RSS
Home
Can local business leverage from social media?
Print
Email
RSS
Subscribe
Local Coffee House
At the same time social media has completely change the marketing landscape and it has helped both brands and small businesses eliminate boundaries, it has left behind businesses that are specific to one location.
Restaurants, beauty salons, skate shops and many other local shops are still to leverage from the full benefits of the new media channels.
Location is today considered as the next big thing in social media and we will start to see more and more applications trying to conquer this field, but there are still some tools small businesses can use now to promote their products and services.
Local Search
It’s been around for a while and millions of people are used to finding businesses in their neighborhood this way. Get listed on Google Local, Yelp and Yahoo! Local.
Facebook Ads
Facebook Ads are a great way to target prospects by different criteria including location. Both pay-per-click (CPC) or impression (CPM) programs are very affordable and have daily budget limits that can be setup at any amount.
Twitter
A great tool to identify and connect with local prospects is Twitter Search or third-party applications such as NearbyTweets. Find existing conversations around your topic and network with those users. Be active and engage or start conversations.
Groups
Meetup is a website that allows people to connect and organize offline. You can join a local group of a specific interest or start your own and host a weekly or monthly event. Online relationships don’t have any value if they don’t exist offline.
Offline Promotion
Every promotional piece that you print should include your business social profiles such as a Facebook Fan Page or Twitter. Tell your existing customers how to find your business online and interact during in-between visits. This is also a good way to get exposure with your client’s networks.
New tools are already gaining momentum and you can become an early adopter, learn the game now and leverage from them when popularity hits hard. Watch out for recent developments like FourSquare, a mobile application that helps users and their friends explore their city that just went from 50k to 200k visits in one month.
Final Thought
Social media is about people, be creative on finding ways to interact with your community. The tools are just tools.
Related Articles:
Comments
