Did you know that Facebook has more than 728 million daily users? They have roughly 1.44 billion monthly active users on top of that as well.
Yeah, that’s quite a breathtaking amount of people, especially if you consider how small they were just a few short years ago. Through word of mouth, Facebook has grown into the network where you can talk to your mom, dad, sister, best friend and husband all in the same day without anyone ever knowing it, or you can tell everyone on your Facebook list that you’re having a good or bad day, and get likes or sad faces. The company continuously updates and changes their service, looking for new and improved ways to appeal to a broader audience. Last December, Facebook released a “last year in review” video feature that quickly put together some of your most liked photos, memories and statuses into a short, 30-second video set to music. The feature went viral as hundreds of thousands of people shared a quick snapshot into their lives to their friends and family. This is why Facebook is so huge. But how can you, who likely does not have a billion users, appeal to your audience and make them talk about you in the same way?
Social Media is Meant to Help Build Meaningful Connections
It’s a startling fact that 80% of consumers do not trust the businesses they do business with (and definitely don’t trust the ones they don’t do business with at all). But you know who they do trust? Their friends. So don’t only engage your user, but engage their communities, too. Make them feel like they are part of a bigger picture, but only part of the bigger picture they want to be part of, whether that’s groups or private conversations with close friends. The videos showed small snippets of people’s lives that were hard to visualize over an entire year – so Facebook did it for them to show them what a year it had been. How better to build meaningful connections then to let your customers to it for themselves through your platform?
Let the Customers Do the Talking
Real people tell the truth, and that is literally the only thing that will drive some customers to you. People want to see honest opinions about you and your service, facilities, products, everything! That will give you more credit than any marketing campaign. Encourage your current customers and users to share their experiences, and you’ll start to see huge differences in the kind of traffic and interaction you see. Make your users feel good, and then give them the ability to share those good feelings.
Your business may not have 728 million daily users like Facebook does, but since you have customers that value your services, you can follow the same business practices so maybe one day you can have a fan base big enough to do all of your talking for you.
