How to Experience True Customer Engagement

When you want someone to talk to you, to have a conversation and share deep thoughts with you, what should you do? Would you walk right up and start talking about yourself and all your accomplishments? Would you point out all the ways you can help that person, whether they need you to or not? Of course you wouldn’t. You’d start with an introduction and then ask questions.

The same is true when you want to engage with your buyers. Whether they meet you first on your website or through social media, they won’t stick around if you’re not interested in getting to know them. The more you get to know them, the better and deeper your conversations can be. Then, they’ll start talking back. Let’s take a look at the process.

Introduction

You do want to let visitors know who you are. A brief history and list of accomplishments on your About Us page set the tone and inspires trust. If you keep going on and on about yourself, you become the guy at the party that everyone avoids.

Discover Buyer Needs

After the introduction, you must get to know your buyer. What do they need your product or service for? Who makes the buying decisions in their home or business? How can you make their experiences with your company better? Where do those buyers like to hang out online? The more you know about your buyers, the more interesting your conversations will be.

Create Content That Speaks

When you know what your buyers are looking for, you can create content that answers all their questions. By providing the answers and solving their pain points, you begin building trust with those buyers. When they discover that you’re ready to make life easier, they’ll keep coming back to learn more.

Field Their Questions

As those buyers learn more about your products and services, they’ll realize they have even more questions. Through comments on blog posts, responses on social media, and replies to email marketing, they will reach out and create a connection. This is the very first step of engagement.

Trust Turns to Relationship

Too many companies believe that first step of engagement is the end of the story. With hundreds of comments on blogs and Facebook posts, they must be doing something right, wouldn’t you say? The problem is, true engagement comes with time. One response after another after another, until buyers know what they need in order to make informed decisions. That engagement becomes, instead, a rock-solid relationship between you and your buyers. The kind that ensures return visits and additional purchases and, best of all, brand loyalty.

See, the point of your content isn’t to sell, though that’s always a helpful byproduct. The real reason behind the words, images, and videos you share is to build trust among your buyers. When your buyers are engaging with your content, you know they’re also buying your products. They’re welcoming the relationship and, in the very best cases, becoming brand advocates. So starting sharing content for your visitors instead of for yourself.