Three Great Social Media Engagement Strategies To Build Consumer Trust

Consumer engagement is just as important as the products and services you offer. Engaging with your target audience and loyal customers yields a hefty amount of consumer trust. The more you utilize the social media engagement tools available to your business, the better your business will do.

These three social media strategies will not only result in more brand recognition, but they will also help you set a reputation for your company by having real people believe in your brand. 

Audience Engagement

Engaging with your audience is one of the biggest ways to make — or break — your brand reputation. A great way to engage with your online audience, whether it’s on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or other platforms, is to communicate with them via comments. If someone reaches out with a question, comment or concern, you can address that by replying to them. They, as well as others, will see that and know that there’s a trustworthy brand representative offering help when needed.

People also like to see the comments because they might have a question that was answered by you. Essentially, you would be saving yourself, and others, time. This doesn’t mean you need to reply to every single comment, especially if some comments are spammy, irrelevant or just false. Just showing an interest in your audience will build trust with them. And in return, they may be more likely to want to use your products or services.

Personal messages like customer service chats, as well as checking in on a consumer after they have done business with you, are other great ways to build consumer trust. People appreciate your concern and like to know that there is a real person on the other end who is there to help. Not every consumer wants to interact openly on your social media. Adapting to that comfort level and making it personal for them will help build a meaningful connection with them. They just might leave you a kind review somewhere down the road. At the very least, you would have made a lasting positive impression on them, and that is always good for your brand’s success.

Feedback

Conducting surveys to get feedback from your consumers is a results-driven strategy. By posting or sending out a survey, you can find out what consumers liked or disliked about different aspects of your brand. You can also allow space for additional feedback at the end of the survey for the concerns that your survey didn’t cover.

Surveys are a great tool because they give consumers the freedom to be more open about how they feel about your brand. Consumers can also benefit from surveys because occasionally, your brand can offer special promotions for completing one.

For example, have you ever ordered food at a restaurant and the receipt includes a survey with a great offer or promotion for food? Many brands can utilize this strategy. If your business is online-based, you could reward them for their feedback by offering discount codes to use at checkout. A lot of consumers find it helpful to let brands know how they are doing.

Polls are another awesome way to ask a question and find out which way your audience leans on something about your brand. After seeing the results of the surveys and polls, you can formulate new strategies to accommodate your consumers’ needs. Additionally, you can post on your business social media accounts and let everyone know your business has reviewed their feedback and is taking their feedback into consideration. People appreciate knowing their feedback was heard, and it gives them the opportunity to stick with you while you make improvements! 

Shoutouts

Brand shoutouts, while including their respective social media handles, are just one more awesome way to build trust with your consumers, as well as with other brands. Consumers and other brands alike enjoy seeing engagement like this. Brand shoutouts give consumers a better understanding of the kinds of brands your business works with.

Shoutouts are anything that publicly recognizes things such as new partnerships and sponsors. They are also very useful when you want to thank other brands for their products and services. Brands appreciate the love on social media, as it gets them more brand recognition. Furthermore, it will help build your brand credibility with that brand, as well as with others, for future business.

Consumer shoutouts are also very meaningful to your target audience and social media followers — no matter the platform. Shoutouts, such as publicly thanking a consumer for their kind review, are also appreciated. There are so many benefits of shoutouts that there are even software platforms to assist with them.

A great example of shouting out to a consumer would be to share a small, heartfelt story of how your brand helped them. Even just thanking them for their business is a great way to build a personal connection with them. This communicates to other consumers that your brand cares about individuals. This a strong strategy to help your brand build trust with consumers. 

Concluding Thoughts

Together, audience engagement, feedback and shoutouts are all wonderful ways to harness the power of social media for your brand. Consumers appreciate the effort brands put into communicating with their audience and making feedback-based improvements. When brands use these strategies to positively engage with their audience, consumer trust can only grow. As a result, many consumers, as well as other brands, would be more likely to refer your brand to others. Ultimately, this builds a level of trust that will resonate with consumers.

John Rampton is an entrepreneur, investor, and startup enthusiast. He is a founder of the calendar productivity tool Calendar. You can sign up for early access to Calendar here!

This article originally appeared on Forbes via YEC.