5 Ways Retail Businesses Can Connect with Customers Online

Do you have a retail business and you want to connect with your customers online?

Building relationships with your fans or followers online can be a great way to fostering growth for your business and increasing sales. By fostering brand loyalty online, you build a bridge to deeper trust and excitement to the products you sell in your stores.

Here are 5 Ways Retail Businesses Can Connect with Customers Online:

1)  Use social media to build brand awareness and relationship

– Blogs: Write about your industry, your products and the benefits they provide.
– Social networking tools: Facebook fan page; Twitter,etc.
– Forums. Build online communities for your employees and customers to interact with each other, get questions answered or discuss creative ideas on how to use your products. Then, you can gather blogs, feeds and tweets, from all these communities and centralize them in one location.
– Videos: Show your customers how to use your brand and products, and your efforts to provide them with world class products and excellent customer service. 
– Other social media tools: Newsletters, surveys, online Q&A. 

2) Make it easy for your customers to follow you
Display your social account icons on your website.
Install a sharing app for your content on your blog.
List your social media accounts (e.g. Twitter, Facebook and Instagram accounts) on the all of your marketing collateral: sales documents, email signatures, newsletters, posters, or anywhere else that your customers can see your products or services. 

3) Make sure that your company name is close to your social media account names.

This ensures your customers can find you easier and won’t be required to hunt you down. It also will help with your SEO rankings on search engines like Google and Bing.

4) Start with your existing contacts and customers.

It’s good to plan for your future customers, but, it’s practical to start with what you have. Build trust and gain their loyalty. We’ve all heard about the 80/20 rule: 80% of your business comes from 20% of your clients. Focus on those who are your greatest advocates.

5) Take the time to interact with your customers.

Respond to their comments. Thank them for their re-tweets. Quickly address customer service concerns. Highlight their success using your products or services. Alleviate their concerns

The latest marketing trends

You may have a perfect product and an excellent customer service, but these things may not be enough. In the past, businesses use the standard brick and mortar strategies to build customer loyalty through world-class products and great customer service However, with the social media revolution, the standard brick and mortar strategies are no longer enough to reach the target market and achieve business targets.

If you want to be miles ahead of your competition, use social media tools to create genuine connection with your customers. Be customer-oriented and value their loyalty through the proper use of social media. And build trust and respect with your audience by providing value and service through your online accounts.