Small Business Marketing Blog

Social Media Marketing: Tell Me The Facts!

I recently discovered the Social Media Marketing Industry Report by Michael A Stelzer. 880 business owners, employees and sole proprietors were surveyed in an attempt to uncover the who, what, where, when and why of Social Media Marketing. There are a lot of interesting findings in this report, however, I've pulled out just a few results that I believe would be the most valuable to SMBs. If you're interested in reading the entire report you can download it for FREE at: Social Media Marketing Industry Report.

Is your competition using Social Media Marketing?

• Business owners were more likely to use social media marketing than employees working for a business.
• The largest group just getting underway with social media marketing was sole proprietors.
• Small business owners were the most experienced, 29.3% reporting doing social media marketing for years.

What are the benefits to using social media marketing?

The top three benefits are:

1. Exposure of business
2. Increasing traffic
3. Building new business partnerships

An unexpected benefit was a rise in search engine rankings reported by more than half of participants. About one in two marketers found social media marketing generated qualified leads.

How does time invested influence results?

• 62% of marketers who have been using social media for years report it has helped them close business.
• Nearly all marketers spending 6+ hours a week on social media marketing found exceptionally positive results.
• At least 2 in 3 participants found that increased traffic occurred with as little as 6 hours a week invested in social media marketing. And those who have been doing it for years reported even better results.
• 62% of people who have only invested a few months in their social media marketing report new partnerships were gained.
• Owners of small business were more likely than others to report benefits.

What are the top social media tools?

The most common social media tools in order are:

1. Twitter
2. Blogs
3. LinkedIn
4. Facebook

If you're looking to get started with any of these here's some quick tips for social media marketing.

So what can we learn from this?

The takeway here is that your competition is using social media marketing and they're getting results. With as little as 6 hours a week you can expect to see an increase in traffic to your site, and in just a few months develop new business relationships. The longer you've been implementing social media marketing the greater the results, so the sooner you start the better.

What are your questions regarding social media marketing?

 

 

Your Social Media Marketing Efforts Are Key To Your Future Success

The business results you have today are based on what you did in the past. Consequently, what you do today to market your business, will impact your business tomorrow. So the question is... 

Are your marketing efforts today setting you up for future success?

The best way to build a viable business for the future is to start implementing referral based marketing strategies today.  A lead generated from a happy customer is ‘hot', and the easiest of all leads to qualify and close.

How does social media marketing help to build a referral based business?

It takes time to build a network on the internet, fans on Facebook, members on LinkedIn, followers on Twitter.  Your market reach is their market reach.

Let's say you had 100 connections spread between the three major social media sites, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter and each one of your connections had 100 connections (which is conservative) you now have a reach of 10,000 people.  Think about traditional marketing methods and how much time and money it would take to reach 10,000 people via referral methods.

To market today for tomorrow's success, start building a quality network of fans, members and followers that represent your target audience, engage and add value on a regular basis. Who knows how many connections you'll have in your network within 12 months.

Six obvious (that often get forgotten) tips to a happy customer:

1. Provide outstanding service from the very beginning, from the first point of contact with your company.

2. Make it clear what you are providing and what they can expect from your product or service.

3. Make sure you deliver on what you say you will.

4. Under promise and over deliver.

5. Follow up and make sure they are happy. Do they have any post purchase issues or problems.

6. Maintain regular contact with your current customers and make sure you're adding value every time you connect with them.

How to use Social Media Marketing to empower your happy customers to spread the word:

Facebook and LinkedIn:

1. Create a forum on these sites for your customers to interact with each other.

2. Encourage fans and members to post questions for you to answer.

3. Provide added value, extra tips and advice on discussion boards.

4. Provide links to these groups from your website, blog and other content so prospects can interact with current customers.

Twitter:

5. Personally interact with your customers and build rapport.

6. Post special offers and discounts.

7. Post links to informative and interesting articles or content that would be valuable to your customers.

If you would like FREE advice on how to market your business in web2.0 world subscribe to my blog Inbound Marketing Solutions for Small Business.

How do you use social media to interact with your customers/prospects? What are the results?

10 Inbound Marketing Tips To Help You Blog Effectively

The Inbound Marketing University #IMU kicked off today with a great session on Blogging for Business: What you need to know to get started. Presented by: MarketingProfs' Anne Handley and Mack Collier.

Blogging is a key component of SEO and Social Media Marketing to that should be implemented in every inbound marketing plan. Below are my quick takeaways from today's session that may help other small business owners to write effective blogs for their business.

1. Write for your reader: They could be your customers, prospects, vendors or suppliers. Know who they are and what information is of interest and value to them. They're not interested in reading about your product or company.

2. Have a clean layout that is easy to navigate: Most popular is a two column with the side bar on the right and the main content section on the left.

3. Offer value: Side bars are great for offering additional information that is of value to the reader:

a. Have a link to an internal page on your website that offers more information.

b. Links to product pictures or videos.

c. Information about the blogger(s) so the readers know who they're connecting with, this gives the blog a personal feel.

d. Add links to other social media sites that you're involved with: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube etc.

e. Option to subscribe to your blog, email and RSS.

f. Extra resource: links to other blogs or websites you find of value.

4. Encourage involvement: Empower your readers to comment by posting a question at the end of your blog post. A blog post with comments is more interesting

5. Reply to comments by personally addressing the author of the comment.

6. Include a navigation/menu bar at the top that provides the reader with the option to learn more about your company or products.

7. Blogging is a regular commitment: Before you start think about whether you have the time and the people to commit to a regular blog. There is no value writing a blog once. Creating a blog team is a great idea to share the workload.

8. Outsource blog writers if you need to. Look for bloggers who are already passionate about your company or product.

9. Choose your bloggers carefully. They must be able to write and be passionate about the topic.

10. It takes time to build up a decent subscriber list and can take some time before you start receiving comments. This can be demoralizing to a writer who isn't passionate about their topic. Blogging is a long term marketing strategy, perseverance is key.

There really is so much information that could be included in this topic. I hope though, this is enough to get you thinking about your blog and what it can do for your business. 

I'd like to know your thoughts on blogging for small business. Have you started? What are the results? Still unsure about its value to your business or how to get started?

Is Your SEO Aligned With Inbound Marketing Goals?

Take the time to evaluate your business goals before jumping into search engine optimization (SEO) for your business.

A friend of mine sent me an email that she had received from an SEO firm seeking her business, several months ago. The email started with something like, "we tried to search for your business on line and couldn't find it, which means your prospects can't find you either."  It went on to say that they could guarantee top search rankings (for a monthly fee). It was quite a lengthy sales pitch but basically what they were promising was top search rankings for my friend's company, for what they (the SEO firm) perceived where the relevant keywords.  My friend thought this sounded great, so she presented it to her management team. After all isn't that what we all want, to be at the top of the search results and drive more traffic to our site?

This concerned me, because there was no reference to aligning SEO or top search results with the business and marketing goals. How do you know the best SEO tactics to implement if you don't understand the client's business and their goals? Before employing a firm or individual to implement SEO ensure what they recommend is in line with your business goals, and not their business goals.  SEO is more than just top search engine results. What is the purpose of the website? Who is your target audience? What are the best keywords and phrases to drive qualified leads to your website? Have you set up landing pages for the relevant keywords and phrases?

Let's assume it works.  You're top of the search rankings for your keywords and this is driving qualified leads to your site. What is happening to these leads once they're on your website?  What is your sales funnel? Are you offering them the information they are looking for? How are you capturing these leads? Do you have a call to action? How are you converting these leads?  Do they know what they need to do?  

This is why implementing SEO must be aligned with your business goals. Your goal isn't about being at the top of the search rankings, or driving lots of traffic to your site. Your goal is to convert! It's all about the bottom line!

Before you decide to employ a firm or individual to handle your Inbound Marketing make sure they understand your business goals, your website goals and your audience.

Did you find this information useful? If so please, share it with others by clicking on your preferred social media links above or make a comment.

Thank you.

How Social Media Marketing Will Help You Survive The Recession

The business world is no different from the wild, in the wild it's all about survival! Those that survive are strong, fit or clever. The clever species adapt (evolve, change) to their surroundings to survive.  In order for small business to survive the recession they must be clever. They must be prepared to adapt and evolve to their surroundings, the change in market conditions and the changing consumer.

This may include a change in your business model, marketing, product or service.

The utilization of social media marketing is one of the key strategies that will be the difference in determining which small businesses survive and which ones don't.  Below are some of my reasons why:

1. The use of social media is growing every day, this is where your audience will be in the future.

2. It allows you to listen to your customers and prospects, to know what they are saying about your company, brand, industry or competitors.

3. It allows you to engage with your customers and prospects to build rapport and reputation.

4. It will give you insight, reputation and confidence to adapt your product/service to meet your changing customer's needs.

5. Discover a new audience that you weren't marketing to and expand your market.

6. Educate yourself and stay up to date with the latest developments and trends for your industry.

7. It is a cost effective marketing tool that does everything from market research to promotion.

Before you start using social media, it is important to review your business goals and choose the relevant social media sites that are best suited to your business.

If you would like to learn more about the benefits of social media for small business visit the social media marketing page or review how our Inbound Marketing Services to get you started with an effective social media plan.