Julia Jornsay-Silverberg
Do you know how to navigate your relationships with customers on different social media platforms?
It’s easy to understand the importance: no two social networks are the same. Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or LinkedIn—each platform comes with its own version of etiquette and communication rules.
If you’re a marketer trying to figure out how best to manage relationships across all these channels, don’t worry.
Here we’ll cover key tips for effectively managing communications and updates in an engaging way on every major social media platform.
Why Your Approach Matters
While there is no one-size-fits-all approach for relationship management, there are various tactics you can use to create and nurture connections with your followers.
From utilizing hashtags strategically to interacting with customers directly, having an effective strategy for managing relationships across multiple platforms will be invaluable for driving engagement and increasing brand awareness.
The approach that you take to managing these relationships should be driven by the platform you’re on because each platform has a different vibe.
For instance, TikTok is an extremely casual and personalized platform where people post, and communicate in a much more laid back way when compared to LinkedIn. The tone of voice you use on TikTok is likely more informal and therefore, you want to build relationships in that same way.
LinkedIn, on the other hand, is the most professional of the social media platforms. Because of this, you want to take a much more polished approach to managing relationships.
Think of the mindset of the user: when someone goes onto LinkedIn, they are likely looking for jobs and/or something relating to their professional work or career. However, when someone goes to Facebook, they’re likely in a social mindset, looking to see photos and videos of their friends and family.
The different atmospheres and mindsets of the user on these different platforms plays a big role in guiding the best practices for managing relationships on these platforms.
The Best Practices For Managing Relationships
To be effective in managing relationships on the various social platforms, it’s important to consider the best practices for each platform and for social media in general to guide your relationship marketing strategy.
Here is a best practice for managing relationships on the each of the different platforms:
Facebook:
Utilize messenger: Messenger is a fantastic place to be building relationships that you’ve made on Facebook. Given that Facebook is one of the more personal and popular platforms, it’s a really good place to be expanding the conversations you’ve having with folks by taking them to messenger. Thanks to messenger being it’s own app, it’s a lot easier to keep track of the conversations there than it is to keep tabs on all of the notifications you receive within the Facebook app. Messenger lets you send videos, photos and voice memos, making it a powerful messaging platform for building relationships.
Instagram:
Engage with content: If you want to build and manage your relationships on Instagram, a major best practice is to engage on the platform. I recommend taking 5-10 minutes every day to comment, like and/or share content from people you want to further build relationships with. Engaging with their content will make them feel seen which is a great way to strengthen a relationship and/or start a connection with someone. Also, given that people tend to be more personal on Instagram, it’s a great channel to start to get to know people beyond just their business.
Twitter:
Contribute to conversations: The best way to manage your relationships on a fast-moving news-oriented platform like Twitter is to actively contribute to conversations. At least 5,000 tweets have been sent from when you started reading this blog post until now; that means that there is a LOT of competition for eyeballs on the platform. Tweeting a few times a day is great, but the real way to manage and build relationships on Twitter is to show up in conversations that are already happening. Participate in Twitter chats in your industry and/or start commenting/responding to tweets from folks taht you admire. This is a great way to start to become known on the platform!
LinkedIn:
Ask questions: Given that LinkedIn is the most professional of the social media platforms, one of the best ways to manage your relationships here is to ask questions to your network. Be someone that focuses on providing value and helping others by way of posting informative articles and/or sharing your expertise about a certain topic. People are going to LinkedIn to learn and/or job search, so it’s important to keep that in mind in your relationship building efforts. LinkedIn isn’t the place to show up dancing to a trending sound; it’s the place to be inquiring as to how you can help others in their career because everyone loves someone who cares. There are so many opportunities to show up in a genuine and thoughtful way on LinkedIn and showcase your passions and interests in a professional way that resonates with others.
TikTok:
Show your personality: The best way to manage relationships on TikTok is to show your personality in your videos. The reason being that the only way to engage with someone and start a private conversation with them on TikTok is if you are both following each other. This means that in order to do any relationship management or building, you have to be actively growing a following on the platform. Smart marketers know that the best way to grow a following online today is to show your personality and just be yourself. People want to get a sense of who you really are, so don’t be shy! Let yourself show up authentically, without fear of rejection, and you will start to attract the right audience to you. Then, you can start sending them private messages and having real conversations on the platform!
YouTube:
Respond to every comment: If you’re looking to best manage your relationships on YouTube, the best practice is to respond to every single comment you get. Comments are gold; they signal that someone cares enough to take their time to share their opinion with you about your video. The best practice for relationship marekting on YouTube is to respond to every single comment you get on a video, regardless of the sentiment of the comment. Answering every question and acknowledging every comment is how brands and individuals turn haters into loyal, true fans.
The reality about each of these best practices is that they can truly be applied to any of the platforms!
By utilizing private messaging channels, you’re able to create a more personalized connection and have more intimate conversations. This helps to build trust, which is how we strengthen relationships. Through engaging with others’ we have the ability to get to know them better and show up for them in meaningful ways.
Similarly, by actively contributing to conversations, asking questions and responding to every comment, we are able to showcase our expertise and let others know that we care about their time, thoughts and insights. This makes people feel seen and also plays upon the reciprocity principle which makes it more likely for them to respond in kind.
Lastly, through showing your personality online, you will cut through the clutter more easily to find the right people to attract to your community.
Which of these tips is your favorite? What do you think is the best way to manage relationships online?
Julia Jornsay-Silverberg @julia2
Julia Jornsay-Silverberg is an anti-highlight reel creator who loves to excite, inspire and motivate people to utilize self-awareness as their superpower in order to really create relationships.