strike up a conversation

I saw this article that may be of interest to you: it’s premise is that user like it when companies answer their questions on Twitter. This is also a great opportunity to demonstrate your expertise in your field and make the person who asked the question feel heard. Here’s the crux of their research:

“Eight in 10 Twitter users surveyed worldwide said they thought the answers businesses posted on Twitter were at least as trustworthy as those from regular people, and about six in 10 said they wanted businesses to respond to them on the microblogging service.

Yet just 21% of Twitter users with under 100 followers and 41% of users with over 100 followers said they had actually received a response from a business via Twitter.

Users indicated that more responsive brands would benefit from greater loyalty and purchasing. Almost 60% of respondents said they would be more likely to follow a brand that answered them, and 64% said they would be more likely to make a purchase from that brand.”

-Emarketer

The whole goal of social media is to have a conversation with your audience. It’s not enough to regularly blurt out what you’re doing, be prepared to share information and have people interact with your brand as the living, breathing entity it is. My advice to small businesses pursuing a social media strategy: make sure that you have the time and resources to monitor the chatter and engage in a dialog with your customers/prospects. If you do, you’ll enjoy greater customer loyalty. If you don’t, you will fade into the background noise.