Local Business Seo Marketing

Be Seen By The People Who Need Your Services

-              Exposure

Having an active presence in social media also affords your business exposure. If your business is involved in social media, it makes it easier for someone to post a comment. While people can do this with or without your business having an online presence, if you are involved in social media, you can respond to the comment, start a conversation, or develop a poll for the issue.

Local

Lastly, social media for your business should have a local element. You can connect and build professional relationships with other businesses in your area, be they complimentary products/services, businesses with the same demographic, or businesses with similar offerings. The connections you make can serve to create a micro-network with the other businesses. Not only will it serve to increase awareness of your business, but it can also lead to promotional events and other mutually beneficial opportunities.

By and large, social media is free to individuals and businesses to use. It can be tempting to read whatever article about how Facebook saved this business or Twitter revitalized that business. You may be so inspired that you start a Facebook page or Twitter account for your business and start posting and promoting your business right away, but think again. Social media for business is light years away from the way you use your social account. If you try to approach social media like you do your friends, you will likely be unsuccessful. Additionally, if you try to make social media into a sales vehicle, it will simply not work. Remember, when you use social media, you are putting a great deal of power in your consumers; while the rewards can be great, so can failure. To make sure this des not happen to your business, make sure that you are using social media properly.

Social Media- Making It Count

Social media is a great tool for a business, but only if used correctly. Social media puts your message into the hands of the consumers; they can post bad reviews, trash your product, and advise their friends to never come to your establishment. Consumers can list what’s great that you offer and what could use some redesign. They can also provide rave reviews that result in your sales going up exponentially. Quite simply, that is a lot of power to put in the hands of a consumer – use it wisely.

There are three key elements that you should keep in mind.

Relationships

-Many businesses make the mistake of trying to use social media as a platform for sales pitches. If you do this, at best you will be ignored; at worse, trashed for trying a cheap ploy to make a sale. Either way, you are wasting a great tool for your business. Instead, focus on making connections with people and developing professional relationships.

When you post acknowledgements, such as a consultant posting “Congrats to XYZ Company for getting the ABC project” or a restaurant posting about an event it is hosting, you promote your product or service while making a personal connection. Those types of posting draw to mind questions to the reader, such as “How did XYZ Company get the ABC project?” The answer is, of course, through the work of the consultant. In the same token, why is the event being hosted by the restaurant? Maybe it was a prize won in a monthly promotion or it could be because the restaurant has a belly dancer the first Monday of every month. In this manner, your business is promoted subliminally while a relationship is built with your clientele.

Additionally in the next post, I will have some examples to demonstrate how a professional posting would read. You want to establish a professional relationship with your customers, not a social one. By and large, they do not care about your personal life – remember that.