Digital Marketing / Social Media Tips for Small Business Owners

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Social Media/Digital Marketing for Small Business

Scott [email protected]@scottabarnett

+Agenda• Goals

• What is Social Media/Digital Marketing?

• Social Media/Digital Marketing tools/options

• Marketing “Tools”

• Case Study

• Q&A / Wrap-Up

• Websites • Email Marketing

• Social Media Sites • Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• Review Sites • Advertising

• Loyalty / Referral Programs

+Goals

• Explain the different types of tools in the Digital Marketing • How they work• Why they are important

• Take the “mystery” out of Digital Marketing

• Give you a high level overview of the things you should know and think about• We can go deeper on any of these topics off-line

• Help you figure out how to make Digital Marketing as “easy” and as regular a part of your customer outreach/communication as your telephone.

+What is Social Media / Digital Marketing?

+What is Social Media / Digital Marketing?

• Marketing that makes use of electronic devices to engage with stakeholders.

• Stakeholders communicate via many different channels online (email, social media, review sites, blogs, etc!)

• Massive shift from the “offline” world to the “online” world

+How Marketing Has Changed

Old School Marketing New School Marketing

+Digital Marketing - Websites

New Customers

Existing Customers

+Digital Marketing - Websites

• Typically the first place a Small Business will stake their “presence” online

• Migration from “informational” sites to “interactive” sites• Ironically, cost to build is typically in line with how far up the interactive

curve you want to go• Also need to consider e-Commerce, Supply Chain, Customer Relationship

Mgmt (CRM) and other automation that can save time

• First step – list out what the goals are of your website – what do you want to be able to accomplish with customers/partners?

+Building a Website - Options

• DIY sites

• Vertical focused sites

• More sophisticated platforms

• Hosting providers

• Hire a company/person to build it for you

+Blogging

• Not the same as a website!

• Fresh, dynamic content on areas you are an expert in

• This takes time and effort – and you need to be consistent

• Can help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – we’ll get to this later

• Platforms like Disqus allow you to engage with your audience

+Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

New Customers

+Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

• “Natural” search – what comes up organically (what the search engines think is the best answer to the question the user is posing)

• Google far and away the leader in this area. They change the rules ALL THE TIME to keep people from “gaming” the results

• What should you do about it (Hint: fresh, compelling and relevant content)

• Tip - https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner

• Tools/sites to help with SEO:

+Email Marketing

Existing Customers

+Email Marketing

• Allows you to target your existing customers nicely via email

• Analytics to track opens / clicks / etc.

• Requires effort to curate your mailing list and create REGULAR content

• The “McDonalds” effect - You need to touch people regularly for outbound marketing to have a measurable effect

• A/B Testing allows you to “try out” content and measure/gauge results

+Social Networking Sites

New Customers

Existing Customers

+Social Networking Sites

• It’s not just Facebook!

• Google+, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram and others

• There are pros/cons of each platform

• Why are you using it? What do you want to get out of it?

• What a Facebook “Like” or a “re-tweet” is really worth

+Social Media – Areas to Consider

• These sites will start costing you $$$. The less people on a site, the easier it is to be heard for free. Once a site becomes popular, it gets noisy and the site can start charging more.

• Spend time on each site as a USER - who they are targeting, what it’s best used for, how they make $$$

• Keep up with changes - for example, the new Twitter profile

• Your best bet to help with SEO is Google+ (google.com/business)

+Online Review/Directory Sites

New Customers

Existing Customers

+Online Review/Directory Sites

• Yelp, YP.com, Angie’s List, TripAdvisor, Google Reviews

• These were built to serve the CONSUMER - not you

• You should respond to reviews

• Managing your NAP (Name/Address/Phone) contact details online (Yext, SinglePlatform, getListed, mozLocal)

• They can help with SEO, but with varied results that you do not control

+Advertising

New Customers

+Advertising

• “I know at least half of my advertising budget works; I just don’t know which half.”  - Henry Ford

• A variety of options - coupon sites (Groupon, LivingSocial), Review sites (Yelp, Google, TripAdvisor), Online Advertising (Google AdWords, local advertising), Traditional advertising (Yellow pages, hyperlocal newspaper, coupon clipper/circular)

• You will pay a bunch and it will be challenging to manage/measure

• Targeted Ads can be more effective and maximize advertising spend

• You need a specific plan and consistency for this to work well. Every time you stop one thing and start another, it’s like starting over.

• This does not build community

+Loyalty / Referral Programs

Existing Customers

+Loyalty / Referral Programs

Existing Customers

An outstanding way to engage with your existing customers

Loyalty – typically points for frequent patronage

Referral – typically a bonus for referring friends and neighbors

Lots of online options – but understand the cost to manage/maintain

Managing and Measuring these are the biggest challenges. If you’re going to do it, make sure you have ways to measure the effectiveness

+Tools for the Small Business Owner

• “Rental” SEO shops - MainStreetHub, WhiteSpark, etc - you will pay a monthly fee (usually $200+) for them to manage this for you

• Vertical focused directories - will give you visibility, but no way to manage your current customers

• Larger software suites (e.g. DemandForce, ExactTarget)

• Online platforms specific to small businesses for building community and managing all the aspects of a Social Media / Digital Marketing program (e.g. Bizyhood)

Existing Customers

New Customers

+Bizyhood Plug!

New Customers

Existing Customers

+Bizyhood Plug!

• Personalized landing page • Events / Promotions • Loyalty / Referrals• Social Links• Online Feedback including

Responses (NO filtering)• Two-way communication with your

customers

• Semi-private network for a business and their customers

• Social Publishing

• Verified Feedback

• Send information to customers using whatever channel they prefer

• Community site(s) integration

• Local SEO – focused on gaining visibility in your local service area

The worlds first Community Network

+Case Study – Jay Garrett RE/MAX Realty

• Be subtle – Build a Brand!

• Websites – remax-nj.com, MyMonmouth. Little blogging focused on real estate today.

• Facebook – no blatant advertising, more subtle. Brand himself more so than his business.

• Twitter – mostly a listening tool (Twitterific).

• SEO – not as much as he should, mostly “long tail” keywords.

• Online Reviews – Not much. Not a fan of Yelp. Likes Bizyhood.

• Advertising – Zurple.com – focused solely on realtors. Some Facebook ads. Overall $400-600/mo.

+Q&A and Contact Info

Scott Barnett

[email protected]

@scottabarnett

@bizyhood

908-216-3026 (m)

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