Does your organization depend on local customers? If so, attracting area customers is crucial to the continuing success of your organization. With Internet marketing, you have many opportunities to raise awareness of your business among customers in the markets you most want to target. In Local Lure, our new blog series about local SEO, we talk about the ways you can gear your marketing to bring in more locals.
Social media marketing offers a terrific opportunity for local businesses to connect with local customers. According to a recent Nielsen study, the typical Internet user spends an average of about 25 percent of their time online using social networking websites such as Twitter and Facebook. In addition to making your business more visible to area customers, social media marketing can make it easier to keep customers up-to-date on the latest company news and even help improve your SEO. We recommend the following social media sites for building a local following:
Facebook
The most visited website on the Internet, people of all ages, races, ethnicities and income levels use Facebook to connect with others. Given its popularity, more and more businesses are finding that having a Facebook page is not only a good idea but a necessity. Offering a large toolbox of applications and features, it’s easy to create a customized Facebook page for your business to reach out to more locals.
Twitter
Much like Facebook, Twitter is on the rise with people of all walks of life. With a Twitter page, you can send out short updates to current and prospective customers in your area.
Yelp
Yelp, a user review and local search site, is popular with influential consumers, especially in major markets. Each month, more than 30 million users go to Yelp to find businesses in their area – from restaurants and shops to plumbers and lawyers. If your business is already listed on Yelp, go ahead and claim your listing to respond to customer reviews both publicly and privately, add bios and about us statements, photos and other informative content.
MerchantCircle
MerchantCircle is a social network for businesses. Through MerchantCircle, businesses can connect to area customers as well as other businesses. By claiming your MerchantCircle listing, businesses can customize their listing layout, add links to their website, blog and other social media sites and post pictures.
Groupon
Groupon features one-day-only specials (i.e. $50 for $100 worth of clothing) in each major market. In order to take advantage of that coupon, customers must purchase that coupon for its face value in advance. In addition to receiving money from promotions upfront, being featured on Groupon helps businesses of all sizes inform local customers about their business.
If you’d like to know more about how social media marketing can have a positive effect on your local business, contact us at CyberMark. We can create a custom social media strategy for your business that will help you reach more customers in your area – and beyond.
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