How can you create a seamless customer journey using social media?

Personas should be based on data and research, and reflect the needs, challenges, preferences, and motivations of your ideal customers. For example, your persona might be a 30-year-old male professional who is interested in health and fitness.

Being unique and "quirky" by nature certainly supports today's social media successes, and I am not one who marches to the beat of others' drums. In being original, you inspire so many more followers, who engage and share your interest is inspiration, creativity, and engagement. Linkedin has provided a platform for all to share their creative edge and vision. That's where we gain our most visibility and traction, in simply being your best self, by providing pertinent information, inspiration and support collaboration.

Knowing your audience is half the battle won, and to make it a seamless experience we also have to allow the audience to know us and feel comfortable to engage with us. Depending on the stage of the audience (consideration or awareness etc) , we should make it more than obvious and provide an avenue to engage and ‘learn more’ or take some action. Whether to ‘buy now’ or even a simple clear call to action to ‘save this for later’ points them in the right direction.

I recently had the opportunity to work with a software company that successfully implemented a seamless customer journey on social media. The company started by clearly defining its goals - they wanted to increase brand awareness, generate leads, and ultimately drive conversions. They also identified their target personas - small business owners who were looking for an affordable yet robust software solution.

Every time I map out a social media strategy, it feels a bit like orchestrating an elaborate stage production. Firstly, I ensure our content calendar aligns with our customer personas, sort of like setting the scene. Then, I dive deep into audience analytics, pinpointing when they're most active and responsive. That's like scheduling the main acts. Engagement tools? They're our interactive sessions, our Q&As. And of course, I always keep a close eye on metrics, tweaking our strategy based on real-time feedback. It's a dynamic space, and every day is a live performance. Gotta be on your toes, adjust to the crowd, and most importantly, deliver a show they won't forget.

To map the customer journey stages, the company identified key touchpoints where they could engage with their audience on social media. They created different types of content tailored to each stage of the journey - from informative blog posts to engaging videos showcasing their software's features.

Mapping your customer's persona and journey through social media is a strategic imperative. Start by crafting detailed customer personas based on data, reflecting their needs, preferences, and motivations. Next, map the customer journey stages, considering awareness, interest, desire, and action. Extend the journey post-purchase with stages like satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy.

At which stages in their journey do your customers visit which of your social media channels? How often? What are they looking for? Taking a data-driven approach to answering those questions will take time. But it will help to make vast improvements for content optimization across channels.

*PIVOT* Fans of Friends will appreciate that reference ;-) Mapping is a great way to be organized and prepared. But companies must be willing and able to pivot on a moment's notice. There are times when in the customer journey a few (or many) customers take a course you did not anticipate. If it's a larger quantity than your predictions accounted for, do not panic. One way to avoid that is to have the "what if's" listed out, and actionable items if these occur. Being unprepared will make the company look messy, and often with different actions/reactions to different customers. In this scenario, consistency is key.

Create content that captivates and intrigues your audience, encouraging them to explore your products or services further. Measure engagement metrics like likes, shares, comments, and click-through rates.

When starting out on social media, one of the biggest mistakes people make is feeling the need to be everywhere. "I need to be on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snap, LinkedIn, TikTok etc." Social media is daunting. It is much better to start out really strong on 2 platforms than be spread thin with 6. There is no reason to force it or water down your content just because you feel the need to post everywhere. Pick the 1-3 platforms that you can best excel at in the beginning, and then branch out from there.

Through targeted advertising campaigns on social media platforms, they were able to reach potential customers at every stage of the customer journey. They used compelling visuals and persuasive copy to capture attention and drive engagement.

No matter how you approach mapping the various stages of the customer journey of the number of stages you’ve outlined, it is important, from a content creation perspective, to consistently strive to generate content for each of these stages.

Guide your social media audience to your website or landing pages where they can learn more about your offerings. Monitor the increase in website traffic originating from social media channels.

Absolutely! Creating and distributing content is like sharing stories with friends: Create: Craft engaging content that resonates with your audience. Distribute: Share it through the right channels, like social media or email. It's about sparking conversations, building relationships, and adding value. Just like chatting with friends, but in the digital world!

The rise of the "community manager" title across verticals is evidence of marketers tapping into the consumer's increased need for a sense of belonging in a post-pandemic world where volumes of data show a sharp global increase in loneliness since 2020. Content is not king. Relationships are. And social media, used wisely, is a place to use content to foster relationships! What an opportunity! Nurture your leads in creative, selfless ways. Highlight them for your audience! Don't expect anything of them. But when they do share that content, they'll be putting your name in front of their followers.

Great (!) reminder that social media is not about broadcasting your content - including engaging content. It is about fostering relationships, building community, providing value and creating trust. It’s the social part of social media that companies often miss.

Personalised events and contact has always had a greater impact in our business. Appearing in multiple places of course helps build trust as well.

Social media is all about building relationships - whether this is your community manager ensuring that your followers feel that they are engaging with your brand in an authentic way or your sales team using social media platforms to best engage and nurture leads over time. Consider discussing as a team what you would like to achieve; linking to your objectives previously set. Once agreement has been made then consider which tools could be beneficial to take your community management to the next level!

This is one of the biggest challenges that I see across industries. There's a big push for content on social media, but that's where the engagement stops. It's important to understand the customer's journey, ensure that there is a clear line of communication, and not allow any leads to get lost. I have seen countless accounts where the content creation is great but the communication on the website, follow-up on inquiries, or even how the service or product is delivered is lacking.

The company also made it easy for customers to convert by offering free trials of their software directly through social media platforms. This streamlined the conversion process and encouraged users to try out the product without any barriers. To ensure customer delight, they provided exceptional support through various channels including chatbots on social media platforms. This allowed customers to ask questions or resolve any issues in real time.

By nurturing your community, brands and organizations can often leverage that into more compelling content. If you've already converted or delighted someone, give them a legit incentive to provide a genuine testimonial. People are more likely to trust someone like them, as opposed to a brand. This is why community building is so critical. Using the Stanley car fire example.. Stanley could post 100 times about how durable their product was, and people may not buy. It took 1 video of it in a car fire to demonstrate how great the product was. While few brands can buy a new car for someone, think about the power that has. That person who suffered was given such an incentive, they will likely never stop promoting Stanley products.

Retain existing customers by providing valuable content, personalized offers, and exceptional customer service through your social channels. Track customer retention rates and repeat purchases.

At the final stage, it's all about turning followers into happy customers on social media. Use clear calls to action, like 'buy now' or 'subscribe,' and make it easy for them on your site. After they've made a purchase, show appreciation, ask for feedback, and keep them engaged with rewards like discounts and loyalty programs. It's not just about sales; it's about building lasting relationships and growing your brand

If you use social media well for top- and middle-of-the-funnel nurturing, you can also use it to convert. Apart from social ads, there are several social selling techniques that you can use to seamlessly sell via social media. Among them, live events, UGC (User Generated Content) and influence marketing strategies allow you to gain authenticity and make your brand relatable to your prospects. Encourage clients and influencers to use the video format, as it is the one that produces the higher engagement, shows Agorapulse data. They can include a promo code, a tracked link or use native shopping features on networks such as Instagram or TikTok. Be sure to check the comments and address any concern that could cause friction before checkout.

KPI tracking is critical to creating a compelling customer journey. Successful campaigns should show uptick across the funnel right down to sales. Most importantly advertisers need to be in a perpetual loop of learning and optimizing. Tons of research show that optimizing across tactical drivers like reach, frequency, weeks on air etc can double ROI for the same message with same investment and thats just money on the table.

Lastly, the company constantly analyzed their performance using analytics tools available on social media platforms. They tracked key metrics such as engagement rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and customer satisfaction scores. By regularly reviewing this data, they were able to optimize their social media strategy and make necessary adjustments to improve their customer journey.

Inspire satisfied customers to become brand advocates who recommend your products or services to others. Measure the growth in referral traffic and user-generated content.

Many tools on the market can provide analytic reports that help you evaluate your success, and pivot as needed. What’s special about Agorapulse, is that its patented tool “Social Media ROI” crosses social media data with your GA4 data, allowing you to know precisely how much you made with each specific post. When you realize that one Reel or tweet generated thousands of dollars, for instance, you may be inclined to replicate its format for your other products and services. Leverage these reports to make data-driven decisions in your social media marketing.

Recuerda: hay que tener en cuenta los recursos invertidos, como por ejemplo el tiempo invertido para tener una valoración real del roi en redes sociales

The existence of order and coherence in social media is very important. Order in posting, attractive and consistent, which is made of brand identity and appropriate tone

In a recent challenge at Council, our rock pool had to close due to factors beyond our control. The original technical communication given to us was full of jargon and missed connecting with our community. So we changed tactics. We celebrated Mother Nature's power instead of complaining about the delay. After a simple, positive language makeover, we shared the update. The response was amazing! Our community appreciated our transparency, thanking us for the updates instead of complaining about the inconvenience. With simple language, a positive outlook, and a nod to the forces of nature, we turned what could have been a complaint fest into a celebration of the awesomeness of nature and our shared community connection.

The customer journey on social media is anything but linear. It's a dynamic, evolving process that doesn't adhere to a fixed path from initial awareness to conversion. Instead, it represents an ongoing relationship with your audience. After customers take the desired 'final action,' they ideally become advocates for your brand, serving as valuable touch points in the journey of your future customers.

First you merge all channels into one holistic strategy then align your brand and product experiences through Personalized ads,Consistent communication,the closer you can get to the customer, the more you can increases the likelihood of a conversion. This means connecting with your customers by encouraging them to become loyalty members, signing up for email, text reminders, product alerts and/or back in store notifications

Customer journeys are not a straight line, like they show you in older marketing books. People wander from one channel to the other, and may not consume the content you had planned for them at a specific stage in the conversion funnel. In order to make the most of their journey on social media, multiply touch points and highlight your expertise in high value content, so that you are top of mind when your leads are ready to buy.