Communication is the key to a successful business. In today’s cutthroat online market, you cannot keep your customers interested in you without engaging with them. Social media like Facebook and Twitter provide great platforms to communicate with existing and potential customers and build a lasting relationship with them. Therefore, in order to retain your audience and acquire new ones, you must make maximum use of the opportunities made available to you.

Here are 7 ways that you can engage with your clients on social media:

1. Befriend or follow existing and potential customers: A great way to engage with your audience is to befriend or follow them on social media like Facebook and Twitter. Do not wait for them to come to you; be proactive and reach out to them. Most of them will be happy to follow you back or become your friend.

2. Post fresh content often: Post content regularly to remind your audience that you are in business. Without making it look like you are actively soliciting their support, encourage them to “like” or share your content with their friends and followers. Make your content short, sweet and informative; otherwise they will lose interest.

3. Update your clients on new products and services: Whenever you have a new product or service update your audience immediately. You can place the information on the main page and also send a personal message. Keep your social media posts short, informative and to the point.

4. Use images and video clips along with text messages: Images and video clips are more effective in drawing your customers’ attention to your posts than text messages. Post attractive images of your products with catchy slogans. Keep your video clips short and informative. If your customers find your images and video clips are interesting, they will like or share them with their friends and followers.

5. Join public conversations whenever you get the opportunity: When you find that your customers are engaged in a public conversation, join them. Express your views and opinions on the topic being discussed and avoid getting into any arguments. The idea here is to build a relationship with them and not to push your products and services.

6. Use emoticons to draw your customers’ attention: Studies have shown that social media users are more likely to respond to emoticons than plain text messages. For example, putting a smiley on your post can increase likes by 57%, shares by 33% and comments by 33%.

7. Send a personal message to your customers: Whenever you have an announcement or invitation to make, send a personal message to your customers. All social media including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus allow you to send personal messages to your friends and followers. When sending a personal message, make sure that they won’t view it as spam.

Engaging your customers on social media requires a lot of time and attention to detail. You must create your content carefully and ensure you don’t offend anyone. If you want to create controversy in order to attract people’s attention, then make sure that most of your audience will be on your side.

How do you engage with your audience?