Customer Acquisition vs Retention for Social Media Marketing

If you're a marketer using social media, you must adjust your strategy depending on if you’re reaching out to new audiences or maintaining relationships with existing ones. This refers to customer acquisition and customer retention. If these are terms you feel unsure about, don’t worry! We want to help you understand what they are and how you can use them in your social media marketing. 

Firstly, customer acquisition surrounds the acquiring of new customers. You are reaching out to those that are unaware of you to educate them about your brand. Alternatively, customer retention refers to retaining existing customers. The term ensures that your followers keep returning and interacting with your brand.

Customer Acquisition

We want to help you understand different ways to use social media for customer acquisition and retention. To get started, let's take a look at four ways you can enable an effective acquisition strategy.

1. Easy to find

Firstly, you must be easily findable on social media. Customer acquisition is challenging if new audiences are unable to find you. Linking your social media channels on your website is highly recommended! You should also do your research and use platforms that your target audience use the most.  

2. Educate and inform

Due to new customers knowing little about your brand, education is vital. Infographics are a great form of content to inform your audience about you. Infographics further have the potential to generate a high amount of shares to reach out to new audiences! Branded videos are also useful for educating your target audience and are great for acquisition as they drive engagement.

3. Use organic social

Organic social is a form of promotion on social media that's free. It's useful for acquisition as it generates brand awareness and develops your brand’s personality. You can also share content you’ve posted on other platforms such as blogs. Hootsuite is useful for organising and publishing your content across different platforms. 

4. Use paid social

Paid social can be more effective than organic, but it depends on your budget. Paid social uses sponsored content or advertising to increase your online presence. Paying for advertisements on social media can be beneficial for acquisition, as it reaches out to those who may not have found you themselves.

Customer Retention

While customer retention costs less than acquisition, it can take more time to build relationships and loyalty with your existing customers. We’ve listed four tips below to help you with retention!

1. Post about topics your audience likes

It’s essential to understand your audience and their interests. What topics would they like to read about on social media? And what is their preferred type of content? To know this, you must undertake market research. The cosmetics company Lush, for example, shares a range of content referring to topics such as their ethical ethos and animal testing, as they know it resonates with their audience.   

2. Share user-generated content

Interacting with your audience on social media is excellent for engagement and increasing loyalty. We, therefore, recommend sharing user-generated content. Encourage your audience to share content relating to your brand using relevant hashtags. By reposting their content, it creates a sense of community and is great for retention. 

3. Use Instagram Stories

If your current audience likes Instagram, using the Stories feature can be a powerful tool for retention. By sharing content such as tutorials and behind-the-scenes on your Story, it is likely to engage your audience as it brings them closer to your brand.

4. Post at the right time

Posting when your audience is online makes it more likely that they will see your posts. Using social media insights is useful to recognise when your audience is active, ensuring that you’re posting at the right time.

To Finish

It’s essential to get the right balance between the acquisition and retention methods. Balance ensures that you’re gaining new followers but are also retaining your existing customers. While retention is cheaper, ensure that you put the time and effort into keeping your current followers!

Written by Emily Ralphs