Question

Topic: Social Media

Engaging Customers

Posted by Anonymous on 9/3/2009 at 12:22 PM ET 125 Points
Hi

The website i work on has had a face book fan page set up for a while but only over the past few months have we really started to use it and offer our 'fans' something different. We get a lot of customer putting there customer services queries on there (which we dont mind at all) and we answer back to them. But it seems the page now is just there for queries and not real customer experiences, we dont feel it is representing our brand in the way we would like.

We recently ran a face of facebook competition to try and get our customer more involved and supporting each other in the competition which worked really well. ( the photoshoot is scheduled in the next few weeks)

since then the interest seems to have dropped a little and i have the job of sorting it out, would lve to hear some ideas or insights into how i could make this work.

Thanks

Brad
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RESPONSES

  • Posted on 9/3/2009 at 12:37 PM Accepted
    Hey Brad! It seems like your top goal is to get your customers to be more active on your Facebook fan page, so you can interact with them there.

    My question is, have you tried to engage your fans OFF your Facebook page? Do any of them have blogs? Are they on Twitter? In other words, what if you went to THEM and interacted with them in THEIR space first? Go leave comments on their blogs, go reply to them on Twitter. If they are really FANS of your company, then they will absolutely LOVE that you are reaching out to them. And as you do, invite them to check out your Facebook page and help you generate interest there. Again, fans will LOVE that you are reaching out to them and asking them for help.

    Any company that does any significant portion of their business online should be doing exactly this. But I think you're making your job a bit harder by trying to convince your fans to interact in YOUR space, as opposed to interacting in their's. They can do both, and more importantly, YOU should be interacting with them in BOTH places.

    Good luck!
  • Posted on 9/4/2009 at 4:31 PM Accepted
    Hi Brad, given your description it seems like you are or want to use Facebook as a way to enhance promotions or marketing campaigns, while it's obvious your customers want to talk to you and connect with you regarding their questions.

    I think you might have better success with Facebook if you keep having those conversations versus trying to push marketing on them. Then once two-way relationships are established slowly share your messaging, promotions, etc. with them. Ask for their continued feedback on all aspects of the company. They are, afterall, your greatest asset and would probably love to be tapped for feedback. :)

    If you look at any social media tool or community (and these tools do lead to communities) as just a way to support short-term campaigns, you'll get short-term returns (over and over and over...you get my point) versus a steady, healthy, ongoing stream of engagement and conversation that leads to brand evangelism and word of mouth.

    Hope this helps! If not...let's keep talking.

    Beth Harte
    Community Manager, MarketingProfs
    @bethharte
  • Posted on 9/8/2009 at 7:47 AM Author
    Hi Guys

    Thanks for your help, will definatley get rolling with some of these ideas and hopefully will see some changes. I have never had any advance from any forum or media saying engage with customers in there space and get involved in there activities.

    Thanks again

    Brad
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