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Posts Tagged ‘business strategy’

How To Improve The Way You Communicate With Your Customers On Social Media

Posted by siteadmin22

Social media is one of the best ways to remain in constant contact with your customers. Having a strong presence on social media allows you to humanise your business and be super accessible at times when your customers need answers to any urgent enquires, they have.

Here are some tips to improve the way you communicate with your customers on social media platforms.

Respond Quickly to Customers So They Know You Care

By listening and responding to your customers messages sent via social media quickly, it shows them that you care. A recent study showed that 32 percent of customers expect a response from a company online within 30 minutes of sending the message hour. Another study showed that unhappy customers are more likely to “call you out” on social media channels. The research found 70 percent of customers are now willing to go on social media to raise awareness of issues.

Social media platforms are very public. By responding quickly and helpfully to your customers messages can lead to a huge big boost for your brand. By resolving customer complaints out in the open, you can even transform some sceptics into brand advocates.

Some customers are even willing to pay more in the future to brands who respond to them quickly. A report compiled by Twitter found that customers who got fast responses from airlines within 6 minutes, to be exact were happy to spend about $20 extra on each fare with them in the future.

The biggest dilemma most businesses experience is having enough time to monitor all of their social platforms so customers don’t feel neglected.

Make Sure That All Your Messages Have A Personalised Tone

The type of content you post on your social media accounts can act as a gateway for customers to connect. However, it’s important to put a face or a name to any communications coming from the account. Not only can adding a name to any replies make conversations more personable, but it also shows your customers that they’re talking to a real-life human.

All you need to do is add in the customer’s name to your replies, and sign-off using our own.

Some tips to remember when personalizing communications on social channels are to always address the customer using their first name, end any comments or Tweets with either your name, initials, or the company name. It is also important to remain professional and friendly since social media communications are in the public space and anybody can see the comments you post.

Ask For Reviews and Make Sure You Respond to Them

Facebook pages provide the perfect opportunities for customers to rate a business’s product or service. This means you get another place to collect good reviews or negative ones.

What you need to watch out for when you choose to open up your company Facebook page, however, is negative reviews from disgruntled customers. These are inevitable, and the way you respond to them can either totally turn the situation around, or make it much worse.

Whenever you receive feedback, it is important to make sure you respond in a professional manner. It is also important to make sure you explain your side of the story whenever you are the recipient of a negative comment. The general public can read any bad comments that are written and it is essential to make sure you defend the reputation of your business. Whenever you receive post reviews make sure you thank them for their kind words and tell them that you look forward to seeing them in store next time, they visit your store or business.

Don’t Make Everything Post You Make About Your Business

Social media platforms can definitely help boost your brand’s messaging and products. However, that doesn’t mean every post and interaction you have with your customers’ needs to be about your products. Instead, think of your social media platforms as a way to connect with your customers and target audience about topics they’re interested in.

Whether it’s a cute picture of a dog, an inspirational article or something your brand is doing to help the community, social media posts that aren’t about your business can help you become more relatable and less salesy.

Offer Rewards and Host Competitions for Your Customers

Most people go on social media for really 3 main things: to see something fun or funny, to communicate, or to complain. To give your customers something fun to do on social media you should try hosting a contest for your audience or customers.

Not only are online competitions and contests fun, but they also show your customers that you appreciate them. On top of that, contests also get some buzz going for your brand. The more excited your customers are about a giveaway, the more likely they are to shout about it on their own social channels and bring new customers your way.

How Your Small Business Can Become More Eco-Friendly

Posted by Emily Ridley

In recent years customers have become more conscious about the impact their purchases are having on the environment. If you are the owner of a small business, it is highly recommended that you evaluate the impact your business methods are having on the environment. By making any effort to do this your customers will be impressed and it will make you appear more trustworthy and respectable.

Here are some tips to help your business become more eco-friendly.

Use More Sustainable Products

The items companies purchase to ensure their workplaces function well be it printer paper, cleaning products or to-go containers can be toxic to the environment due to the processes that go into making them. 

For all those paper items commonly used, such as rolls of toilet paper and reams of printer paper, office managers can look for labelling that says it is made from post or pre-consumer waste. Recycled products such as these maintain a circular economy and reduce overall waste.

For cleaning products, there is a whole cottage industry of green cleaners that don’t include toxic chemicals, opting instead for natural ingredients that work just as well. Using these products keeps toxic ingredients out of the streams and their waste out of landfills. 

Write a sustainability page or policy

A brilliant way to share your sustainability values and efforts with both your customers and your staff is to create a sustainability policy or page and have it published on your website.

If you’re a business with many staff, a policy outlining the goals and steps to becoming more sustainable will help make sure that everyone who works at your organisation is on the same page. Your policy can literally be “Our organisation is aspiring to become eco-friendlier, here are the actions everyone in the business is required to take and the values that need to be considered when making future decisions within our business.”

If your business has a website, adding a sustainability page will help outline your values for your customers and explain what steps you’re taking to become a more conscious business.

This page can consist of a list of steps you’re both currently doing, and a list of steps your organisation is moving towards. Sustainability can be a work in progress, too as long as you’re moving in the right direction. If you don’t wish to have a whole page about your sustainability police, you can simply add a blurb or paragraph to your “About page”, “Values page” or even a blog or a post on your social media platforms.

Offer Your Employees the Opportunity to Work Remotely

Because we live in a world where it is possible for more work to be completed online, there is less need for people to be in a physical office. Remote work has taken off over the past few years, allowing employees to have work-life flexibility and substantially reducing their time spent commuting. 

Working from home has become a hugely popular lifestyle for millions of employees around the world during the covid-19 pandemic. By maintaining and expanding the number of employees working from home, emissions from commutes are greatly reduced. The less cars on the road the less emissions.

Give Your Staff Public Transport Commuter Benefits

When employees do need to be in the office, how their commute contributes to greenhouse gas emissions still can be influenced. 

Public transportation (buses, trains, vanpools) is the greenest way to commute, and companies can encourage employees to take advantage of these transport options.

Small businesses can provide employees with public transit benefits that help the environment, either directly or through their human resources (HR) software. 

To provide these benefits directly, many city transit agencies offer subsidized passes for businesses. Alternately, these benefits may be available to add through HR software that centralizes all benefit programs.

Encourage Your Employees and Customers to Make Environmentally Friendly Purchases

Many car companies are encouraging their employees to go electric when choosing a new car. Many businesses are incentivising employees to buy an electric car by providing them with a monthly voucher covering a portion of their lease or finance payment. Some businesses are encouraging carpooling to and from the office. Some businesses have switched to all LED lighting in their offices and have installed solar panels to offset their energy usage.

Emerge Advisory