In any business, there’s always lots going on and fierce pressure to grow. As you prospect clients and seek new business, how often do you think about your existing customer base? If you’re not listening to those who already know and use your brand, you might miss important opportunities to connect with an active audience.

It’s more important than ever to pay attention to what your audience is saying online. Today’s Internet users expect there to be someone behind a brand’s online presence. When they post a review or comment a question to a brand, they expect an answer. Will you interact and leave a positive impression, or ignore it and leave them hanging? Read on for our best tips on engaging with your market.

Dealing with Reviews

When your business receives a negative online review, the first and most important thing you can do is address the issue and apologize. According to Inc.com, 33 percent of negative Yelp reviews turn positive once they’ve been responded to. Be personal in your response – giving a canned response to every review can be a major turn-off for potential customers. Acknowledge their specific problem, and if possible, explain how you will try to prevent the issue in the future.

At the end of your response, provide an avenue to take the issue offline. You can give the customer your email address or phone number and ask them to reach out to further resolve the issue. Then, take the review to heart! If you’re consistently seeing negative reviews about an aspect of your business, consider making a change to improve the customer experience.

Try to avoid taking negative feedback too hard. It might sound counterintuitive, but it’s actually better to have a few negative reviews. Most customers aren’t looking for (and don’t trust) businesses with perfect 5-star ratings. In fact, a study by the Harvard Business School found customers trust reviews more when there’s a mix of positive and negative, and 95 percent believe businesses with perfect reviews screen out the bad ones. A few not-so-great reviews among many positive comments can add a sense of honesty.

Rewarding Existing Customers

It’s every business’ goal to gain more customers and increase their market share. However, to continue to grow, it’s equally important to keep your existing customer base happy. People are creatures of habit – they want a reason and opportunity to purchase from your company again. It costs less for you to keep an existing customer than it does to gain a new one, so retaining customers is a win for everyone.

To show your appreciation for your current customers, provide them with further value through blog posts, special events or a rewards program. You can also show them love on social media by responding to their comments, liking their posts or sharing their comments about your product or service. Plus, these efforts provide the added bonus of showing potential new customers what their experience might be like if they interact with your business.

Interacting with Comments and Messages

On social media, interacting with users’ comments and messages is one of the most important things you can do. It’s critical to first promote methods customers can use to interact with your brand. Create clear messaging about how their concerns can be shared, set up review pages and encourage your audience to DM you for specific needs.

Once you have a steady stream of communication going, you need a system in place for responding behind the scenes. Be sure each item is addressed “on brand” and make responses as effective as possible. You might assign responding duties to a certain team member, and provide outlines or example scripts to answer a variety of questions and comments. To learn more about how to use social media for customer service, check out this article.