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Acquisition, Retention, And Building Loyalty In Social Media

There are three important criteria while working on Social Media:

Acquisition
Retention
Building Loyalty

Acquisition:
This is the process of getting new people on-board. This is the phase where you bring in new Customers and Clients.
In order to get people on-board you will need to make a Business decision if you want to do aggressive marketing or have a subtle chronological effort. There are a couple of ways in which you could look at Acquisition:

Forums: Join the industry / category based Forums. Forums have a good format of automatic giving your links in your signature. These are really good platforms if used properly. Do not spam.
Competitors: Many a times joining competitors is good. You know what the industry is doing. Please be extremely careful here. The idea is not to steal / pinch their Community Members. The idea is to give constructive discussions and add to the value that they are trying to give. You could join their Community on their Sites, join their Blogs, Join and add to their Facebook content, be on their Twitter and LinkedIn.
Online Advertisements: The other way is to recommend to your Clients on giving out online advertisements. Facebook has an amazing concept of Sponsored Advertising and so on. Use these constructively. There is not much of money involved in the initial stages. What you need to know and do is target the advertisements in a correct manner by way of selecting the right Target Audience and their Target Market / Geography along with a message that will generate a desirable response. You can also look at online banner advertising and so on. These also can create new Customers and Clients. Online advertising can be have various formats to it. There are various sites offering various banner sizes and platforms. For instance you can have floating banners and so on.
Commenting: Commenting on various Blogs, Articles, Posts etc is a great way to encourage people into looking at you and your Links.
Offline Spread: Offline methods are also great to get you Clients and Customers. Advice your Clients to have your online Links on every document sent out. This could be envelopes, bills, invoices, advertisements, hoardings, tv, radio, visiting cards, letter heads and so on.
Software Templates: Have templates created for Emails and other software like Microsoft Word documents and so on containing the Online Links.
Reference And Endorsement: There is another method to get new Clients and Customers: This is the referral and endorsement system. If you have done satisfactory work with your ongoing Customers and Clients then there is a huge chance of them recommending you to their Network. If this takes place there is nothing better. However when you do get new Business from your existing Business sources you have a greater responsibility. People recommending others are putting their reputation to test as well. If you fail then they will be displeased as well. So be careful here.
More From Existing Clients And Customers: Additionally if your existing Clients and Customers are happy then they in turn will give you more business, your scope of work will be increased.
QR Codes: With the help of QR Codes you can make a long URL printed in the offline world easy to connect with you Social Media Page.

These are few of the ways in which you could look at Acquisition.

Retention:
This is the process of maintaining the existing Clients and Customers. After you get Clients and Customers you need to deliver to them the desired results. There is a lot that goes into delivering the right results at the right time and at the right price. There are a couple of tips that you could use so that you can retain your Social Media Community:

Privileged Feeling: You need to give your Clients and Customers a feeling of being privileged.
- This could be done by giving them great discounts and sales information.
- You could let them have the first peek at new launches.
- Let them be the first to know what is taking place behind the scenes.
- If you are managing Celebrity then let them have a chance to connect with your Celebrity.
- If there is a new announcement that you will coming out with let your Community know first.
Belonging Feeling: Let your Customers and Clients get the feeling of belonging to your Inner Circle.
- Encourage them to speak and to share.
- Let them know that they are a part of your Family.
- Let them share their experience with your product.
- Appreciate a good comment. Make it a point to address a negative remark.
Share information that can help them. See when and on what do they re-act.
Monitor and check on feedback.
Listen in to what they are talking. Add if you can deliver value.

These are few of the ways in which you could look at Retention.

Building Loyalty:
If you have managed to retain your Clients and Customers well then getting them to be a little more attached and loyal to you / your Brand or Business should not be a far away dream. Building Loyalty is a life long process. It is a feeling that people have towards your Brand or Business. Loyalty is not a destination; in the sense you cannot really say that you have attained Loyal Clients and Customers so there is nothing else to be done. Anything going down on the Retention graph directly hampers your Loyalty graph.

What are your points to build on Acquisition, Retention and Loyalty.

My Business Page is on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/pervarakapadia Do join me.

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Comment by Pervara Kapadia on October 20, 2011 at 10:25am: Thank you so much Logan.

Comment by Logan on October 20, 2011 at 10:23am: Terrific tips Pervara.

Comment by Pervara Kapadia on October 17, 2011 at 12:36pm: True Rory. Thanks Rory for dropping by.

Comment by Rory on October 17, 2011 at 12:26pm: I agree, these are some good point think about especially if you want to build long term loyalty and really learn your audience.

Comment by Pervara Kapadia on October 14, 2011 at 11:22am: Thank you Robin for your kind words. Am glad it is helpful.

Comment by Robin on October 14, 2011 at 10:48am: Pervara, this is great stuff! I think it's hard to figure out what to do especially if you are responsible for several different sites or products. Your Retention tips are incredible. Thanks!

Acquisition, Retention, And Building Loyalty In Social Media

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