Building Customer Relationships Through Facebook

A million Facebook fans? Or 100 loyal customers? Which would you rather have?

Businesses focus so much on increasing the number of followers and trying to get a ‘like’ or a ‘share’ out of them, the idea of building a relationship with them falls by the wayside. If you have no relationship with your customers, whatever else you do becomes immaterial. What you need to do is to build a loyal relationship and harness potential customers rather than just followers that will like and share every post they find.

Start with a customer database. Similar to one you would have if you operated a brick and mortar store have customer data stored in a comprehensive database. This information will help you understand your customers better, what they like, dislike, their demographic, interests and other important details. The more you understand them, the easier it is to post content and visuals that they will relate and connect to.

Encourage interaction and build a two way relationship. Engage with your customers and ask to share images of them using the product or service. These kinds of interaction are effective at drawing your customers closer to the brand. They feel appreciated that you took an interest in finding out whether they liked the product or service. The more appreciated they feel, the likely they will turn into loyal customers of the brand.

Who are your most important fans? Like any sport, game or show you get loyal fans. These are people who are heavily invested in something and will become big buyers and advocates. They are the ones you need to communicate with. This is word of mouth advertising at its best. You need to identify these followers and target your content to suit their specification. There is no point in posting content that appeals to people who may not give your business a second’s glance. You determine who are the most influential and get them onto your side quickly.

Make your fans feel valuable. Give them something in return. Recognize your loyal fans through a Facebook marketing campaign, like giving away a prize to thank them for their dedication and contribution. Some businesses, for instances, offer Facebook rewards to loyal fans for uploading a photo, inviting a friend or taking a poll.

Let your fans convert their virtual points into real world points. Offer loyalty and reward programs. There’s nothing like rewards that keep fans engaged and motivated.

You need to track your Facebook advertising campaign to measure its success or failure. You need to measure if the interactions are creating profits. A loyal fan and a devoted customer should be your ultimate Facebook goal when it comes to building customer relationships. This is what businesses aim for, invest in and hope to see by the end of the campaign.