It’s Not Enough To Advertise On Social Media Websites.

When searching for social media marketing tips for local businesses, it is important to remember that social media is all about creating relationships with your customers. It is not enough to advertise your wares on social media websites. You have to focus your efforts on creating genuine relationships with your customers in an engaging and mutually beneficial way. In order for your social media efforts to pay off in the long run, your customers have to be engaged with your brand in a way that makes them want to share your brand with their network.

The hottest social media websites to have a brand presence on at the moment are Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.While there are other challengers like LinkedIn, Google+ and Foursquare, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest currently remain the heavy hitters in terms of sending profitable traffic to your business. The key point to remember with the big three is that you want to share information that is important to your local audience.

You can share pretty pictures on Pinterest, but if they are not sending local traffic to your website, your efforts might be in vain. Think about the type of content you are sharing and ask yourself whether it would be of interest to local customers. Not only does the content you post to social media websites need to be of interest to your local market, it also needs to be shareable with their network of friends and associates. Keep your focus on locality and share-worthiness…and you can’t go wrong.

When local businesses are considering investing time on social media websites, their concern is often whether they will see a significant return on investment. In order for business owners to see a significant ROI, they need to share content that is of value to their customers. This does not mean simply touting your own wares via social media. It means sharing content that your customers truly care about in order to build ongoing relationships. Engaging with customers on topics that are important to them builds a rapport and encourages brand loyalty.

• Tweet information that is useful and helps to build your brand’s personality.
• Pin images to Pinterest that local audiences will engage with and that help to define the business ethics of your company.
• Ask questions on your Facebook page that encourages conversation with your local audience.

By focusing on building valuable relationships with your local customers, you will ensure that your social media efforts deliver lasting, profitable results.

Not All Social Media Networks Are A Fit For Every Business

Even though we’ve discussed the “Big 3″ of social networks, keep in mind that not all social media networks are a fit for every business.

For example, some businesses will find that Pinterest is not a good use of their marketing efforts, because it’s platform is just not a fit for their type of business. The main thing to keep in mind when deciding what social networks to join and be active within is…where are your prospects and customers? Just like any local business on the street, where do your customers hang out? What do they like to do? These same questions apply to the virtual meeting places (social networks) online.

Getting Help To Handle Your Social Media

Of course we realize that local business owners have plenty on their plates in running their businesses, let alone trying to be on the cutting edge of marketing and keeping up with social media.  Many smart business owners have hired marketing assistants or added to responsibilities of their employees to keep up with their company’s social networks. However, some have found that the cost to have a full-time marketing assistant isn’t an option for them. Others have found that simply adding social media to their employee’s list of responsibilities is ineffective (since driving traffic through social media isn’t something that is just done: it’s a skill-set…and your receptionist or office manager likely doesn’t have any experience or training in social media marketing).

The next best thing these smart business owners have found to launch their social media marketing campaign, and keep them running efficiently (with the focus to bring in new customers and retain existing customers), is to outsource these efforts to an experienced local marketing agency. They have found that the cost of outsourcing social media in this way is often less expensive than they expected, and later find that these efforts lead to more profits, which not only pay for the outsourcing, but ultimately contribute more to the bottom line of their company. After all, don’t we all want a ROI when it comes to our marketing efforts?

If you are a business owner and find that you’re lost in the social media world, not getting results, or finding it’s just consuming your time, we encourage you to give us a call here at Big U Marketing. We have social media packages that are customized to fit your business, your needs, and your marketing budget, along with a skilled team of social media marketing experts who are focused on getting you results…not just being sociable   Call us today for a free consultation. (505) 890-4607.

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