Whatever business you are in you can't underestimate the benefits of having a database of all your customers. It doesn't matter whether you have a clothes shop, cafe, health practice etc being able to talk and communicate with your customers is essential to building relationships. With seemingly everyone using Twitter and Facebook it can be easy to rely on the list of fans and followers you have there. But are you really you are putting all your eggs in one social media basket? These are 5 reasons why I don't rely on Facebook on Twitter for my business data.
1.You can only communicate through Facebook and Twitter.
It can be a bit limiting, only 140 characters on Twitter and research shows shorter posts are more effective on Facebook. Not giving you a lot of space to work with.
2. You only have limited information on each fan and follower.
This means you can't segment the audience and tailor the information they receive. Wouldn't it be great if you only received information that was useful? That's where a separate mailing comes in. Give your customers the chance to opt in to what they want to hear about, not what you want to tell them and you'll get a much better response rate.
3. You can't tell if your update has been seen.
You are relying on comments, likes and retweets to find out whether your updates are valued by your fans and followers. Not everyone likes to get involved so you can't tell if they have seen it. With an e-mail newsletter you can track opens and click throughs and even through to sales using Google Analytics.
4. You can't export any data.
If something happened to Facebook and Twitter you would lose all the hard work you had put in building relationships. It isn't unheard of that your page could disappear, or be taken down by mistake. Would you really have such important data in any other part of your business not backed up somewhere?
5. Facebook do not make it easy to send messages to your fans.
When you send out a message to all your fans it is hidden in the updates folder that no one ever looks in. There is nothing more disheartening that feeling like you are talking to yourself.
So do you use a separate database? If you do, how do you entice people to sign up from Facebook and Twitter? Let me know in the comments below.
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