If you haven’t read part one already then read it here. This part of needing a digital marketing presence is going to kick off with why small and local businesses need to be on Social Media.
Social Media
Firstly you don’t need to be posting on all social media networks. Choosing the right ones are important as a small or local business. It might seem obvious but the first obvious choice of social media is Facebook. Whether you are B2B or B2C, Facebook offers you the opportunity to be seen by both. It’s really easy to build a small following by sharing your page with current friends and asking them to share it with theirs. Watch the video below to see how easy it is to share your page.
Not only this but with Facebook recommendations becoming much more influential, this means your friends and followers can recommend you easily. A lot of businesses worry about using recommendations but if you don’t use them on Facebook it will put customers off quicker. What have you got to hide? Learn how to do a Facebook recommendation by watching the video below.
B2B companies are also becoming more targeted. You can now have your own Facebook page feed. This means, as a business page, you can also follow other business pages. This is pretty much very similar to Linkedin but within Facebook.
Groups – Groups are a great way to get new information and share your knowledge. You can also set up groups so that people who are interested in you and your company/product can get more from you.
Show personality, share knowledge and have a laugh – Your posting on social media is not always about sell, sell, sell. In fact, it is the complete opposite. Remember! It’s called “Social” for a reason. It’s about being you and showing people who you are and what you are like. It’s also about sharing what you know or something of interest. Like the blogs you have written. If you also find an interesting blog or information from someone else, share it. Don’t be scared to have a laugh as well. Jokes and funny things are shared more than anything on Social Media.
Improve customer satisfaction and care – By sharing your knowledge on social media means you are providing your customers with knowledge about your business. Not only this but providing another avenue for communication via messenger.
Facebook also offers you a shop page where people can buy directly off your Facebook page.
Why use any other social media?
Instagram – Instagram is great if you have an opportunity to share images of your work, product or services. Hashtags offer the opportunity to build your followers quicker than Facebook (Even though Facebook offers this they are not as key as they are on Instagram). Instagram has also launched the shop page on there. Instagram can be beneficial again for B2C and B2B businesses.
Linkedin – Created by Microsoft before Facebook, Linkedin has always focused on B2B. Sharing your knowledge and growing your business with the appropriate hashtags and creating connections is great. Probably a bit more professional than the other social media networks, I would focus on sharing your blogs and professional news and knowledge on here rather than being very silly.
Twitter – Probably best for sharing articles and mini information regularly. Just be you on Twitter and remember your hashtags.
Pinterest – With a higher age market, this one is great for sharing your images, videos and blogs about arts and crafts. Pinterest also allows you to tag images that can lead to a product. Product Pins help you get your products in front of people on Pinterest who are already looking for ideas and things to buy.
Social Ads allow you to get impressions or do PPC similar to Google Ads. If, for example, you want to grow your followers on Facebook, then you might work harder at impressions and maybe offer a prize draw opportunity for liking and sharing your page. If you are selling a product then PPC option is probably better as you can offer a discount for following the link and will generate quick leads and better ROI. Social Ads also work differently from Google. Instead of focusing on keywords, you can focus on behaviours, interests or similar competition. More importantly, with Ads, you can just target towns and increase by radius. It tells you instantly how much reach you would get for the investment you make. Read more about Facebook Ads.
Influencers
You may know the big influencers but did you know that you are already doing influencer marketing? Influencing is done by your current customers, your testimonials and your reviews. These really influence your potential customers. We will be doing more blogs specifically about influencers in the future.
Video
Youtube is the second largest search engine/site on the web and, of course, it focuses primarily on video. Video has become very powerful over the last year as we have relied on it more and more being in lockdown and working from home. It has always been a big player but it has come into it’s own this year and it is why influencer marketing has and will be the biggest marketing channel for at least the next 10 years.
People are now enjoying unfiltered video. This means the likes of Facebook Live are getting more and more views compared to edited videos. The reason for this is that people like the naturalness of it and don’t feel that their is any hidden agenda. It is more authentic and honest compared to edited film. In fact Facebook Live and Instagram Live are watched up to 3x longer than the usual non-live videos. As a small business you should be considering going live at least once a week to show off your new products or services. It’s perfect for many types of businesses. For example, if you are a joiner you can show the work off live or if you come across a difficult task that is uncommon, you can share how you fix it live. Again if you get a new product, show it off live. People are uncomfortable about going live but once you get into the habit, you’ll soon feel like making more steps to improve your live streams.
LOCAL SHOPS FOR LOCAL PEOPLE
As with a website, if you don’t think you need to be on social media you are wrong! If you have friends in the local area then you will have followers quickly for your business page and these are the people who probably use you and buy you. They WILL also share your name when other people ask for recommendations. If you don’t have a business page they can’t do this. Yes, they can share your facebook profile but a facebook business page adds that you are a professional. Linking to your website also means you can get more traffic via your social media and visa versa. Social Media is definitely needed for local businesses to target their local audience.
Final Thoughts…
From experience, most people start their business online by testing the waters with their business page on Facebook. But Digital Marketing should be a multi-channel approach. By going doing one avenue you are missing other opportunities to grow your audience, gain leads and get sales.
Improve your digital presence now, whether you tackle the problems yourself or outsource them to a professional.