Written form of appeal to subscribers. How to make an original greeting in a VK group

Alena Grigorieva

Small brands PR on Instagram at random. They register an account and post product photos with monotonous calls to buy. Subscribers get bored, they don’t pay attention to the brand’s posts, but the same friends of the entrepreneur comment on them. This is how the belief appears that Instagram does not sell.

Among my acquaintances there are no those who come to Instagram for shopping. They go for inspiration, benefit and relaxation: they open the application, have a good time, close it. In order for the social network to help the business develop, communicate with the audience, keep an account with a soul and be useful.

Today you will learn how to engage subscribers, establish contact with them and get comments on publications. Read if you feel like you're talking to yourself on your account.

I. Materiel

In June, the ribbon formation algorithm changed. Now the user more often sees publications, with the author of which he is long and firmly connected by likes and comments. The more the photo is commented and liked, the more people will see the post. The higher the engagement, the higher the likelihood that the next post will get more attention. More coverage means more potential customers.

Analyze your account and think about why you need to communicate with your audience and bring it to a dialogue. For example, to create an image of an open and friendly company or to study the audience more deeply, or to collect information to improve the product. Write down one specific goal.

II. What to talk about

Post topics should be directly or indirectly related to the product and interesting to the audience. In order for subscribers to talk to you, show your expertise and understanding of the subject.

• The stylist will write about the combination of colors, wardrobe examples for each season, mistakes when combining tops and bottoms, and the rules for effective shopping.
• The creator of the author's diaries will publish tips on time management and goal setting, describe the techniques for keeping a diary and compile an overview of the accompanying stationery.
• The psychologist will talk about relationships with family and friends, about self-help methods in a difficult situation, and advise on how to deal with depression.

An interesting post is not a guarantee that the audience will actively join the discussion. Before posting, ask yourself these questions:

• What message do I want to convey to the audience?
• Why is the post useful?
• What action do I expect from the audience after reading?

This approach will exclude posts that are written in order to publish at least something. Each post will have a purpose and benefit.

Start your search for topics by looking at the profiles of your competitors. Find out which topics get the most engagement on their accounts and garner a lot of comments.

Search the forums in your field and write down the questions that come up most often. Learn what potential customers care about and misunderstand.

Add to the list topics that you are ready to talk about a lot and for a long time, because you understand them best.

In practice, you will quickly understand which topics are really interesting to the audience. In the future, add to the list, get rid of non-working themes and test those that were previously abandoned.

III. How to say

Now that you have an understanding of the goal and a list of topics, move on to engagement. I have deduced five techniques that are used in popular and small accounts.

Questions
The most common approach. Open questions - for detailed answers and closed - for short, simple - for a quick answer and more complex - for reasoning. Test each question type. This way you will know if the audience is ready to answer deep questions and enter into discussions.

Formulas for audience questions:

• history + question on the topic;
• personal opinion on a certain topic + a question about the opinion of the audience on the same topic;
• constant rubric of questions + the same or new question within this section.

Questions and reactions from the audience

Seeking advice
People like to feel useful, so they are willing to give advice. Some subscribers always respond to calls for help. The rest either do not read the texts and do not see the request, or do not understand the issue, or have already seen their thought in someone else's comment.

Formula for contacting subscribers for help:
description of the situation + specific problem + interrogative request for advice.

Appeals for advice and audience reactions

Games
Remember the main goal ordinary users Instagram? Open the app, have a good time, close the app. Games help make the second step of the chain easy and relaxing.

Formula for the game:
the theme suitable for the account + easy conditions for inclusion in the game.

Game approach and audience reaction

Marathons
Marathons on Instagram became popular a year ago. Experts and bloggers run marathons on style, weight loss, mindfulness, writing, relationships, Instagram promotion, and remote work.

Conditions - an account-appropriate theme, free useful content and a clear procedure for participation. It’s good if there are prizes: they motivate subscribers to join the marathon.

Contests
Now they cause less excitement than a year and a half ago, but they are still working and attracting interested participants.

The terms of the competition should be clear and simple. Here you can not do without a prize: reward the winner with your product, discount or gifts from partners.

Questions, requests and games work even in small accounts. Start to gradually engage in a dialogue with the audience. Be not a product, but a person who talks about the product. People communicate with people, not abstractions.

Marathons and competitions work when there is an active commenting and interested audience. Lead them alone or find partners and sponsors for information support, joint organization and prizes.

Task: come up with one activity for each technique.
1 question.
2. Seeking advice.
3. Game.
4. Marathon.
5. Competition.
Conditions: Appropriate topic, usefulness or entertainment to the audience, clear expected action on the part of the audience.
Depending on how active your followers are on your account, try one of the engagement techniques this week.

IV. What to remember

They won't talk to you the first time. This is fine. Ask simpler questions, join the dialogues in the accounts of subscribers and popular bloggers. Over time, the number of comments will grow if you are active and consistent.

People want attention. Respond to the comments of your subscribers after you have called them to the dialogue. Otherwise, a question comes out for the sake of a question, where it doesn’t matter what others answer. And others also want attention and communication.

Honesty is attractive. Be honest: Ask your followers not because of the Instagram algorithm, but because you are genuinely interested in knowing who your audience is and what they think.

Likes, comments, sales and simple pleasant communication to you!

Alena Grigorieva leads "talking" Instagram, develops the community

But in order for the group to be interesting to users and attract the attention of new subscribers, it must be active. And for this purpose, take on board a dozen simple, but effective ways stir up your followers.

Ask

The easiest way to increase activity in a group is to constantly ask for the opinion of your subscribers. This does not always work right away, but over time, users will get used to communicating and will easily make contact themselves.

Post polls

These can be comic polls on the topic of your project, or trending opinions on the topic of the day. The main thing is that they are understandable to everyone, and do not require much time to choose an answer.

Arrange "battles"

Find any pair of antagonists: Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, Mercedes and BMW, and find out who has more supporters among your subscribers. Just don't start confrontation between iPhone and Android - it's as old as the world, and everyone knows that fights cannot be avoided))

Run express contests

For example, a competition for the best title for an article, or a comment for a photo. Gifts can be purely symbolic, for example, put the winner's photo on the group's avatar for a couple of days.

play associations

Post part of the photo and ask them to think of the whole frame. Then show people the original, and determine the winner.

Announce all results

Always write a separate post based on the results of any activity - polls, battles, riddles, etc. Let it be beautifully designed, then the people mentioned there will most likely want to repost about their victory, albeit small.

Ask questions when posting photos

Find out in which city, or at what time of the year this photo was taken, ask to determine the age of the photo.

Ask directly to repost or like

If you do not take it into the habit, and use such a move only occasionally, then it will work. Don't forget to add a colorful image, or a relevant meme.

Write lists together

Lists and collections are a very effective type of content that users love. They carry a lot of information in a compressed form, they are often reposted. Post your intention to make a list: the best actors, the most beautiful cars, status parties, etc. And ask your followers to throw in options. If the list is negative, then most likely there will be more comments.

Create intrigue

Write that a cool idea came up, and you are ready to implement it. Describe it in two words. For example, "this will be useful to all subscribers, and will make access to the service even easier." Let the subscribers guess what it's about. This will not only increase the activity in the group, but also give you some thought, making it clear what the audience really wants.

Celebrate round dates

1000 subscribers, 150 reposts of one post, etc. Give gifts, write beautiful posts. Let subscribers feel the atmosphere of celebration and joy in your public.

Create traditions

It sounds a little pathetic, but traditions that will be associated only with your public will increase user loyalty. It could be something simple but delicious. For example, congratulate the winners with a certain set of emoticons, and each time with a new cheerful song. Or do "music subbotniks" and invite users to send in their favorite music to compile new collections.

The main thing is to turn on the fantasy, and discard the strict framework. Be friends with your followers and they will surely reciprocate.

The basics of communicating with your customers

In order for a user to subscribe to, you usually need to fill in two lines - name and email or phone number. Questions arise with the second field, but very rarely, only if the client hastily messed up with the characters. But what a surprise awaits the sender when he looks at usernames. What you will not find here: nicknames, nicknames, a set of numbers and letters, spaces or even obscene language. Of course, it is best to address subscribers by name, but this does not always work out, and for various reasons.

What to do, if:

No names and no segmentation

I think it’s not worth talking about the importance of personalization again, but let’s get down to business right away.

The base is its own, but no one has worked with it for a long time

Try to "resurrect" your subscribers. Write an email letter of repentance with a proposal to update your data and subscription to the newsletter, indicate the reason for your long absence and what good the subscriber will receive now.

Effective email marketing with eSputnik

Registration

I had to work with someone else's base

Think about who you are in the first place: a spammer or a company that cares about its customers. We are categorically AGAINST email newsletters for purchased databases, but there are cases (for the same managers or copywriters) when there is no choice and you have to work with such contacts:

1. If this is a partner base, it is better to ask partners to make email newsletter on behalf of the company, asking customers to subscribe to your news and updates.

2. If this is a "left" database, you need to send out invitation letters for registration in small portions (~50 per day), with a link to where did the contacts come from. After the results obtained, it will be seen how it is better to work with this base and whether it is worth it at all.

A foreign base is a rather dubious experience. With this, you can get so worked up that it’s easier to build your base. Let it be slow and unhurried, but it will be much more effective.

According to the contact database, everything seems to have cleared up a bit. And another fair question arises:

What is the best way to address in letters: "you", "you" or "you"?

Let's turn to school and generally accepted spelling rules. The pronoun "you" in a sentence is capitalized:

if this is a specific and respectful appeal to a familiar person: Congratulations to you ...,

in texts with a personal appeal to a stranger: questionnaires, questionnaires, etc.

in phrases: Your Majesty, Your Highness ...

The last option, I think, is better not to apply to clients - this is already too much;) But the use of the first two forms of address depends on a number of reasons, and first of all on the type of letter. In official letters from a lawyer, bank or commercial offer, "you" would be inappropriate, in the same way, if clients indicated their first name and patronymic in contacts. But for a website, blog, or any appeal to a circle of readers, the generalizing “you” sounds good.

Appeal to subscribers should not cause a feeling of inadequacy. If you still have any doubts about the appeal:

Add an optional "Patronymic" field to the registration form. If it is filled out, it is obvious that the person wants to be addressed as You.

View the age of your followers.

Offer in the first letter, questionnaire, how best to contact the client

Add, like on Ozon, the ability to choose in personal account referring to yourself:

• Write immediately in a welcome letter: "Let's move on to" you "." Communicating on "you" can quickly get closer to a person.

And don't forget to check your contacts before sending.

An example from my mail from a popular company:

Agniya Elagina

It's hard to remember that I registered somewhere under that name. Nevertheless, such letters came and unspeakably irritated. Perhaps this was a deliberate move so that the reader logged into the system and left their real data, or maybe they just made a mistake.

That seems to be all for today.

Develop one style of address in a series of letters. Treat your customers with respect and they themselves will let you know how best to communicate with them;)