Storytime: I recently bought a new razor from an online business. I used my new razor happily for two months, and then it broke, literally falling apart in my hand as I was shaving. So, I did what many people do now; I contacted the company via social media, told them what happened, and included a photo of my broken razor. The company quickly replied, expressed their concern, and promised to send me a new razor. Within two weeks, the new (free) razor was in my hands—with some complimentary shaving cream, too.
I know my story isn’t the only one of this type. Social media support has become a norm rather than a competitive advantage. Yet not many businesses realize that social media listening can also be used to acquire customers, not just help existing clients. Social media can be used as a powerful tool to remain competitive and deliver what patients want. Here are five simple ways to do just that:
- Monitor your reviews on social media.
If you have a page for your business on a social media platform, you have reviews there. If you haven’t looked lately, go check them out now! It’s best practice to respond to all reviews, both positive and negative. Make things simple for yourself by creating a couple of templates that can be used to efficiently respond to reviews. Be sure to check in regularly to see what new reviews you’ve received.
If you have negative reviews, don’t worry. Everyone has them! Again, be sure to respond and do what you can to remedy the situation. Another great way to handle negative reviews is to focus on getting more positive reviews.
- See where your business has been tagged.
If your business has been tagged on social media, that means people are talking about you! They may be “checking in” while visiting your office, mentioning you in a positive (or negative) review of their experience with you, reporting a problem, or asking a question. Whatever the reason might be that your business was tagged, pay attention. This is an excellent opportunity to see what people talk about when they talk about you. If necessary, you can reply to these tags.
- Check out what your local competitors are doing.
How can you beat the competition if you don’t know the competition? Doing a quick assessment of your local competitors’ social media efforts can give you a lot of useful information since you likely have a similar target audience.
You can use this information to: see what types of content do and don’t work for your audience; note what time of day results in the most engagement from your audience; understand potential customer pain points; gain a performance benchmark for your own business in terms of number of followers and engagement rates; understand the best way to communicate with your audience on social media (e.g., casually or formally); and gather ideas on how to differentiate your brand from the competition.
- Respond to messages on social media—always!
As a customer, few things are more frustrating than a business that doesn’t respond. Responding to messages shows that you value your customers, their time, and what they have to say. Of course, you will probably receive a wide variety of message types on social media—questions, suggestions, complaints, compliments, and everything in between. Do your best to respond (and stay on brand) in a way that leaves your customers with a positive view of your practice.
- Remain active with quality posts.
The worst thing your business can do on social media is go inactive. You don’t need to post three times a day (or even once a day) to remain active. Do the steps above to stay active—monitor and respond to reviews, see where you’re being tagged, check out the competition, and respond to messages. Quantity is important when it comes to creating content, but quality is even more important. Share content that brings value to your followers and potential new customers. In the end, that’s what will make a difference.
To learn more about how you can use social media to remain competitive and give your patients what they want, we invite you to contact us today at AudiologyPlus.
