How To Maintain Customer Engagement Following A Promotional Campaign

Let’s say you’ve just completed a promotional campaign aimed at gaining new customers. Maybe you’ve grown your email list by 10% or 20%. That’s great and definitely something to celebrate, but unfortunately the work doesn’t stop there. Attracting new customers is only one part of the equation -- figuring out how to keep them is where the real money is made (since it costs 5X more to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one).

If you’re looking to establish your brand long-term (and who isn’t?) you need to create and maintain a relationship with your customers and that goes far beyond a single campaign. The question is – how do you keep the conversation going once the campaign wraps up? We’re so glad you asked.

Deliver Value

Once a campaign is over you simply cannot go silent on social. Even if you are someone’s favorite brand, they are likely to unfollow if your content goes stagnant or doesn’t provide value in some way. This doesn’t mean you have to continually run campaigns or contests, but rather create and share relevant, educational, funny, or entertaining content. Your customers live on social media, so it’s important to bring something to the table to keep them interested in your story and top of mind when it comes time to purchase.

Provide Exceptional Customer Service

This one is a bit of a no-brainer, but it simply has to be included. Providing exceptional customer service is a MUST in the review-driven social media landscape we currently operate in today. Share, like, and comment on fan posts even if it’s an unfavorable comment about your brand. Often, it’s how brands respond to negativity that can truly make you stand out from the pack. Go above and beyond expectations and your customer retention rates will thank you.

Engage with Your Customers

Engaging with your customers beyond customer service fosters a deeper connection and creates a community around your brand. Without a doubt, the best place to do this is on social media. This can be in the form of Behind the Scenes videos, polls asking for feedback, or simply starting a conversation with a customer online. It’s all about creating a human connection and is why customers who engage with brands on social spend 20-40% more than customers who do not – they want to support their friends!

Get Personal

The more personalized your messaging is the better it is received. It’s why brands invest heavily in market research and segmenting their email lists – and it makes sense. What resonates with a 50-year-old male, repeat customer may not apply to a 20-something female first-time buyer. Dig a little deeper and get to know your customers to provide them with the most relevant content, deals, and ultimately value.

Enlist Brand Ambassadors

Nothing creates a community around your brand better than enlisting ambassadors or influencers, but it has to be authentic! Customers will trust other customers WAY more than they are ever going to trust you – but they won’t necessarily trust a celebrity endorsement. There is good and bad news here. The good news is that avoiding celebrity endorsements saves you money, the bad news it can be difficult to find an authentic influencer to promote your brand. Don’t worry, there’s more good news, we can absolutely help you with that! Activating nano-influencers from within your current customer network will help you to create and promote authentic content that your other customers will love. Another bonus? Content created by influencers (such as Instagram stories) are much quicker and easier to roll out than a full-blown marketing campaign.

Summary

The key takeaway to remember is that your brand’s relationship with its customers isn’t that much different than your relationship with your friends. Both require frequent attention and interaction and it’s not enough to simply be there – you have to bring something to the table. In friendships that can be a sense of humor or emotional support and in business it can be relevant information and engaging content. There’s no doubt that both types of relationships require a bit of work, but in both cases it’s definitely worth the effort!

Gatsby created an easy way for brands to capture customer influence. It provides them with social context on their customers, auto-delights the influential ones, and grows genuine word-of-mouth on social.

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