When customers come into your place of business, it is important to take advantage of this time and let them know that your business is active in social media. This can be accomplished with in-store signage. Counter and door displays are great ways to communicate. Sprocket provides this signage for you when you sign up for a startup package.
The old way of marketing your business online was through a search engine like Google, Yahoo or Bing. You had to wait for someone to type in the key words that pertained to your business and hope that your listing appeared on the first page. Then you hoped that the person would click on your listing.
With social media it works in reverse. You accumulate FANs (Customers) through your social media site, very similar to collecting email addresses. Once they are your FAN, you can engage them in meaningful and helpful conversations (posts) about your business. In a sense, you have a targeted group of people who have expressed interest in your business, products and/or services. That is every marketer’s dream!
While trying to decode vanity license plates can be a fun and entertaining game to play on a road trip, it’s not something you want to ask consumers to play online. A lengthy URL not only makes it virtually impossible to recall, but it also makes it very difficult to use your Facebook address on your website, in marketing communications, and on business cards. Once you receive at least 25 fans or ‘likes’ to your page, you’re eligible to set your personalized URL. It is important to brand your business online. Sprocket Social Media can help you.
According to new data from MerchantCircle, the largest online network of local business owners in the U.S., entrepreneurs are increasingly attracted to the simple, low-cost options that online marketing, specifically social media, offer.
The survey found that approximately 70 percent of respondents use Facebook for marketing, surpassing Google (66 percent) to be the most widely used online marketing channel.
However, many businesses are still intimidated by the technology and resources that other online marketing strategies, such as search engine optimization, can require.
"Online marketing continues to be a challenge for most local businesses, and many merchants are working with very small budgets and almost no marketing resources," said Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle. "The marketing methods we see gaining the most traction are therefore the ones that offer merchants simplicity, low costs and immediate results." Contact Sprocket Social Media today for your FREE social media checkup!
The lines between SEO and social media are quickly diminishing as search engines begin to use links from Twitter and Facebook in their ranking algorithms. Recently, Google and Bing both confirmed that links from Twitter and Facebook carry some weight in determining a page's rank in regular search results. To date, the effects of links in tweets and links in Facebook posts are still relatively small. However, SEO experts agree that search engines will likely increase their use of this data over time.
Facebook is a very powerful marketing tool if used properly. The most important aspect to remember is that it is a social platform first and needs to be treated as such. In other words, do not expect people to respond to commercial messages but rather build a relationship with them first. Then, they will generate sales for you without you even having to ask. As long as you focus on the needs of your prospects and customers and provide them with value, your sales will increase exponentially and your brand will spread like wildfire.
The competition for getting noticed on Facebook has become increasingly steep, and all it takes is one botched first impression to stunt any shot you have at making a quality fan interaction. A potential customer, given the choice, will most likely pick the business that has a full color, graphic rich Profile image. There is plenty of space in the image to promote a weekly special, highlight a “Customer Of The Month”, or just lead eyeballs and clicks to one of your custom tabs. Sprocket Social Media can create eye catching, creative Profile images for your business on Facebook.
