. At other times it might be better to take part in a subtle manner. If the tone of the conversation is negative, be polite, honest and conciliatory.
6. Focus
Focus on the quality of your customer service, product and offering when engaging with customers. Don’t let price be your only differentiator. Consumers want the best possible combination of product and service at the right price.
7. Give value
This can be classed as good information and insight, or even VIP offers and preferential treatment. And everything needs to be free – with no catches or strings attached!
8. Have fun
If you're setting up groups, apps or widgets on any type of social media platform be entertaining and fun. That's what people expect and that's what will help things to go viral. But don’t do this at the expense of your brand values. Be funny but not silly.
9. Communicate
Tell your customers how easy it is to talk to a real person whether online or offline. You must also prepare and empower your employees to be able to solve customer problems without having to go to a superior.
10. Give great service
This should be your focus across all marketing channels. So don’t give in to temptation to cut costs and corners. Investing in service is an investment in your company and customers.
11. It’s not all self-service
Don’t put too many eggs in the self-service basket. When issues are complex or frustrating, customers want to talk to a real person.
12. Use the four key types of consumer engagement
Media Engagement, Ad Engagement, Engagement Marketing and Brand Engagement.
13. Go mobile
Engage with your target audience where they already spend their time – on their mobiles and smart phones. These have advanced to the point where surfing the web is as quick and easy as using a PC or laptop.
14. Be social and sociable
Don’t always bang on about you and your company, your brand, products or services. People will quickly get bored! Take an interest in the people you want to engage with and offer something they can use in their social life.
15. Listen
Listen to the voice of the customer and amplify it throughout your organisation. Your employees need to be as sensitive to the current state of service as your customers are.
16. Ask for feedback
Aggressively promote the fact that you want feedback across all channels. You want to know when you get it wrong. And make it easy for customers to contact you and get immediate access to empowered and empathetic employees.
17. It’s all about awareness
That is the bottom line in social media. If your activities raise awareness of your brand that’s great. If it also creates interest and involvement then that's a bonus.
18. Don’t think about the ROI
Measuring the exact financial return from any investment in social media is probably impossible.
19. Invest
Invest time, effort and money in consumer engagement. Do everything possible not to lose customers. Because if they go they’ll probably never come back.
20. Just do it
Open your brand up to your customers and encourage engagement as part of your wider strategy of marketing activities. If you don't do it, your competitors will. In fact, they probably already are!
For more information on consumer engagement, call David Thacker on 0115 950 0510.
Download Top 20 Tips as PDF document