Six Ways to Build Effective Customer Relationships Online

- Rajiv Kumar, CEO & Founder, StoreHippo.com

Social media has assumed a dominant position as the companies around the world are increasingly using social media as a meaningful way of deepening relationships with their customers, who are also in the process of connecting and having conversations about organizations through social media. Customers are so active on social media that they are discussing about those organizations also which are not active on social media. Customers give their rankings and reviews and discuss the performance of the companies, their products and services, and also talk about their experience while dealing with a company on popular social platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Customers perceive social media to be a means of getting great customer service, and they have high expectations.
Today, the influence of social media is so pervasive that brands risk being compromised if they fail to engage on social media. In order to respond effectively, organizations need to devise a carefully devised social media strategy in tune with the customers’ requirements. In fact, organizations need to communicate clear policies about social media usage to their employees too, so that the customers get a clear perspective of a company’s ethos, goals and vision.
There exists a great potential in social networks to strengthen your customer relationships. You can build your company’s image through social mediums, establish a ‘connect’ with your customers and build enduring relationships. When your customers are happy, your business will be too!

There are various ways for a company to build relationship with their customers:
1.    Ask people to share their story and views on social media: When you invite your customers to share their success story or some interesting anecdote on your social media pages, they are more than happy to do so. Besides making your customers popular on social media, this also gives the customers immense satisfaction that an organization cares so much about them. It is general human nature that people love to talk about themselves.
2.    Get feedback and reviews of the customers: When a company is active on social media and requests customers to give their feedback and reviews about their product or service, the company raises its esteem in the eyes of the customers, who feel that the company has a high value system and gives lot of importance to the customers. It shows that an organization genuinely cares about what the customers think about them. Also, it proves that a company is ready to change as per needs of the customers after taking reviews and feedback.
3.    Give relevant information to build a report: The online community is always looking for garnering information on various issues, related to your industry or current topics of human interest; that is a reason for many to be active on social media. If a company provides a variety of information through quality, relevant content, then it is sure to have a higher appeal with the customers. The latter will be more drawn to a company which offers them a lot of information rather than just some mundane industry jargon.
4.    Provide a support system: In today’s fast paced world, many people are looking for a support system where they can discuss their problems and vent their feelings. Here a company can effectively use its Facebook page as a medium of providing an outlet and support to those customers who are vying to build a community by connecting on social media.
5.    Make the right use of influencers: A company can take help of influencers in order to connect with the customers more effectively on the social media. Influencers are those people who are extremely active on social media, have a huge fan following, are active bloggers, are part of social media groups and interact on social media forums as well. These people can talk about a company’s vision, mission and its offerings and earn the goodwill of the people, who can translate into potential clients for the company.
6.    Social is important: Customer relationships are challenging to develop. You need to win the trust and goodwill of the people, and inspire them to engage with your brand. And social media plays a vital role in helping customers to understand about a company’s ethos. At the same time, social interactions with a customer help a company to understand the requirements and wants of its customers, and the organization can evolve according to the changing needs and habits of its clients. Social media is an effective tool to bridge the gap in a company and its customers, Thus, no organization can afford to lose its perspective on social media in today’s online era.