The revolution in marketing over the last decade has changed the landscape for businesses worldwide.
People are looking for brands that they can rely on, learn from, and invest in. Social media platforms have been incredibly effective for content marketing. But before your perfect customer buys from you, you have to create know, like, and trust.
But what exactly does that mean, and how do you use it to create loyalty with your fans?
Let’s break it down.
Remember: Consistency and Engagement Matters
Let’s start with the first factor: Know
The only way potential customers will get to know you is if you consistently engage with them. That means responding to comments and questions on your social media, following and responding to similar brands and thought-leaders with similar audience profiles, and publishing regular quality content on multiple platforms.
Consistency and regularity also increase the opportunities for customers to get to know you and engage with you.
So decide how often you can publish/engage and stick to it so that customers can rely on hearing from you regularly and come to look forward to it.
Establish Your Brand Values and Live Them
The second factor is: Like
Not only does your content need to be consistent, but it needs to be good quality and connect with your perfect customer. If you’re pumping out keywords vaguely formed into sentences, it’s a turn-off. If your tone and messaging change with every post, it’s confusing.
The key to the likability factor is to decide your brand values and then live and breathe them. When your values are clear, strong, and shared consistently, customers who share those values will be attracted to your brand.
More than ever, people care about who they do business with as much, if not more, than the product or service itself.
Think about your own purchasing decisions. All things being equal, would you spend your hard-earned cash on a brand that appears to have a dubious reputation or one whose ethos resonates with you? It really is that simple.
So don’t think of content marketing as an opportunity to hammer home your sales messaging every chance you get. Think of it as an opportunity to share how great you are, how you add value, and make your brand enjoyable and likable.
Think why you and nobody else. Show your uniqueness and quirkiness. Don’t be afraid to show up as your authentic self so your perfect customer can find you and connect with you.
Create Trust with your perfect customer
The final factor is: Trust
Now, trust takes time. You have to establish that you can be trusted and prove it time and again through the other two factors, know and like. And social media is your friend here.
Using video is a super effective way to build trust with your perfect customer. Nothing connects faster than showing up in person on camera. These days, it’s all about short micro-videos (think 30 seconds or less) and often. This is also a great way to repurpose your longer videos (chop them up into shorter videos for other platforms or stories).
You could also build a community using groups – whether on or off social media. (Mighty Networks is becoming more and more common to build a community.) It’s a way to bring people together who share your values and want to learn from you.
Encourage people to share photos and videos of your products or using your service. Showing happy, satisfied customers enjoying your brand instantly boosts know-like-trust with your new followers.
And lastly, check in with your audience just because. If every interaction you have with your perfect customer is to make a sale, you’ll lose the personal touch, and they’ll probably move on to learn from someone else. When you commit to building a relationship first, the sales will follow.
Walk before you run
Building know, like, and trust is about walking before you run. It’s the long game, but it also leads to consistently filling the top of your funnel. It’s all part of the customer journey and what they experience with your brand.
Take a minute and think: Is your brand someone likable, familiar and friendly, or a cold, distant stranger?