How to establish a social media community for marketing

Customers are good but communities are bigger and better. When you witness your customers forming a community, know that you've reached a benchmark. These customers will chant your praises, make regular purchases, and will encourage others to do the same. However, establishing a community is not an easy process and one that is engaged is even tougher to form. But by taking the right steps you can transform your social media platform into an attractive interactive space for customers. This will be the place where they share their views about your product or service. Positive reviews will help your business flourish like nothing else. By following the guidelines given below you can form a community successfully using an online chat app like NEEO Messenger.

• Make yourself visible and approachable:

You can’t expect your social media community to expand or promote your product if the customers are unable to communicate with you. There are several tricks that you can use to ensure your brand is within the reach of customers. For one, make sure your social sharing icons are visible on your website. Use business cards and other forms of print media to advertise your website URL. Make sure you respond personally to e-mails rather than depending on automated messages. Also, keep a lookout for customers that hash-tag your brand and try to stay connected with them.

• Research the interests of your audience:

There's a variety of people in your social media list who are all individuals with separate mindsets. Each individual will interact with the brand in his/her way. What you can do is create small divisions so that it becomes easier to reach out to the audience. For instance, if you're a clothing brand you could create separate groups for men and women. Try to get to know the people you're dealing with for effective communication.

• Try to meet the concerns of followers:

Make use of social media for not only marketing your products but for getting in touch with customers to make note of key points. Encourage your customers to share their problems and specify what exactly they're looking for. By addressing their concerns individually you can make your brand stand out. For instance, if a lady customer is looking for reasonably priced formal dresses then direct her to the ‘formal wear’ section on your brand website.

• Be open to new ideas and opinions:

Let the members of your community feel free to share their content on your brand profile. Encourage them by providing incentives such as gift hampers and discount cards for the best content. You could ask your customers to send pictures or videos of themselves wearing the outfits they purchased from you. You'll have to keep tabs on what is being shared so you can prevent the display of indecent content. Know who your top contributors are because these are the people who will keep your page active. Interact with these people and try to keep them pleased.

• Create content based on audience interest:

For building a social media community you should create content that your audience wishes to see. This is why it is so important to first find out what the audience wants and there are several ways of doing this. Send questionnaires and survey forms to potential customers through online chat apps. You can even create a video asking your fans about their interests then use their answers to plan new initiatives. Allow your fans to see how you work behind the scenes. This way your fans will become part of the brand family and go the extra mile to help you.

• Be humble and modest with customers:

People like to work with brands they can trust and one of the ways to establish trust is by accepting your mistakes. There isn't a company that is 100% perfect so if your customer has a complaint, and you genuinely know you're at fault, just apologize. Ignoring the complaint or showing agitation won’t give out a great impression. Show your customers you genuinely care and try to compensate for their loss in one way or another.

• Offer online internships:

Some students are on the lookout for gaining business and marketing experience online. Post an ad for an online internship on your wall and get youngsters to sign up. For an internship, you only need to pay a small amount to your interns as an incentive and reward them with an internship completion certificate. Young minds are full of fresh and bright ideas and they can boost the growth of your online community. Get them to take pictures of your products, make videos and create exciting posts. Give them a target for the number of followers you hope to gain within a specified period of time.

One of the features to look forward to while using the online chat app, NEEO Messenger, is NEEO Social. It will help you advertise your products and services in the best way possible. Along with marketing, you can also handle your finances online with the NEEO Wallet app. It will assist you in managing your digital currency,  and save a lot of time and energy. A community, if created and run effectively, can do wonders for your business.