Marketers are no longer asking if they should be active in social media. They understand that user-generated content such as ratings and reviews are required elements of a comprehensive location-based search program.
These days, it’s a question of how to get the most impact out of a social media program.
With the right social media strategy, you can communicate directly with your customers, create engaging discussion topics, and help your marketing go viral.
Social media can also boost the prominence of your online brand-awareness and organically propel your business locations to the top of local search results.An active social media program will make your business locations more prominent in sources across the web, and prominence is a primary factor used by Google in local search rankings.
Here are six tips that will help you achieve that goal:
Here are six tips that will help you achieve that goal:
- Build a fan base on Facebook. Forty percent of Facebook users also follow a brand. More than half of these Facebook users will move on to purchase that brand. Facebook 'likes' are a speed-marketing tool that virally spread brand awareness by delivering information to the news feeds of everyone befriended by your brand fans.
- Use Twitter to keep in touch with customers. One in four Twitter users follows a brand, and 67 percent of those brand-followers will end up purchasing that specific brand. Your Tweets should engage consumers by providing them with helpful information about your business and services. Special offers are a great way to grab the attention of Twitter followers.
- Encourage customers to rate and review your business. Yelp users wrote 6 million reviews in 2010, and the local search site is on track for 9 million in 2011, according to a Mashable report. Consumers love online reviews because they can see what others really think about a product or service before making a decision to buy. Reviews on socially interactive sites such as Yelp improve your search engine rankings and drive free web traffic.
- Leverage the power of YouTube in local search results. Embedded videos in Google Place Pages, websites, and social profile pages can showcase your products and services while putting a human face on your business.
- Use group-buying sites such as Groupon or LivingSocial. During hard economic times, subscription to coupon sites such as these have never been more prevalent. Promoting deals to these huge subscriber bases can be a fast and easy way to create buzz and spread the word about your business without advertising.
- Give customers promotional incentives to share information online. Branded “Share for Rewards” programs can encourage consumers to share offers with their friends via Facebook, IM, and other web channels in exchange for discounts on products or services.
By creating an engaging social media program, you can make it easy for your customers to find your local business and more importantly, talk about it online. The result will be incredible ROI that will amplify your web marketing, generate calls and appointments and boost long-term brand awareness. What are you waiting for?
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