Often we all get a little caught up in the idea that social media is going to bring us more revenue. However, it is key to remember that social media is all about building relationships, which will in turn bring in those sales we all desire.

Social media is an opportunity to engage your customers. Beginning to build those relationships will be the foundation to creating a solid and loyal customer base. There are three easy steps to take as a brand to engage with your customers:

1. Show you’re human

Your customers are individuals, even in a B2B situation. This is an outstanding way for you to actually have a conversation with them. Dialogue is vital to any relationship.

2. Get to know your customers

This is more than just understanding who your target audience is and acknowledging what they might what to see and read. It’s all about the conversations. When conversing with friends, you talk about what’s important to them – their upcoming wedding, their new job, that great new coffee place they found. The same thing holds true to your customers. If they mention something, catch the conversational ball and throw it back. Engage your customers.

3. Genuinely care about your customers

Your customers are your business. Without them you wouldn’t have a job. Even if it’s a simple nod, say with a favorite or like when your brand is mentioned on Twitter or Facebook, your customers will appreciate the acknowledgement. It might even make their day!

One brand, May Designs, does a great job of creating personal relationships with their customers. In fact, they adhere to all three of these simple rules. They ask their customers to tweet, Instagram, or share photos on Facebook of the product they purchased. They suggest that you tag them and use a special hashtag to categorize the photos.

Additionally, May Designs goes back through and retweets/reposts each of these photos with a personal comment. This shows they are interested in what their customer created. When they comment on the excitement of their customer, it shows May Designs is willing to get to know them, and it shows they really do care about what’s going on in their lives.

SJC understands the value of engaging customers through social media. We find it can be an extremely impactful way of drawing customers into the culture of the company. If you need help finding ways to engage your customers on social media, get in touch with us today!