Arguably it has never been easier to engage directly with customers, whether you are an established brand or an up-and-coming business that wants to make a name for itself. The wealth of tools available to connect you directly with the people who can take your business to the next level should unlock unprecedented opportunities for growth. However, the challenge is understanding which platforms to use, and how to harness them for effective, efficient customer engagement. To unpack this in more detail, let’s discuss the current state of play in the sphere of customer engagement, the obstacles organizations face, and the ways they can be overcome.

Dealing with the Social Media Deluge

When most people talk about customer engagement today, social media is the primary place where attention is focused, and for good reason. Billions of people are signed up to social-focused sites and services worldwide, with most having a presence on more than one. What makes things tricky for businesses is that this creates so much competition. Vying for the attention of your target audience involves trying to gain traction in social feeds that are already overflowing with content.

This is where it pays to be as focused as possible in your customer engagement efforts, whether you are trying to convince prospective users to enjoy top live casinos from the comfort of your home or attempting to connect with a particular demographic ahead of a product launch. Regardless of the industry you occupy, it is unwise to spread the net of customer engagement too wide. Instead, you will see better results if you tailor content to a niche, increasing awareness of what you do among those who will be more likely to generate long-term value, and provide loyalty to your business and brand.

Storytelling through social media is a good example of how to achieve this, especially once you have started to build a following for your business. If your followers can see how your business works, and follow the narrative that defines what it does, then they will feel that they have a stake in it. This is perhaps the one positive aspect of the often tribal nature of social media.

Consolidating Communication

Customer Relationship Management is another aspect of engagement which has flourished in the digital age while becoming the subject of much debate. While in the past, people had a small number of ways to communicate with companies, the options today are almost endless. From email and instant messaging to social media, SMS, dedicated support portals and beyond, the multifarious manifestations of modern communications technologies are potentially overwhelming.

Dedicated CRM systems have arisen to contend with this, allowing communication with customers to be tracked across multiple platforms, and ensuring that instrumental points of engagement are not overlooked. Indeed, it is only with the assistance of such tools that modern businesses can hope to keep pace with the expectations of their customers. There is a low tolerance for sluggish responses, regardless of the communication method chosen, and it reveals the question of customer engagement to very much be a two-way street. Businesses cannot expect to use these platforms and solutions to their advantage, only to balk at the idea of helping customers who want to do the same.

Embracing Ruthless Consistency

In addition to the aforementioned considerations, businesses that want to thrive in the digital age and engage with customers successfully must do so with ruthless consistency at the forefront of their strategic planning and best practices. As mentioned, most consumers will not engage with businesses via a single touch point, but several, because they will have a presence on a plethora of platforms and might flit from one to another in the course of an interaction. In this context, being consistent is key, because it can be jarring for customers to receive a totally different experience depending on the platform they use. This not only applies to things like the tone of your content and communications, but even top-level considerations like the profile picture you use and the colors you deploy.

Final Thoughts

In an era defined by digital technology, customer engagement is evolving constantly. Tracking trends, exceeding expectations, and breaking the mold can be achieved, no matter the size of your business. Complacency is the biggest crime, as if you underestimate the engagement potential of modern platforms, your competitors will pounce.

If you want more tips on how to engage customers and win in the markets where you compete, let’s have a conversation. As always, feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn, follow me @toprightpartner, or if you want to go deep on transformational marketing, order a copy of my new book, Marketing, Interrupted.