Can you remember a time without Facebook? Or a time when social media just meant a group of journalists enjoying cocktails together? Those times, they are so faint in my memory…
Not that that’s a bad thing. For all the griping so many people do about the pervasiveness of social media, and how exasperated they are by their sister-in-law’s food photo posts on Facebook, it’s undeniable that these platforms are not going to fall by the wayside anytime soon. Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook—to name a few—they’ve been change agents of society. We think and act differently because of them. And that has never been more relevant if you look at it from a business perspective.
If you’re not engaging customers, they won’t engage you back.Why? Because social media is a relatively even playing field. It’s changed the way companies do business, how they develop products, how they promote products, how they engage and communicate with their customers. Whether you’re a gigantic corporation with hundreds of employees, or a mom-and-pop shop with two employees—three when your son is home from college for the summer—social media doesn’t discriminate. Social media doesn’t care if you have one dollar or millions of them to market your product—it’s free to anyone with an Internet connection. Anyone can have a social media presence, and if you’re a CPG company with a bang-up product, you should have a social media presence.
But!
It’s what you do with those social media pages that will set you apart from your competition.
Think about your favorite product. (Maybe it’s your own product. There’s no judging here.) Now go take a look at that product’s Facebook page. Go ahead. I’ll wait.
Welcome back! What did you see? Was it an alluring page with lots of photos? Maybe some videos? Something posted within the past 24 hours? The past 12 hours? The past hour?
Or was it kind of…meh? Devoid of content. No photos. No images. The most recent post was from eight months ago. Did the page look like it had been deserted?
When you create your Facebook page, and develop your social media, you’ve got to commit to it. Don’t let your page look like you’ve deserted it! Otherwise, when new customers come to check you out, and “like” your page—and they will, right after they finish their post about the funny thing their dog just did—they’ll think you’ve abandoned them. They’ll think you really don’t give a hoot about your own product, and don’t give a hoot about your customers.
If you’re not engaging customers, they won’t engage you back.
Again, this is not to say you need to spend hours upon days and beaucoup bucks on your Facebook page and social media presence. You really don’t. What you need to do is know your product well, know your message, and know how to convey your message in a way that will resonate with your consumers and resonate on social media: Short. Snappy. Visual. Conversational.
The beauty of social media is that by putting in even just a little time and effort of quality to create a page that is attractive to your customers, shows that you care about them, their opinions, and their needs, and overall gives them a sense that you and they are in this journey together, and can go a heckuva long way in establishing and developing a positive relationship with your customers.
If only you could do the same to develop such a relationship with retail buyers, amirite?
Oh, but wait….
Maybe you…can…
I’m not saying but I’m saying to keep your eyes peeled for something very exciting coming soon from RangeMe that will help you show off your brand to buyers, and better develop that side of your CPG relationships.
Until then, take a look at your own social media pages. If you were a consumer, would you be engaged with you and your product? If the answer isn’t yes, then maybe it’s time to take up residence on your deserted Facebook page island.
