Simple Ways to Excite and Engage Your Customers Online

The final months of 2013 are on us and, for many small businesses the world over, there is the need be ever active on your social media feeds. It's a popular time of year for all concerned as it's a holiday season, a chance to meet up with friends and family, and sales can rise due to all of this. Being creative and unique with your social media endeavors is difficult, so how would one go about it?

There are plenty of deadly serious business articles out there which approach this topic in greater detail than I will. This mechanical, meticulous process often ignores what customers would actually like from you. If they've taken the time to Like your Facebook page they don’t need to be bombarded with spam. Adopting a sense of humor, and being fun, can have a much greater impact for your marketing campaign. I won’t doff an SEO spiel cap here and claim any of these ideas will bag you a hundred retweets, but what they can do is engage your current customer base over the coming months. Depending on your market, adapting a few of these methods to your area of expertise could keep your social media accounts ticking over positively for many months to come.

Blogging to build content

Putting out a fun, informative, news based blog once a week can add great new content to your site. This, in turn, makes your site livelier in Google’s algorithms, which allows the opportunity for new traffic to visit your site.

Google has just released an update it has named Hummingbird. It makes searches more specific, so blog posts which are unique (even if it’s on a familiar topic) will stand out in results thanks to Google’s efforts. Google is often seen as being somewhat draconian, but its anti-spam approach has helped clean up the Internet. Spun articles, bad links, and boring articles are disappearing. Creativity is encouraged, so you should take advantage of this. This doesn't mean you have to invent amazing new topics, it just promotes content using your writing style. A good example for topic ideas are seasonal events. With Halloween, Christmas, New Year's, and a myriad of other events impending, it’s pretty straightforward to adopt these in some way for your business. A blog post on these would be very well timed.

Allow guest posts

As mentioned above, Google's promotion of proper content means the guest bloggers who may contact you could well have something excellent to offer. It's common, thanks to SEO, for many practitioners to get their approach wrong, but do take note of those who contact you offering a genuinely excellent post. You can use this as great new content, you can make a good new contact, and all concerned can promote the piece on social media. There shouldn't be any stigma towards guest bloggers now as it's a win-win situation.

Use photographs, graphics, and other images

The visual appeal of the Internet means big, expressive images with eye-catching aesthetics can draw people in. If you’re not on popular social media platforms such as Pinterest and Instagram, consider opening an account. Even with a cheap digital camera, and after reading a few online guides, you can get your skills up on photo editing software. This can lead to appealing images which are yours, freeing you of any copyright infringement worries, as well as allowing you to run unique pictures.

You could take things a step further and have a go at making an entertaining Vine. Many customers enjoy light-hearted, humorous endeavours from the companies they follow, so here is an easy way to interact with people. However, to be different instead of making just the one Vine, create a series of them which people can follow. Be creative with this, such as showing staff messing around, making a music video, or growing an office plant. You could be more serious, however, and show your attempts at environmental awareness (your recycling efforts, for instance).

More articles from AllBusiness.com:

• 13 Ways to Engage With Customers on Social Media
• 7 Ways Small Businesses Can Engage in the Local Community
• Satisfy an Angry Customer by Following the Three R’s
• 6 Fun and Creative Ways to Connect With Your Followers on Snapchat
• The Psychology of Customer Service: Science-Backed Tips to Increase Customer Satisfaction

Run competitions to engage the public

The business I work for has successfully run competitions through Facebook and Twitter for some several months. Whilst you can be very witty on Twitter and wax lyrical all day, the possibility of free goods is much more likely to promote public interaction. They don’t have to be grand prizes worth hundreds of pounds, just simple items which people can revel in as a special treat. For instance, we had success with gourmet chocolate pizzas, popcorn-making machines, and even a kitchen chalkboard for amateur chefs.

You can step things up a bit, too, by being extravagant. It’s Christmas, so perhaps consider an extra special prize to put up for grabs, or a competition for families to show off their creativity. Be aware of technology, too. A new laptop would always go down well, and Sony and Microsoft have new consoles coming out soon. Running this as a prize would likely be very successful.

Offer advice and inspiration

Depending on your business you may already have advice sections on your site. Advice doesn't necessarily have to be limited to your business (although this would be your best option), but tips on new technology such as Windows 8.1 can help your customers along. If you want to offer inspiration and advice about your products, however, then consider opening a YouTube channel and posting up videos explaning your products. Concise, lively videos usually do the trick and can help confused customers solve potential issues.

Avoid infographics

The infographic craze began over a year ago and was a big hit. Sadly the concept has since been overused and is now, from my perspective, something of a cliche. They look too much like an attempt to win easy social media responses and, due to their overuse, have lost their wow factor. They're also expensive to make, so save the money for something else.

Upgrade your services

What could you spend this spare money on? If you haven't checked all of your software/hardware recently then consider giving it an overhaul. This doesn't engage with customers as such, but it does make it easier for them to use your services. Updates can involve a redesign of your site and its services, upgrading to Windows 8.1, or updating your WordPress blog to the latest version. Adding some new Widgets to your blog (such as a poll, your Twitter feed, or even music snippets) can make things more fun for visitors.

Simple touches like this can make a small difference. You can also try adding new header designs to your Twitter and Facebook accounts, which can liven up proceedings and display your company is vibrant, alive, and in step with the world beyond your business.

RELATED: 7 Tips for Starting a Company Blog That Brings Results