Technology has changed the marketing conversation. Customers now talk back to businesses and expect you to interact with them freely and often.

If you don’t adapt, your business misses out. Providing an interactive brand experience increases your engagement, word of mouth and awareness, and helps you connect with customers better.


Here are three ways to be more interactive:

1
Don’t just be on social—be social.

Think about why your customers are on social media to begin with. They want to share their likes, interests, opinions and experiences with their networks. Help them do this.

Provide content that speaks to their interests. Use hashtags and create groups to facilitate conversations around topics that are important to them. Give them a forum to share their stories and pictures. Use social media to cultivate direct relationships, rather than simply broadcasting your content.


2
Use active media.

Create customized, channel-specific content, as opposed to blasting the same content across all channels and audiences.

Ask questions, solicit feedback, provide links and make it easy for customers to engage. Provide clear calls to action, telling audiences what you want them to do: share, like, retweet, comment, visit your website, etc. Then, listen and respond appropriately to encourage continued interaction.


3
Create a multichannel experience.

Customers now interact with your business online, through social networks, on mobile devices and in-store—often simultaneously. Give them touchpoints to enhance their brand experience as they move between channels.

For example, give customers who check into your business on Facebook a special in-store promotion. When customers tweet photos with a specific hashtag, feature them on your website. If you’re an online business, consider an offline presence like a pop-up shop for the holidays.


As technology continues to evolve, it’s crucial to keep up. Remember: online marketing is not about how many “likes” you get on Facebook; it’s about building strong, direct and lasting relationships with your customers.


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