As content marketers who are fighting for the attention of customers, you not only have to compete with other businesses but also with the family, friends, job and pretty much everything else that takes up your customer’s time. So how can a content marketer effectively engage prospects and convert them into repeat customers?
Many businesses are busy running after customers asking them to friend them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, open their emails, read their blog posts and watch their videos. To stand apart in this crowd, you need to stay relevant and useful.
It’s time to start using social media like Facebook and Twitter for more than just posting pictures, making announcements and promoting your products. Add value by addressing customer queries, answering questions and solving problems for your customers.
Start by comprehending the requirements of your customers
Let technology help you find out what your customers need and then focus on making it available to them. You’ll find a lot of useful tools like Google Trends, Google Keyword Planner or the Google Keyword Tool which will help you map useful data and statistics of what customers search for on the internet.
You could, for example use the Google Keyword Tool or the Keyword Planner to find out which keywords get hit most frequently. Include them in your search engine ad campaigns and you’ll automatically be more functional and relevant. Similarly, with Google Trends you can discover the search volume patterns of customers with respect to a particular location and time frame. Not only this, the tool also gives you other related search terms and their corresponding volumes.
Following a methodological approach to find out what your potential market is searching for is the first step to addressing customer needs.
Get into the circle of trust
No doubt you can gather a huge fan base on social media by being witty, charming and entertaining. But for how long? Being a problem solver is always a safer bet than being an entertainer. You come across as more reliable, devoted and trustworthy. And this is how you enter the circle of trust of your prospects and clients.
Make your online audience warm up to you by helping them. Use Facebook, Twitter and your blogs to ask readers their biggest problems and solve it for them. Where relevant, include useful tips, tricks, and advice, even free training courses so that your customers know you are interested in so much more than just selling your products and services.
If you cannot solve the problem at hand, introduce them to other people or businesses that could help them. This earns you their trust and you have for yourself a customer who will come back to you with other problems to be solved.
And finally stop blowing your own trumpet!
The prime objective of using social media for your business should not be self promotion. Use the social media to sell your useful information first and company second to show how much your company has to offer to its customers.