The 5 Types of Customers You’ll Meet on Social Media

Here’s a rundown of the 5 types of customers you’ll interact with on social media.

The Questioner

Who They Are: People who need or want information related to your company. In the past, these folks might have written a letter or picked up the phone; these days, they’re tweeting or Facebook-ing your company directly. The information they need may be on the website, but they’ve decided to go straight to the source.

What to Do: Answer the question! This is your chance to make a good impression on a potential or existing customer—or disappoint them if you don’t respond.

The Complainer

Who They Are:These customers treat social media like it’s the Airing of Grievances on Festivus. They may have legitimate gripes, they may be looking for freebies, or they may just want to mouth off.

What to Do: Apologize publically, then take the conversation to a private message or offline. Do what you can to make things right if your customer’s complaint is legitimate. If you handle the situation appropriately, there’s a chance your Complainers will tell their social media networks about the great way you handled it, turning them into . . .

The Complimenter

Who They Are: The polar opposite of the complainer and your best friend on social media, the Complimenter goes out of his or her way to give your business a digital pat on the back.

What to Do: Thank them! Retweet and share the compliment! If appropriate, ask permission to use their kind words in other aspects of your marketing. At the very least, share the compliment with the folks on your team who helped make it happen.

Compliments are a precious thing—don’t let them go to waste.

The Non-Verbal Engager

Who They Are: They retweet you on Twitter. They share or like your posts on Facebook. They may not be giving you feedback in words, but they don’t have to. The Non-Verbal Engager’s clicks speak for themselves.

What to Do: Pay close attention when your content is shared and liked. Do you get more engagement when you post about certain topics? When your content is a video rather than a picture? When you post at a specific time of day? Once you find out what’s engaging to your audience, do more of it.

The Listener

Who They Are: The bulk of your customers may be in this category—they follow you on Facebook and Twitter and they might see what you post, but otherwise they have no social engagement with your brand.

What to Do: Despite the title of this blog post, you won’t actually meet your Listeners unless you move them into one of the other 4 categories. So ask for their feedback directly. Encourage your audience to retweet, like, and share your content. Ask them to comment on their favorite aspects of your products and services. Ask for their thoughts on your new offerings.

You may not always get the answers you were hoping for—but you will get more feedback that could improve your business.