5 Ways to Create Connection

Do you feel like your brand is showing up on social media in a big way? Are you blasting ads, promoting blogs and pushing pictures like a champion? How much of that content connects with your audience or are you pushing out the corporate version of “Hey girl”?

1. Put Customer Service front and center for your business in the hands of a person backed by a plan. Build a list of contact names, areas of expertise, complete with emails, social handles and phone numbers. Then, educate your front person how you expect the list to be used. Do the subject matter experts want direct connection with the customer or do they want the social person to serve as the communication conduit? Build a process and thoroughly communicate it internally. You don’t want customers waiting days for acknowledgement and a follow-up solution. Make contact, connect with the right people on behalf of the customer, propose the solution or make the appropriate introductions.
2. Really listen. Don’t just talk about your products and services Take the time to listen and speak to your customers’ needs. You can do this by following the comments and feedback sections of your blogs, products and social feed. You can also send out surveys to engage your customer base and get some real answers about the problems their facing.
3. Segment your website to create a more personalized experience for your users. This requires a bit more knowledge of your guests and their preferences, but the payoff is an emotionally invested customer. By targeting preferences and speaking to their needs, they will feel known and seen. Isn’t that what we all want and need?
4. Use your phone for something other than social media and sports scores. Believe it or not, you can talk to other people through that tiny box in your pocket! Pick it up and have a conversation with your customers about the ways they’re struggling. Ask them how you can better serve them. Then take the time to listen. This isn’t about making a sale. This is about solving a need and/or providing a real solution.
5. Be human. Empathize. Drop the corporate-ese. Relate to your customers and guests the way that you would to friends and neighbors. If we take off our “corporate armor,” it’s much easier to find common ground. Then, it’s just two people talking about how to make things better.

Do any of these points resonate with you? What do you do to make sure you’re connecting and not just commenting?