Creating Loyal Relationships Through Social Media

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No matter what your business represents and what you are offering, you should still have goals and objectives. One of those objectives must be to build loyal relationships and social media helps.

Social media is an excellent way to reach out to people, interact with people with whom you already share a relationship, and continue to grow all sorts of connections that will hopefully be mutually beneficial. Social media is all about relationships. The foundation of those relationships is trust (which is extraordinarily important in a relationship) and credibility and what you hope to achieve at the end of that journey is a strong sense of loyalty on everyone’s part. The stronger your relationship with others, the more loyalty will be a key element in the relationships.

The value of interactions

There are many different ways in which to build and maintain relationships. One way in which people say that they are interested in having a relationship with you is by “liking” your Facebook Fan page, for example. When they agree to opt in, they are building a relationship with you. The more loyal connections you have for your business, the easier it will be to build your reputation online and to get people to feel that you are a person whom they can trust.

Bringing your online interactions to the next level

You might be wondering where you should start when it comes to acquiring loyal connections. There are several ways in which to do this. An easy one is by letting people know that your brand can be accessed through social media and you would like to interact with them through the many channels on which you are both connected. The more you get your word out there online, the more people will want to connect with you and your business. Many people will interact with you simply because they are interested in what you have to say. However, it won’t hurt to offer them some sort of incentive also, if you feel that it is appropriate.

Building trust through communication

As you are interacting with your online connections (customers, prospective customers, other business associates, etc), you should make sure that your personality and sincerity come through at all times. There are many tips that you will find useful, such as:

  • Learn how to tie together what you are offering and what people need: You should write your content with that in mind. It is extremely important that you remember that your main objective is to solve their problems. You should never come across as being more concerned with your needs than theirs. You should share whatever valuable and applicable information you can. Before you know it, they will be coming to you first whenever they need a solution. This is one of the very important ways for you to strengthen your reputation.
     
  • A calendar of your article postings: Your content needs to be a reflection of what people want to read. You can’t just walk around in the dark without any idea of what people want to read and what excites them. It is a great idea to ask them what they think of your list of article topics. Their feedback will be invaluable to the success of your content.
     
  • Communicate at the most effective and convenient times: Exactly when you post will have a great deal to do with your target market. You need to schedule the publication of your content when it is best for them. There are a lot of tools that will allow you to automate when the articles are published. You will have to make some effort to set it up in the beginning but after that you can sit back and let it happen.

Conclusion

Creating loyalty is easier than you might think. Human beings need human interaction. The more you interact, they stronger your relationships will be and the more trust and credibility will grow. Building loyalty among your online connections is a critical part of the success of your business. So, keep strengthening the relationships that you have built and keep building new ones.

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Author

  • Carolyn Cohn

    Carolyn Cohn is the Co-Founder & Chief Creative Services of CompuKol Communications. Carolyn manages CompuKol’s creative and editorial department, which consists of writers and editors. Her weekly blogs are syndicated globally. She has decades of editorial experience in online editing, and editing books, journal articles, abstracts, and promotional and educational materials. Carolyn earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from the State University of New York (SUNY) at Buffalo.

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3 Responses

  1. Linda Jo says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Non-Fiction Writers
    Discussion: Creating Loyal Relationships Through Social Media

    I agree  and I have been neglecting creating and establishing relationships–thanks for the reminder. It is easy to do as writers we are so engrossed in the writing we neglect the connections we need to make. On the other hand we can be so busy connecting that we do not get the writing done. Balance is the key
    Posted by Linda Jo

  2. Payam says:

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Social Media in Science – Applying Social Media to Laboratory, Scientific & Health Professions
    Discussion: Creating Loyal Relationships Through Social Media

    I think that the only way to build loyalty is to be honest with your followers. Clarity is also important. Your social media plan needs to have a clear and concise vision and purpose and you need to stick to it or inform your followers if you plan to make changes.
    Posted by Payam

  3. donna says:

     

    Via LinkedIn Groups

    Group: Non-Fiction Writers
    Discussion: Creating Loyal Relationships Through Social Media

    I too, agree. As Linda stated finding the balance plus time management is key. My goal that I'm working towards is to get up every morning at the same time, alott X amount time to checking emails and responding, X amount of time to phone calls, and XXX to my writing and X amount of time to my social media connections.
    Posted by donna