How To Engage Your Audience And Stay Connected
Given the times we are in, people simply aren’t engaging with businesses the same way they used to. Businesses need to adapt if they want to stay afloat since a huge portion of the world population is spending a lot more time at home and on the web compared with a few years ago.
Why Is Connection to Your Audience Important?
With a global pandemic on our hands, making human connections has been difficult, and while we as a species have gone to great lengths to adapt to our situation, these interpersonal interactions are still tough.
The ways in which we stay connected as communities are evolving, more so now than at any other time in recent memory.
This applies to the world of business as well as our social lives. Many organizations rely on the abilities of their team members to make meaningful, personal connections with customers in order to get a leg up over the competition.
How To Stay Connected To Your Audience
Connection and engagement aren’t lost or on pause; they just require different methods in order to get people interested in what you have to offer.
Businesses that are able to adapt are the ones that last, and now are showing that more than ever. Here are some tips for how you can help your customers stay connected with you.
Be Generous
This may seem obvious, but people respond well to generosity. If you want customers to stick with you in hard times, you need to show them that they are important to your brand and organization. Try providing discounts to loyal customers and creating rewards programs that incentivize people to stay with you for the long run.
Your goal is to create bonds that will cause your customers to stick with your throw thick and thin, even when you don’t adapt quickly to changing trends and such. A loyal customer won’t dip out when the market changes, and those are the kinds of customers you want to make sure you are retaining.
It is also a good idea to keep things personal with your clients and customers. Put protocols in place that allow employees to address customers by name and track their engagement with your company over long periods.
Keeping things personal goes beyond your existing customer base. When you are looking to branch out and reach new demographics, study these groups to determine the needs of the people you are trying to engage with.
Integrate messaging that explains your value to different demographics in your social media marketing in a way that shows you are in tune with the issues of the time. Working with people within the formats they are comfortable with allows you to meet them where they are and garner positive will early.
Prioritize Virtual Communication
Methods of connecting virtually have become exponentially more popular throughout the last few years. In particular, video conferencing platforms have seen an enormous boost as a result of the pandemic.
In 2020, Zoom saw a 370% increase in sales compared to 2019, and that high hasn’t dissipated through 2021. Businesses that allowed for working from home have thrived, and those that didn’t are working to catch up and build that infrastructure. The ability to connect virtually goes far beyond video conferencing and distanced meetings.
Another way to use virtual communication is to use online marketing and business practices. E-commerce is quickly moving to the forefront of sales in the United States in competition with traditional brick and mortar institutions.
People are staying home but aren’t buying any less than they have in the past; they are just using different means. Companies with accessible online platforms don’t risk losing their customers entirely when people stop interacting with their physical locations.
In addition, connecting with your network keeps you engaged in the needs of your customers and team members. Services such as Dialed allow you to manage that network and choose how your message comes across through a virtual medium.
Dialed allows you to create an office phone number and coordinate all customer and employee contacts. Apps like Dialed let you send out mass marketing messages to established customers to keep people updated on your business in ways that have never been possible before.
Conclusion
Keeping audiences engaged has never been harder than it is now, largely because of the huge changes that the world has faced over the past two years. The organizations that can adapt will make it out the other side in the green.
Being personal with customers will make huge strides in keeping them engaged, and creating plans that reward them for their loyalty will maximize your gains in the long term. The primary goal is to meet the changes that come with the evolution of the business landscape in ways that will improve your business, not cause it to lag.
Tools like Dialed help you do this by giving you managerial control of your network at a high level. With Dialed, you can keep everyone on the same page, ranging from team members to customers.
Marketing to different contacts becomes simple, and sending out large-scale broadcast messages is as easy as any other form of communication. With the world facing as many changes as often as it is today, having the right tools to face it makes all the difference.
Download the Dialed app now to easily stay connected with your audience.
Sources:
Zoom sees more growth after 'unprecedented' 2020 | BBC News
E-commerce vs. Brick & Mortar: The State of Retail in 2021 | Medium
10 Effective Ways to Connect with Your Customers | businessnewsdaily.com
Marketing Tips for Staying Connected in a Socially Distanced World | Poole Thought Leadership
