As a business psychologist, if I had a pound for every time I heard the term ‘engagement’, I wouldn’t be writing this blog. I’d be sunning myself at my villa in the Bahamas!!
Engagement is huge for businesses. Those who engage their employees have been found through extensive research to be more profitable. And it is most definitely the case that customer engagement will increase profit share too.
So, what does engagement mean? Well, think about what it means when you become engaged to be married. You are giving someone your trust, commitment, promise, and future. Is this any different in terms of employee and customer engagement?
You certainly want your employees trust, commitment and promise to give at least a proportion of their future to you. Similarly with your customers, you need to gain their trust in you, create commitment so they choose you over your competitors, and promise that you will deliver exactly what is expected. So what about the future? It is always going to be easier to sell to those customers who have already bought from you than to find new customers, so you are definitely looking to keep hold of this customer into the future.
Sounds so simple – engage your employees and engage your customers and profits will flourish. So, how can this be achieved? Social media is definitely a tool that can help!
Engage with your customers through social media. Take interest in their tweets (especially if these relate to the service you have provided for them), respond to their needs, create relationships and engage.
And, as for your employees, well funnily enough they are on social media too! So many businesses block these tools as they do not want employees to be procrastinating during the working day. How about using them to engage with your employees? Get discussions going online, open forums and closed groups will allow your employees to come together as a team online.
So, come on then! LET’S GET ENGAGED!
