How to Use Social Media for Better UX Design
Social networks have entered our lives only recently but quickly captured the lion’s share of our free time and social activities. They offer a global, universally accessible medium for communication and opinion sharing, which people appreciate that much. Social media is a place where everyone has a voice and can generate worthy content in hopes to find fellow thinkers.
So, what does the social media universe have to do with banking application design? The relationship might not seem evident at first glance, but there is a strong and direct link between listening to what people say and delivering stellar UX. Here’s a quick guide on harnessing the strategic potential of social media to level up your UX decisions and approaches.
Keep Your Finger on the Pulse of Online Discussion
It’s vital to keep track of what people say about your brand and products. This way, you will be regularly informed about the slightest changes in user attitudes, spotting the problems users experience with your UI/UX early to introduce timely improvements.
This tracking can be organized pretty simply; visit Google Alerts and set a couple of alert settings for keywords associated with your app. You’ll receive quick alerts about new information mentioning your brand emerging online. The alerts come mentions on social media where people share their impressions and engage in meaningful discussions. So, you’ll have all social media data neatly collected in your mailbox.
Be in Places Where Your Users Are
Another strategic benefit of looking close at social media is the ability to understand where your tribe is and hang out with them. Social media is not only about entertainment; many people use these networks to seek information or complete specific socially driven intentions.
Thus, as digital marketing practice shows, it’s easier to contact target audience via social media compared to other channels, as people are more open to communication and interaction in these networks. You can find users interested in your product on social media and test various UX versions with them, listening to first-hand feedback and tailoring the final UX designs to user needs.
Use Social Media as Alternative Marketing Channels
Social networks can also serve as a viable channel for UX redesign and remarketing of a non-that-successful digital product. Let’s suppose that something went wrong at the stage of UX design, and you launched a failing product to the online space. Users tried it and didn’t like the design, abandoning the product pretty quickly.
Now that you have a new UX approach, you need to sell it to users somehow, and social media can help you with this. Target your users via new social media channels with a new design, and these efforts can bring more clients back to your product. If you used Facebook as your primary marketing channel last time, try Instagram this time.
Engage in Direct Discussions with Followers
There’s no better way to conduct user research and engage in a two-way dialogue with your tribe than social media use. Every self-respecting business sets up social media accounts and invests heavily into regular social media presence. You can share updates and news about your company with followers, which is a standard way.
What you might have not tried yet is a direct UX-related talk. You can organize it via polls and A/B tests, sneak peeks into the new UX design variants, etc. Listen to what people say and how they react to your proposals, building viable, demanded UX solutions based on that feedback.
Compile User Personas
It’s much easier to develop user personas for your UX development pipeline once you’re attentive and active on social media. Look at people who use your products and like them – who are they, what gender and age group do they represent? Do they have any lifestyle or interest similarities? You can derive many valuable insights by observing how your followers live, what values they cherish, and what pain points they resolve with the help of your products (or fail to resolve at present). These insights may lay the basis of a winning UXGeneration that will leave nobody indifferent.
Learn an Addictiveness Lesson
The most important bonus that watching social media can bring to your UX design project is the lesson of addictiveness. Social media are an epitome of social addictiveness, as no active user can refrain from checking their social accounts from time to time and publishing updates of what they’re doing and thinking.
Is such crazy popularity attainable with a non-social media app? We bet it is, if you apply the principles of social media psychology the right way. Here are some handy tips for transferring the social media user experience to your UX design.
#1 Visual Appeal
It’s a basic principle of psychology to associate something good-looking with positive qualities. Probably that’s the reason why people continue eating candies despite knowing the harms of sugar to their teeth.
The same trick works with social media and can work with your UX design. Make your visual elements bright So, juicy, and super handsome, calling the user to click on the button and become a client. This way, you can establish the initial positive rapport with the users, converting them without a problem.
#2 Attention-Grabbing Hooks
The visual load is a common problem users and businesses come across. It’s too hard to keep track of everything happening on the website’s page, even if the number of elements is minimal. So, you can enhance the user experience by adding some visual clue, or aid, in the form of a live chat pop-up window or a personalized greeting and onboarding prompt. People like personnel who touch on digital resources, so this measure is sure to win you a couple of extra points in terms of UX.
#3 Simple Search
Nothing can be user-friendlier than a simple, clear search and filtering system. Whatever your business is, the user should navigate the app or website without hassle or confusion. Don’t make anyone wander across multiple product categories or features; sort everything out neatly to enable intuitive search with a couple of clicks. Your users will thank you for that!
Social Media Can Aid UX Decisions
As you can see, social media can become a rich source of information about what your users want. Stay active on social networks, watch your followers, and make conclusions that can inform stellar UX. Your users deserve that!
