Your customers want to know that behind your company’s doors, engaging and compassionate humans are present—not robots.
How can you show them that? Two words: social media.
According to JetBlue, “Our goal would be to make ourselves available, help whenever possible, and to show that our brand is built by real people who care about our customers.”
The airline company is becoming well-known for maintaining a great social media presence, especially on Twitter. It knows who its customers are, where they are and how to tailor their messages to improve brand favorability.
Maintaining a solid social media presence not only makes it easier for you to get your messages out there, it also shows that you keep up with the latest. But most importantly, it humanizes your brand. Humanizing your brand essentially means giving it a human touch by interacting with your customers on a personal level. How can you achieve this? Here are six ways:
- Start with your staff: Your staff members are the most authentic expression of your brand. If you have in-office traditions for example, post them and generate a conversation with fans about their own traditions!
- Reach out to key individuals: Key individuals are those who have a highly connected network that is relevant to your brand. By building a relationship with them, you increase your chances of spreading your brand’s messages in a faster and easier way.
- Be present: Brands that embrace the social media culture and understand what’s required to engage through conversation can create vibrant customer communities.
- Show a sense of humor: Time and time again, we see that humor is an easy and effective way to connect with our audiences. Of course, you just have to make sure it doesn’t hurt them.
- Use everyday language: Many people have a social media account because they want to be entertained. They don’t want to read business jargon when scrolling through their Twitter and Facebook feeds.
- Engage, Engage, Engage: Whether your audience approaches you with a question, concern, or to simply start a conversation, always remember to engage. A small gesture goes a long way when building rapport and favorability on social media.
I know you may feel that you have to add more hours to your already busy week, but think of social media this way: It is essentially an invitation for dialogue. You’re simply having conversations with your fans and customers and showing them the fun, relatable side of your company.
Sources:
https://blog.kissmetrics.com/thrive-on-twitter/
http://mashable.com/2012/03/29/humanize-brand-social-media/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/humanize-your-brand-with-social-media/