With social media being a powerful tool for spreading information and growing your business, it’s absolutely crucial to not ignore its effectiveness in gaining new clients and customers. That’s why it’s also important to show those interested in following you that you value their thoughts and feedback. In an effort to build trust and show authenticity, responding to your followers, whether it’s positive or negative, is absolutely key to building a powerful social media presence for your business.
Responding to comments can also help with building a community, even if you’ve never met them in real life. Those who are taking the time to leave their voice on your post or page will be shown that it wasn’t a waste of time and that they weren’t shouting into a void. Whether it’s a quick “thank you for your feedback” or a longer post sharing thoughts and ideas, keeping those conversations going can lead to someone walking through your door in the real world or sharing your page with those around them. It’s also a great time to have those customers help spread the word by asking them to share their thoughts in the form of a review. Showing your community that you care can lead to people wanting to show up for your community, both in real life and online.
Actively responding also helps the algorithm want to help you back. Your participation on the platform signals the algorithm that your content is relevant to your followers and continues to spark conversations. This can lead to increased visibility and a broader audience in no time.
It’s also important that you keep your responses authentic and genuine. If you’re choosing to take the time to respond, it’s also important that you take the time to do it correctly and genuinely. Using someone’s name when responding to them is a small gesture that can go a long way mentally. There are other little tips too, such as repeating what they said back to them to ensure they know you actually read what they wrote. In a day and age of chatbots and AI that can do the responding for you, little tips and tricks like these can also let your followers know that it isn’t a robot on the other end. It’s a real person who is taking note of the feedback that is being left.
Try to keep it prompt as well. Now, we understand that business owners are busy (which is why now is also a great time to check out AIM’s commenting service). We’re not saying that you need to respond to each comment in a minute, or even an hour or two. But taking time once or twice a day can make sure you’re up to date with what your followers are saying is great to avoid getting overwhelmed with feedback and decisions. If you’re staying up to date on a regular basis, you’re followers will feel more valued and you will feel less overwhelmed. consider starting and ending your day with a comment response, or taking some time while you’re eating lunch to shoot everyone a response. It may open you up to some new ideas too!
One of the biggest benefits that also comes with responding to comments is trust and transparency. This can be a place to address any concerns publicly to show that you aren’t trying to be sneaky and hide things from your customers. This will reassure individuals that you are committed to the customers first. Be graceful in your responses, this isn’t the time to start being unprofessional, but ensure that you don’t want anyone to feel as though their business isn’t valued. Turn those potential PR nightmares into an opportunity to prove your value.
In order to continue to operate a business, you need clients and customers. There’s no doubt about it. That’s why those comments are also critical, as there may be a potential client hiding in there and you don’t even know it. Someone asking a simple question about a service may lead to a lost customer if you don’t take the time to answer. If someone is showing the slightest interest in a service or product, that is the equivalent of someone physically walking through your doors. The purpose of starting a business page online is to help advertise your business. Don’t let it be for nothing simply because you ignored those questions. Check out some examples below:
With all this being said, consider taking that hour out of your day to show your followers you care about what they think and feel. By making this strategic move and participating in the conversation, you’re sure to build a community of advocates while also increasing your authenticity and hopefully your customers as well.
