4 ways to keep your customers engaged

People want to feel cared for and connected now more than ever. With more time at home, people are spending more time online, and with socialising limited, they are seeking human interaction online too. And so the online world is the place to be for maintaining customer engagement. So what can you do in that big, wide online world to keep customers interested?

Ask questions and use polls
Asking your followers questions as part of your social media is a great way to make them feel involved, valued and part of a community. It also gives you useful intelligence, which could help you develop content that will really engage them. 

A fun way to ask questions is polls. Twitter, Instagram and Facebook all have a polls function. Women’s Health Magazine did polls during lockdown to find out about followers’ exercising habits during the pandemic. 

Questions don’t have to be strictly business related. Taking it to a more casual level shows your human side, and people are yearning for more light-hearted content. 

One way of doing this is using celebration days/months. National Sandwich Day? Why not do a poll to find your followers’ favourite sandwich. You can also use popular media moments. For example, many accounts - from a range of industries - do questions connected to the Great British Bake Off when it’s on. It keeps them relevant, relatable and light-hearted.

Keep on top of your blog
Blogs are important. Why? Because they’re a tool for driving traffic to your website, demonstrating your industry expertise and boosting your SEO. Plus, you can re-purpose your blog to provide you with content for other marketing, e.g for social media, emails etc.

Set a challenge
Challenges are the type of content that can go viral. When the Getty Museum was shut down during the pandemic, it challenged social media users to “recreate a work of art with objects (and people)” from the comfort of their own homes in their #GettyMuseumChallenge. It’s had over 50k posts and a considerable amount of press coverage. So get thinking. What could your challenge be?

Don’t forget your email database
Emails might not seem as sexy as social media, but they are one of the most cost-effective ways to connect with your audience in a personalised way. If a person has subscribed to your emails they have a degree of interest in your business. Nurture that. Keep your email communications relevant and regular to ensure you stay on their radar. 

Ultimately, the key to keeping your audience engaged is by providing them with content that is relevant, authentic and genuinely valuable to them. This isn’t about pushing your product; it’s about pulling your customers closer to you. Nurturing your customer relationships now will reap reward in the future. 

Lacking confidence in the big, wide world of social media? We’re here to help you. Please get in touch at hello@marketinnhospitality.co.uk