Build Brand Loyalty by Rewarding Your Followers
Building loyalty between brands and customers is now more important than ever. Nowadays, brands can no longer solely rely on providing consumers with a superior product or service. Instead, they must rely on their customers. The only way to ensure customer loyalty is to provide them with an exceptional service and experience while ensuring their needs, as well as expectations, are adequately met. In other words, you have to provide customers and followers with value to ensure their loyalty.
However, that’s easier said than done these days. The main reason is that consumers are savvier these nowadays and they know what they want. Not only that, but consumer behavior is pretty much influenced by market trends, which can change easily and practically overnight. That’s why keeping up with consumer expectations is becoming increasingly difficult. Still, one thing that can ensure loyalty regardless of the other factors is rewards. That being said, here are a few ways to build brand loyalty by rewarding your followers.
Provide followers with amazing content
Content is essential for boosting engagement and ensuring loyalty in customers and followers. Content is the key because it delivers value to your audience. However, not just any content will do. Instead, you must ensure that content is entertaining, informative and educational. But most importantly, you must ensure that the content you provide is of top quality and highly relevant to your followers. That way you’ll give them something they can truly enjoy and in return, you’ll be able to ensure their loyalty.
That being said, you have to remain consistent in providing followers with good content. Otherwise, they’ll feel abandoned and won’t hesitate to abandon your brand. Moreover, enrich content with top-quality visuals, such as images, infographics, videos and so on. Visual content is better received on social media than plain text articles, which means it will get more shares, likes, comments etc.
Host social events
If you’re trying to ensure loyalty from your social media followers, then you’ll have to socialize with them. Hosting a social event, such as a contest, promotion or a giveaway is a good way to not just ensure engagement and loyalty, but drive more traffic to your website as well. Your followers get to enjoy participating in your event while they also get rewarded in the end. However, when designing such events, make sure you have your audience’s best interests in mind.
That includes ensuring that the event is in accordance with your audience’s preferences and that the rewards are meaningful and valuable. You can offer discounts, coupons, free products and samples to your audience to encourage their loyalty. If you’re hosting a contest, make sure you make it interesting enough. If it’s a promotion, on the other hand, make sure you encourage referrals through rewards, in order to boost exposure.
Implement a loyalty program
One of the surest and most effective ways to boost loyalty is to implement a loyalty program. A loyalty program, as its name suggests, rewards followers and customers for their loyalty. It actually gives followers a good reason to remain loyal to your brand by offering them good rewards. There are various types of loyalty programs, such as point-based, tier-based, VIP memberships and others. The key is to implement a loyalty program that’s best suited to your audience needs. In fact, 76% of consumers believe that being part of a loyalty program is crucial for their relationship with a brand.
What’s more, 83% of consumers claim that they’re more likely to continue doing business with a brand if they’re included in a loyalty program. In addition, a survey conducted in Hong Kong showed that 41% of consumers are willing to spend more with a brand that has a loyalty program. So, Hong Kong customers rewarded with prepaid card would not only be satisfied because they received a reward, but they would also be encouraged to become your regular customers who are willing to remain loyal to your brand.
Listen to your followers
In most cases, many brands focus on physical rewards and incentives to further boost follower loyalty. However, sometimes your brand’s actions can also be a meaningful reward for your followers. Listening to your audience and improving upon their feedback can be a sign of trust and mutual respect, which is a reward on its own. For example, improve your customer service and support based on your followers’ feedback, and you’ll boost their loyalty.
The main reason is that you’re showing that you actually listen, and in return your followers will shower your brand with appreciation. Another example is asking followers what type of content they want and how often they want it, then delivering as promised. In other words, loyalty is based on trust and the best way to earn your followers’ trust is to actively listen to what they have to say.
Rewarding followers and customers is always a good method to ensure their loyalty. In essence, you have to give something to get something in return. These days, the relationship brands have with their followers is a foundation for future loyalty and engagement. That’s why it’s very important to be on good terms with your followers.