Ever get a song stuck in your head? We’ve all been there.
Chances are, that song that’s stuck in your head is likely a perennial favourite that’s holding steady at the top of your Spotify playlist these days. You play it on repeat. You can’t get enough of it.
Or, on the flip side, it could be that annoying tune that’s been dubbed ‘the song of the summer’ and seems to be on non-stop rotation on the radio, in elevators, on the loud speakers at the grocery store. Everywhere. A broken record. The moment you hear the first few notes, you sigh “ugh, not again!” and immediately tune out.
It got me thinking about the free-for-all forum of opinions, feedback and commentary on social media. The immediate gratification of tweeting your take in 280 characters or less, showing your sentiment with a simple click of a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down or a heart emoji, or airing your grievances with a long-winded comment (read: rant) and the Like.
For businesses and brands, your social media community can be the ultimate sounding board, temperature check and portal to a statistically significant sample size for understanding if your messages resonate, if your products fit the bill, if your services are hitting the mark.
The beauty (and the beast) of social media is that customer feedback is often swift, honest and in abundance. It can be music to your ears – or, on the other end of the spectrum, totally dissonant – or somewhere in the middle. There may be cheerleaders, advocates and evangelists, naysayers and skeptics, and folks who are on the fence or don’t really care either way.
The key is to take the opportunity to listen to your audience. In short, Listen. Tweak. Rinse. Repeat.
Listen – You can find a world of insight into the customer experience by engaging in social listening across platforms. Monitor direct mentions of your handle, keywords and relevant hashtags – both branded hashtags and unbranded ones that fit with your category and industry. Scout for user-generated content (UGC) for real-life snapshots by your customers to see your product or service in action. Pay attention to what’s working, what’s not, which key messages are resonating well, which ones are a complete miss, where your customers are, and so on. You’ll likely also glean some valuable insight into customer pain points, feature requests, pricing, buyer personas, new use cases, competitive climate and more.
Tweak – With a wealth of customer feedback at hand, the next step is to analyze the data, identify gaps and trends, and pinpoint how and where you want to shift your brand and product strategy. You’ll have a clearer vantage point for shortlisting value-add upgrades and enhancements to your product/service offering (think: add-ons and upsell), with the aim to better meet your customers’ needs and wants.
Rinse – Your newfound insights via your ‘listening post’ can also help you strengthen your messaging to resonate more with your audience. Take the opportunity to build and nurture relationships with your customers and prospects through conversations and crowdsourcing (who doesn’t love a fun quiz or poll?). You just might find some brand advocates along the way!
Repeat – This goes without saying, but it’s worth repeating (see what I did there?) – this isn’t a one-time-only exercise. By making this method a regular part of your social media programming and staying true to your brand, you’ll be one step closer to achieving brand loyalty and customer retention.
After all, as the famous quote goes, your brand is what people are saying about you when you’re not in the room. And you want your brand to be that amazing song that people just can’t get enough of.
Looking to get a fresh take on your content strategy? Let’s chat.
- michelle
ps - I made you a mixtape (um, playlist) just like old times, because that’s what friends do, right?!