Establishing long-term loyalty in today’s marketplace is remarkably similar to a run of salmon battling their way upstream. Pushing forward to navigate the powerful current of endless information, business owners must implement exceptional strategies to consistently reach the higher ground where consumers continually convert.
Consumers have expertly adapted to the incessant flow of information, mindlessly dismissing weaker strategies in favor of communities that offer an adventurous environment that uniquely identifies and addresses their personal needs. People inherently seek three fundamental attributes – to be informed, to be recognized and to belong to something. This is the true point of differentiation.
Standing strong against the social media current, agile business owners develop online communities that consistently engage by focusing their upstream energy on these fundamental elements.
- Recognize. Know what your audience needs. Explore what keeps them up at night and define how you are delivering value and services that continually meet those needs.
- Inform. Know where your audience consumes information. When do they consume it? How do they consume it? On what devices? In what form?
- Value. Show your audience appreciation and gratitude. Let them know you value their time, their needs and their feedback. They belong.
What Does An Active Online Community Look Like?
The human connection continues to be the heartbeat of the buyer experience. Technology and social media have offered new opportunities to engage on a global scale. Optimizing human voice opportunities with podcasts, webinars and live chats can foster intimate relationships that stimulate consistent conversions.
An active online community:
- is comprised of seasoned customers, new buyers and potential prospects.
- is a flurry of constructive conversation.
- delivers relevant topics that address the unique needs and wants of the audience.
- offers relatable solutions with actionable takeaways.
Relatable Solutions + Reasonable Calls to Action = Consistent Conversions
Community-minded business owners are passionate about making sure their clients experience excellence from start to finish. By engaging the entire company in a well-distributed mission strategy, both sales and marketing are present to actively listen, rarely driving conversation towards a sale, but rather relying on organic dialogue that naturally develops a real opportunity to serve.
How Do You Create a Powerful Online Community?
No Fear Zone: The buffer that helps customers relate to the available solutions set before them. Snackable Content: The reasonable call to action that propels customers to safely convert.
All business owners are sensitive to the fickle customer. “Fight or flight” easily translates to the buyer experience; prospects either move forward in confidence or run away in fear. Crafting an environment that minimizes fear maximizes confidence. A service approach will always outpace a sales pitch, fostering trust and diminishing doubts.
The 4-C Sales Motto: Confident Customers Consistently Convert.
The Elements of the No Fear Zone
A No Fear Zone must have:
- Open dialogue
- Mutual respect
- Trust
Healthy conversation encourages diverse relationships. Social media is a mecca of potential – offering access to well-matched expertise, skills and passions that would have been otherwise out of reach.
A constructive dialogue practices active listening. A community that exists “for the people, by the people” allows your audience to share freely and confidently. Use social media to master language fluency – share resources they’ll appreciate, probe with genuine interest, acknowledge their needs and humbly learn.
Consistent conversions depend on mutual respect and trust. Without one, you can’t have the other. And without either, conversion opportunities will be both scarce and hollow. It’s important to show genuine gratitude and interest in your community. The inherent value of saying “thank you” fosters trust that acknowledges the reciprocal relationship of a business and its customers, starting with an empathetic ear that actively listens, remembers and serves, and ending with heartfelt gratitude for the opportunity to do so.
The Case for Snackable Content
Valuing your customer’s time means resolving their pain points by delivering convertible information they can quickly absorb and apply.
Convertible information must:
- Be relatable and reasonably attainable
- Move clients from knowledge to action
- Be simultaneously evergreen and agile
Social media is the perfect forum for snackable content. Deliver small bursts of digestible insight that your online community can easily convert into action. Create upsell opportunities while walking beside your clients, with them and for them, as they take one step at a time towards grasping new concepts and implementing manageable growth.
Snackable content:
- is easy to read and easy to navigate.
- controls the pace of the conversion process, keeping clients calm and confident.
- easily pivots to develop new answers to new pain points.
- reduces redundancies.
The agile business owner is always looking ahead when it comes to creating new snackable content to maintain the momentum of a powerful online community. Careful attention to the consumer dialogue on social media can identify new opportunities to convert, by actively listening and responding with “real time” answers to current questions.
Audit and assess past and present content to adjust future strategies to be more receptive to their expectations, crafting new conversations that allow your audience to verbalize their needs.
Keep It Simple With The Golden Rule
Treating others how you would like to be treated is the best way to foster deeper trust and loyalty. When you approach your audience as a vibrant human with a grateful heart, you exponentially increase not only your chances at an initial conversion, but also the likelihood of consistent, repetitive conversions that speak to a loyal brand following that trusts you to authentically deliver
Social media can be the most powerful tool in your arsenal if you deliberately stay focused on what matters most: the people you serve. Listen, say thank you, help, share, support. Keep it simple. Keep it human.
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Jan Gordon
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