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How Can Local Businesses use Social Media?

How can local business use social mediaI grew up in a tight knit neighborhood in Brooklyn – as if my accent didn’t give it away.  For anyone that has ever lived in the “city” you know that once the weather starts to warm up, around 7:00 p.m. everyone migrated to their stoops.

My mother would come downstairs with her freshly brewed cup of coffee and catch up on the local gossip.  My mother and the neighbors would discuss topics like the upcoming supermarket sales, who bought a new car or what stupid thing the kids got caught doing…

As I look back I wonder if my Brooklyn stoop was the original social media platform??

I have since moved to the suburbs – mainly because my wife couldn’t parallel park – and out here nobody sits on the stoop.  We all wave and smile, but there’s not a nightly exchange of info…

I believe the reason is because you can find out everything that you need to know on Facebook, Twitter or any of the other platforms…

If we bring this back to – How can local businesses use social media?

What if you were the one curating all of the local content?

Think about how that could increase traffic to your site.

Couldn’t you create a newsletter that had all the gossip going on in your area?

How much time would it take you to tell your potential customers what’s happening in their / your community?

You can discuss new restaurants opening up, the upcoming summer fairs, or cover the high school teams. Parents love to read about their children, even if it’s in the local closet company’s newsletter…

Here’s the best part of this strategy, every 7th story is something related to your product or service.  There could be a story about organizing a garage or storing the children’s toys… Maybe include a photo of Mrs. Smith’s new mudroom. See where I’m going with this…

Oh and by the way I don’t care what you sell, I think this will work for most local businesses.

A few tools to help you create your newsletter are MailChimp, ConstantContact or Aweber.

Are you currently doing anything like this?  I would love to hear your thoughts.

If you have any questions leave them below.

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Get Social to Increase Quality Leads…

Get Socail to Increase Leads

Today I would like to get back to things that you should be doing to increase your leads…

I know I said the magic word – We all want more leads…

How do you get them??

Get Social to Increase Your Leads

You can keep wasting money on pay per click and traditional advertising or you can start investing in social media, SEO and email marketing…

I know your eyes just glazed over…  This is important and the future of your company depends on getting started.

Create a “complete” profile on the platform of your choice…

Pick anyone that you like –

It doesn’t matter which you decide on because your customers are there… Each platform requires a different strategy and form of engagement.  Pick the one that you feel most comfortable with.

Think and act like your ideal customer. 

What is important to them?  What questions are they asking you before they buy?

Give them that information.  This creates better quality leads and will help you work with the type of clients that you want to work with.

Provide value for free without expecting anything in return… 

Giving is easy  – not expecting anything in return is the hard part.

If you’re keeping score, in the long run you will lose.

Respond to all comments… Especially the bad ones. 

If someone calls to complain I’m sure you do your best to fix the problem…

What happens if that same customer tweets to 1000 of their closest friends and you don’t respond… I know you’re not on Twitter so how can you respond…

Guess what your competitors are there and if they are doing their job on social media they have a perfect opportunity to steal your client…

I would love to hear from you.

Have you started using social media?  What has your experience been like?

 

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The Week in Review 3/22/14

The Mayor week in Review

Good Morning Spring!  Today is going to be a great day to get the BBQ started.

Here’s the stories that you might have missed –

On Facebook

The Mayor of Hardware

Wendy Scott is a Top Shelf Award Finalist for turning an attic into a “Dream Dressing Room.”  Click to see additional photos and the complete story. 

I would love you to post you award winning closets to my Facebook Page.  It might help your page get a few more “likes.”

On Twitter

The Top 7 Reasons Your Content Goes Viral  – This 2 minute read might give you a few new ideas.

Russell Simmons: 3 Simple Ways Meditation Will Make You a Better Entrepreneur – It’s very difficult for me to slow down… I’m considering meditation.  Is anyone having success doing this?

I also want to include a quick reminder that the ACSP is sponsoring Designer Day Thursday April 10th. I hope you will join us.  Click for more info.

This should be enough to keep you out of trouble.

Have a great weekend!

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Social Suicide – Are you making these social media mistakes?

Are You Making These Social Media Mistakes?

Have you heard the story about the business owner that puts a ton of effort into social media and after 6 months – says “That was a waste of time…”

Usually it was a waste of time is because there was more focus on ROI instead of engaging your audience.

Here is a quick list of social media mistakes that I think negate your efforts –

The “Post & Run”

This irks me more than anything.  Starting a discussion on LinkedIn or posting a question on Facebook and not responding to the comments.

That deserves a “C’mon Man!”  Every comment must have a reply or be acknowledged.

I’ll forgive you when your audience hits six figures… Until then respond!

“Social Bragging”

I have to admit that from time to time I am guilty of this…

Have you ever looked at someone’s profile and all they post are happy smiling customers gushing about their product/service, rainbows and unicorns?

Do you have a Facebook friend that is constantly posting photos of their vacations, new cars, or how wonderful their life is?

I don’t know about you, those posts make me want to gag.

That’s what you are doing to your community…

The “I Must be Lost Post”

When sharing an update respect the tone of the platform that you are posting to.

Do you know most people using Facebook are scrolling with their phone?

Your 200-word post is going to be missed because it’s too much to read on a phone.  A better place to post that is your blog or website…

A one sentence “tease” with a link and a photo will get many more clicks.

“Social Bullying”

My son is learning about this in Kindergarten and since we haven’t attended in a while – I thought we should review…

Have you seen this type of post – “We apologize for letting you down, it wasn’t our fault, it was the XYZ shipping company.”

A negative post will not have a positive effect on your brand… I can guarantee that.

The “We Got Post”

We got new phones, new computers, we painted our office, we are having an anniversary…

I have news for you – the only person that cares about these things is you.

Your community wants news that is relevant to their problems and how you can make their life easier.

If you have a new phone system – does that mean that the wait time will be shorter?  Or does it mean that I will no longer be able to speak with a live person?

Take a look at your posts – How many of these are you guilty of?

Do you have any you would like to add to the list?

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New To Social Media?

New to Social Media

I don’t know if there was something in the water or maybe it was a full moon – The question of the week was –

“How do I get started with Social Media?”

Every conversation went the same way –

“I have a few hours a week I can dedicate to it – what do I do now?”

To maximize your efforts start with creating a profile on the platform that your customers are most likely to be hanging out on.  For most of you I would say that’s either Houzz or Facebook.

“Why don’t I create profiles on every platform?”

Sure you could do that, I think this strategy is more likely to lead to burn out… I like to compare it to a crash diet – it’s very difficult to go from 0 – 60 overnight.  Social media is a marathon not a sprint – so pace yourself.

“How often do I share content?”

As often as you can… The catch here is once you decide on a schedule stick to it.  Consistency is important.

“I’m not a writer, do people really want to read my content?”

The good news is Facebook is not the NY Times – so it doesn’t matter if you’re a “writer.”

A few easy ways to create content is –

  • Any question that you are asked is a potential post.  People like information so give it to them.
  • People love lists!
  • Share resources that you think your audience will find value in.
  • Share an article and give you opinion on it.
  • Share a funny quote or photo.
  • Listen to your audience and respond.

The hardest part of social media is making the commitment… If you have that, you’re already ahead of most…

Your turn –

What did you do when you first started with social media?

What advice do you have for a newbie?

Did you get started and then run out of gas?

How can I help?

Post your questions below.

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