• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Social Media Examiner

Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle

  • 🔥 Free Newsletter
  • ⭐ FREE Web3 Course
  • 🗓️ Our Events
    • Social Media Marketing World (Mar 13-15)
    • Other Industry Events
  • 💡 Society
  • ⚙️ Tools
  • 🎙️ Podcasts
    • Social Media Marketing Podcast
    • Social Media Marketing Talk Show
    • Web3 Business Podcast
    • Our YouTube Channel
  • 🎯 Partner With Us
    • Podcast Sponsorship
    • Email Sponsorship
      • Email Newsletter
      • Dedicated Email Blast
    • Event Sponsorship
      • Social Media Marketing World
    • Tools Sponsorship
  • 👋 About Us
    • Our Story
    • Articles
      • Web3
      • Instagram Marketing
      • Facebook Marketing
      • YouTube Marketing
      • LinkedIn Marketing
      • TikTok Marketing
      • Expert Interviews
  • Search
  • 8 Ways to Improve Customer Relationships With Social Media

    by Keith Quesenberry / July 1, 2014

    social media how to Do you tell your fans how much you value them?

    Are you looking for new ways to say thank you on social media?

    Give and take is part of any successful relationship–online or off, business or personal.

    In this article I'll show you eight ways companies are using social media campaigns to thank their customers and foster better customer relationships.

    #1: Pay It Forward

    Hotel chain DoubleTree is known for their cookie welcome at check-in–it's their way of “bringing the human touch back to travel.”

    On National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, they not only offered cookies to anyone who visited one of their hotels, they also used their social channels to invite others to spread the love by suggesting people who could use a cookie pick-me-up.

    People could pay it forward by answering the question, “Who else deserves some Cookie Care?” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and including the #CookieCare hashtag.

    lite 96.9 post thanking doubletree
    Everyone loves free food and everyone gets to see it passed along in social media.

    DoubleTree delivered cookies and sent out tins of cookies—and acknowledged the fans who were playing along.

    Who doesn't love a DoubleTree cookie? Sharing their signature perk—and letting fans be part of the gifting—was a fun way to say thank you.

    #2: Give Back

    TOMS Shoes is built on the One for One business model—for every pair of shoes you buy, they donate a pair to a child in need. That vision is incredibly popular with their customers.

    To raise extended awareness about the impact a pair of shoes can have on a child's life, TOMS created the One Day Without Shoes event. Once a year, TOMS encourages everyone to go barefoot to “raise global awareness for children's health and education.”

    When the company asked their customers to help them make a statement, those people responded enthusiastically. To thank them, TOMS collected footage and pictures from participants around the world and put together a simple thank-you video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAzNfinkqdA

    3 Days of World-Class Training—Zero Travel!

    Social Media Marketing World

    Travel to Social Media Marketing World off the table? Get all of the great content at a fraction of the price with an On-Demand ticket.

    That’s full access to recordings of every keynote, workshop, and session—the ones people travel thousands of miles to see. Don't wait. Get your On-Demand ticket and enjoy actionable content that you can watch anytime, anywhere.

    GET YOUR ON-DEMAND TICKET NOW

    By highlighting customers and the difference they made, TOMS was able to give back to their own community.

    #3: Own Your Mistakes

    Zappos is known for its exceptional customer service. Even so, they're not immune to mistakes. When an unhappy customer tweeted about a late order, Zappos responded quickly with an apology and a coupon.

    zappos customer reply on facebook
    Everyone makes mistakes, but what sets a company apart is admitting them.

    No one expects perfection, but owning up and saying “We're sorry!” is the best way to handle mistakes and show customers they matter.

    Humility and sincerity go a long way in social media and show that you value and respect your customers.

    #4: Say Thank You

    Even big companies get excited about milestones. When fashion brand Burberry reached one million Twitter followers, they sent virtual thank-you cards to 3,000 of their Twitter followers.

    Appreciating customers seems to be working. Today the company is approaching three million followers.

    burberry animated gif
    Thanking customers publicly and personally makes them feel special.

    Each animated Twitter note was personalized with the follower's Twitter handle and written in the chief creative officer's handwriting style to show how much the company truly appreciated that follower's engagement.

    Tools Resource Guide

    Looking for something to make your life easier?

    Discover the tools we recommend to drive engagement, save you time, and boost sales across your entire marketing funnel or business.

    Whether you need help planning content, organizing social posts, or developing your strategy, you’ll find something for every situation.

    FIND YOUR NEXT FAVORITE TOOL

    #5: Encourage Personal Stories

    For the 2012 London Olympic Games, P&G created “Thank you, Mom” Facebook pages that included an app that let users upload family photos and write messages to their mothers.

    pg thank you mom campaign
    Becoming a platform to thank others can pay your brand a lot of attention.

    The P&G campaign tugged at heartstrings because so many people have stories about how their moms made a huge difference in their personal success.

    Providing a space to publicly thank and pay tribute to their moms gave people a larger sense of community. P&G gave attention back to their fans, followers, customers and viewers and enabled them to thank someone else as well.

    #6: Personalize Responses

    Carmaker Honda has a loyal customer base. Like any company, Honda appreciates that loyalty. When they created the #HondaLove campaign and invited customers to share their Honda stories and photos across all social networks, customers were ready and willing to do it.

    Honda found a way to say thank you with simple personalized responses (human to human, not canned auto-responses) that are cheering them on.

    honda customer appreciation tweets
    Skip the Twitter bots—nothing shows appreciation like a heartfelt human response.

    By taking the time to express gratitude with genuine individualized responses, Honda is showing customers and fans that humans are listening and that the company is truly interested in their customers' experiences and contributions.

    #7: Give a Shout-Out

    Chrome Industries makes messenger bags, backpacks and other gear for cyclists “who live and ride in the city.” The company took the time to find their most loyal customers, and then sent them limited-edition Chrome Industries jerseys to wear around town.

    They gave public shout-outs to the fans and customers who shared Instagram photos of themselves wearing the jerseys (using the #covetedjersey hashtag).

    chrome industries customer recognition post
    With simple appreciation, you don't have to hire celebrities to promote your brand.

    Highlighting customers who take the time to consistently engage with your brand—and share it with their own networks—is a great way to thank them for supporting your company.

    #8: Encourage Participation

    Vail Ski Resorts' Epic Moms website gives families advice about travel, activities and even social media.

    Knowing that moms cherish time with their families and love to share those memories, Epic Moms contributor Jen Leo wrote a well-timed article explaining how to use Instagram to capture and share family adventures (particularly ski trips, of course).

    The article included pictures other people had shared using Vail Resorts hashtags and linked to the Vail Instagram accounts. Readers were invited to contribute their own photos and use the hashtags so others could see their photos too.

    vail instagram promotion
    Vail Resorts asked visitors to share memories in the making.

    By providing value, Vail Resorts was able to inspire customers, offer them the spotlight and help them feel like part of a larger community.

    Conclusion

    It pays to be kind. Saying thank you with perks, public attention and personalized responses makes your customers, fans and followers feel good. That emotional component can turn a consumer into a promoter or a single purchase into many.

    What do you think? How do you use social media campaigns to show customer appreciation? Do you have additional ideas for making fans feel special? Leave you comments below.

    Get Your FREE Course: Web3 for Beginners

    Web 3 for Beginners

    Curious about Web3, but don't know where to start or who to trust?

    Introducing Web3 for Beginners, a course taught by Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner.

    Learn the basics of Web3 and apply it to your business with this FREE comprehensive course.


    CLICK HERE TO GET FREE ACCESS

    About the authorKeith Quesenberry

    A professor and researcher at Johns Hopkins University, Keith Quesenberry has nearly 20 years experience as an award winning advertising copywriter and creative director for Fortune 500 and startup clients.
    Other posts by Keith Quesenberry Âť

    Get Social Media Examiner’s Future Articles in Your Inbox!

    Get our latest articles delivered to your email inbox and get the FREE Social Media Marketing Industry Report (39 pages, 50+ charts)!

    Industry Report Cover

    Worth Exploring:

    Facebook

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Instagram

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    YouTube

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Linkedin

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Web3

    Marketing Help Explore More →

    Social Media Marketing Industry Report

    Get Free Report →

    Social Marketing Trends

    The data you've been missing!

    Need a new plan? Discover how marketers plan to change their social activities in the 14th annual Social Media Marketing Industry Report. It reveals what marketers have planned for their social activities, content marketing, and more! Get this free report now and never miss another great article from us. Join more than 400,000 marketers!

    Enter your email to get
    our free report:


    Footer

    Your Guide to the Social Media Jungle
    Copyright © 2023 Social Media ExaminerÂŽ
    All Rights Reserved. Terms of Use | Privacy Policy.

    Helpful Links

    • About us
    • Our content via email
    • Our podcasts
    • Our YouTube channel
    • Our live show
    • Our industry report
    • Sponsorship opportunities
    • RSS
    • Accessibility