Mar 25, 2013
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You might have a significant social media following, but do your fans and followers actually like you?
If you want to turn your fans and followers into customers, you might want to turn on your charm and start making your followers like you.
When it comes to social media, likeability is extremely important. Likeability has everything to do with the various elements that makes your brand and/or company likeable.
Before you even begin to increase your likeability you need to identify what your current fans and followers like about your brand.
5 Ways to Increase Likeability
What does it mean to have a likeable brand? There are various definitions of being liked, but a likeable brand is one that strives to understand its customers so well, it goes beyond being just a company that offers products and services and becomes apart of your customers identity. By becoming apart of your customers identity can almost be referred to the whole "apple or pc" debate. A brand being liked has nothing to do engaging your fans and followers with updates and news. Here are 5 ways that you can increase your likeability through social media.
Be Original
Your fans and followers want to be able to relate to you and your company. In your social media updates and posts, show your personality. Let your fans see the culture and the image of the company. Don't send mix signals with your different marketing campaigns. Develop a cohesive campaign that remains consistent across each platform and marketing activity.
Consider this scenario:
Imagine there's two brands that have an identical product thats sold at exactly the same price. However, lets say that Brand A is boring and impersonal, where as, Brand B is interesting, social, actively engaging and getting to know their fans and followers.
Which brand would you like better? It's almost like an apple or an orange they're both a fruit but they aren't the same thing.
I know I would pick Brand B. No one wants to follow a brand that is fake or isn't original. Customers are looking for brands that are visible and have a presence, by being able to develop relationships and conversations with fans and followers.
Develop a Relationship
Conversations within social media platforms not only between you and your fans and followers but also between followers. A conversation isn't a one way street. In order for your fans and followers to engage in conversation with your brand you need to first form a relationship with your followers. When forming and maintaining a relationship with your fans and followers, think of it this way... Every time you have a business decision to make, ask yourself this question, How does this decision affect my relationship with my fans and followers?
Develop conversations and relationships by:
- Asking questions
- Encouraging people to leave comments
- Retweet
- Respond to posts
Give Your Brand a Face
Do your fans and followers know the people behind your company?
You don't just want to paint this pretty little picture of your brand. You should be able to put a face to your brand. Show your fans that you are interested in learning more about them. One way you can add a human element to your social media, is by highlighting the people behind your brand or even giving a behind the scenes look at your company.
Remove that cheesy egg photo from your Twitter profile and display a more engaging picture that depicts what your brand represents and how you want your fans and followers to see your company. Use your social media profile pictures to show your personality and the identity of the company.
Share Other Content
You shouldn't just be posting your content. This is something that most businesses and brands forget to do. Besides sharing your content and trying to get your fans and followers to engage with you, share the content developed by industry influencers and other brands and companies that your company likes.
For example, in recent social media posts and blog articles we've talked about companies and brands that are effectively using social media. Not only did we talk about what they were doing well, but we let them know how much we love their products, mentioning them in Facebook and Twitter posts.
Don’t expect people to share your stuff if you don’t demonstrate a commitment to do the same.
Why your fans just aren't that into you:
- Leaving social out of social media
- Inadequate profile information
- Using logo on social media pages that aren't company pages
- Connecting but not engaging
- Spamming
- Focusing on the number of connections rather than the quality of your audience
- Too much brand imagery, it screams advertising
- Posting to much or not enough
Be Responsive
Don't you hate it when a company doesn't respond to your comment or post on social media? Whether the comment / post is good or bad, you should promptly respond to all comments. If a user posts something nice, don't forget to say thank you. You don't just want to address all of the positive comments. Any negative comments are great feedback for your company and areas where you can work on.
If you want people to like you, they have to know you care. Being responsive might not be the only reasons why your fans and followers think your not that likeable.
Why your fans just aren't that into you:
- Leaving social out of social media
- Inadequate profile information
- Using logo on social media pages that aren't company pages
- Connecting but not engaging
- Spamming
- Focusing on the number of connections rather than the quality of your audience
- Too much brand imagery, it screams advertising
- Posting to much or not enough
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