Are you and your customers using the Internet the same way? By learning where and how your customers and prospects spend time online, you can narrow your focus to the strategies most likely to produce the results you seek. From there, it’s about finding the right mix of platforms and using your online presence to fuel customer growth and loyalty. Your website is one component of your Internet presence, but other channels and components are just as, if not more, important:

• Prioritize social media. To identify your company’s optimal social media strategy, you need to consider what each channel does best, which demographics each attracts, and how those demographics align with your base of customers and prospects. What’s the most-used channel? If you guessed YouTube rather than Facebook, give yourself a point for social media savvy: 73 percent of adults reported visiting the video platform, while 68 percent are on Facebook. Another surprise? Both sites attract more than half of Baby Boomers and Gen-Xers who are active on social media: 56 percent of those age 50+ use YouTube, and 55 percent are on Facebook.
• Rethink your perspective on video. Its utility isn’t limited to promotion; you can use video to inform, instruct, and connect in new ways with your customers. For example, videos that show buyers how to assemble your products could enable your customers to put them together without draining time and without the labor resources required to walk individual customers through assembly by phone. Think about what your customers need to know and how video can meet those needs.
• Build your online community. You may win a percentage of business from new customers who find you via search. But word of mouth, recommendations, and referrals are still most likely to connect you with customers whose expectations align with your product and service standards. And by providing value online, you give your customers reasons to direct others to your Internet platforms and begin to become acquainted with your company.

Adopting a strategic approach to cultivating your Internet presence strengthens your company by giving it greater insight into customer needs and preferences and more channels for responding effectively to that input. By converting that knowledge into a competitive edge, you position your company to sustain meaningful relationships, genuine loyalty, and the quality of community necessary to promote long-term success.

Read the Leverage the Internet to Own the Customer Experience guide to learn more about how you can use a range of online platforms and resources to build customer growth and retention.