A couple of weeks ago I was looking after my mother’s Labradoodle, Pixie.
We’ve always thought of Pixie as a somewhat dumb dog. She can’t be trusted off the lead, she won’t play fetch, and she goes crazy if a car and trailer go past.
But it turns out she’s actually quite smart and resourceful.
Here’s what happened.
I went out for the day, leaving Pixie in the backyard, but when I got back she wasn’t there.
Uh-oh!
If anything’s happened to Pixie I’m a dead woman, I thought. You see, Pixie’s very precious to my mother.
So I’m out searching for her in the pouring rain. No sign anywhere.
I jump in the car and start heading towards my mother’s place. I’m feeling pretty concerned at this stage. We live off a busy road, and Pixie isn’t the sharpest.
But I get to mum’s and there she is!
She’d somehow managed to escape from my fully fenced yard, get across two busy roads, make her way through two roundabouts, and travel a few kms to make it home and back into her fully fenced yard. Quite how we don’t know.
We obviously underestimated Pixie. She’s a smart dog!
But why did she escape?
She often stays at our place and is usually pretty happy.
The only difference is this time I was out for most of the day. And it started pouring with rain.
Pixie was most likely feeling bored and unloved.
So she left me.
Now, how am I going to link this to social media?
Just like dogs, customers get bored easily too. They expect to be treated well — not neglected. They’ll sense if you’re not authentic. They’ll move away from you if you’re not giving them what they want.
Don’t underestimate your customers, like we underestimated the dog.
That’s why, when it comes to social media, you need to keep an eye on your metrics. To make sure your customers are still there and still happy. To make sure that all your efforts to look after them are working.
Otherwise, they might run off like Pixie.
Want to make sure your customers on social don’t escape? We should talk.
~ Kat
