However strange it sounds, dating is not that far from social media marketing. Well, approaching your target audience in their natural environment is a bit trickier than using advertisements. It gets personal, just like dating. You can’t shower your future clients with annoying calls to action and wait for them to follow. 

Do you remember going on a date with someone who was totally focused on themselves? You spent some hours discussing their novelty and uniqueness, but after you came home you had a reasonable question: “Why did I waste my time with that person?”

Well, your client can experience a similar feeling if you fail in social media marketing. 

Get interested in your clients

Just like in dating, if you are interested in a long-term relationship, you try to learn as much as possible about your partner. What do they like? How do they spend their free time? What books do they read? Who do they trust? What do they hate? You should find answers to lifestyle and personal questions for your audience. This information is the basis of your strategy. Your brand should naturally fit in the group of people you target. And for that, you need to have the same values. You need to show that your brand is not one more company that wants their money, you are close to their way of living and seeing the world.

Create content that is naturally interesting for them

Just like on a date, you will hardly choose a deeply scientific topic when you meet a person for the first time. We live in the era of information. People are overwhelmed with ideas, ads, opinions, and news. To win a piece of their memory, you can’t rely on boring and all-the-same content. Instead, look at trends and thoroughly analyze what users expect from you. Create and share content that is natural and interesting for your audience and you will little by little start to seem one of their community. 

Approach your audience bit by bit

To build trustworthiness, approach your client little by little. Like on dates, people don’t enjoy it when you are too annoying and demanding. Send them a friend request, add a comment, but don’t expect anything else. First, build a rapport with them. Comment and like the articles or events that they like. Offer them something free, not for money. You let them know you better. Ask for their opinion. We, people, all like to feel heard and appreciated. So, show that you care and are not just trying to sell. A slow beginning can seem boring and too tedious. But as a result, you get long-term loyal customers who will be ready to advocate your brand. 

Don’t ignore your clients

Probably everyone had a date like that: you come back home full of inspiration and anticipation of the future, maybe, you even spent a good night, but your partner ignores you for a day, two. There is no news in a week – and you feel lost and ghosted. Unfortunately, exactly the same thing is often repeated by brands. Companies push a client to buy something and then abandon them as if there is nothing else to talk about with them. Of course, the client understands that you care only about selling and feels frustrated. 

Calm them down when they are sad

Hatred is always a lot easier to spread than love. Maybe this is just the nature of people. Maybe this is a part of our inborn nature, we share negativity to warn others about a possible threat. Anyway, negativity is exactly the moment of truth for the brand. The moment someone @tags your brand with a negative comment, the issue is no longer just between you and the person. All the friends and subscribers will know about it and will be likely to follow how you will react to that. If you express impoliteness or simply ignore a serious problem, you can lose a lot more than one potential customer. Take every negative comment as your chance to evolve. Make sure that you manage to bring happiness to an unfortunate customer and you will see how people start to praise you. But make sure that you indeed convey the desire to help. It makes no sense to show nominal care. Such lies will only frustrate people more. 

And remember that positive word-of-mouth is a strong weapon in your arms. When you manage to win somebody’s heart, they will start spreading the good news about you. Though the process is not as fast as with negative comments, you will get your recognition with time. In the end, even in personal relationships, we complain about our partners a lot more often than boast about their uniqueness. But if we get indeed deep feelings, everyone will know that our soulmate is worth it sooner or later. 

Do you think that dating can teach us social media marketing? Which strategies do you apply? Let’s discuss it in the comments below.