Why should you invest time and money in social media marketing for your local business? You could be missing out on a sizable audience if you don't.
According to Statista's latest data in July 2021, the number of Facebook users in the U.S. has surged to an impressive 302 million and is expected to continue to increase exponentially in the coming years. When you consider the total U.S. population, which stands at approximately 334 million, you can deduce that almost two out of every three American citizens are presently utilizing Facebook.
When used effectively, social media platforms, including this one, can significantly boost your local business. But what exactly are the advantages of establishing a social media presence for your business and enhancing its local search visibility?
Before making a decision on whether to pursue social media marketing, it's important to delve into the reasons why it's worth considering.
Why Local Businesses Should Invest Time & Money In Social Media Marketing
We know that social media is not a search ranking factor. However, there are plenty of indirect ways that social media supports SEO.
You’re probably already crazy-busy promoting your business.
Adding even more marketing tasks might seem a bit like overkill.
However, neglecting to incorporate social media into your marketing plan can cost you – not just in terms of new potential customers who don’t know you but also in terms of retaining your existing customers.
And make no mistake, your competitors are out there sniffing around and happy to have them.
By building a relationship with your clients, your chances of retaining them increase, and so does their potential lifetime value.
Now let these other compelling arguments convince you even more.
“Hey, Does Anyone Know A Good…?”
Folks on social are constantly asking their friends for recommendations for almost everything, ranging from local restaurants to car repairing services.
Social media platforms (as the marketing machines that they are) can help you be a part of these conversations.
Facebook Recommendations
For example, Facebook allows users to tag their favorite brands when they want to promote them.
Besides, when uploading a photo of yourself in a shop, hotel, amusement park, car dealership, etc., you can tag the exact location where the photo has been taken.
It also won’t hurt to switch on the customer testimonials feature and consistently keep in touch with followers.
Is there a single right way to fill in the company info on Facebook?
Not really, but following these recommendations could help you get started.
Contact information (phone number, address, email address).
Open hours.
Website.
Price range (important if you own a brick-and-mortar store, a restaurant, a cafe, etc.).
Facebook also recommends adding a little story of your brand – it helps form a deeper connection with customers.
How much information should you add? Not too much; it shouldn’t be an essay.
“Worst Service Ever!”
Even if you aren’t active on social media, people will talk about your business.
Customers share their feedback, good and bad, and you need to be aware of it.
If it’s good, great! You can capitalize on that satisfied customer by leveraging their praise to get more clients or have your happy ones come back for more.
If it’s bad, great! You can control the conversation by showing your excellent customer service skills. Turn the grumpy complainer into a blazing fan by really listening to their issue and solving it.
It usually isn’t about making a mistake – mistakes are inevitable for any business.
Really, it’s about how you correct it.
And a bonus? You learn more about what your customers really think and improve your business accordingly.
Know what happens when you aren’t there?
Complaints go viral, and your competitor offers to help out your customer – because they were listening.
Cut Your Ad Costs By Switching To Local Advertising
Social media platforms were not built for their users but for advertisers.
Location is one of the many specific demographic aspects you can target your ads on.
If you laser target your ads on the people who are based in your area, their interests, and some other demographic details, you will achieve the highest customer potential with the lowest costs.
Furthermore, by tweaking the targeting and the content of your ads, you learn more about ideal leads than any survey can tell you for a fraction of the cost!
And what if you don’t use these ads features? You keep firing aimlessly while your competition targets the golden nuggets.
Remarketing is another option to consider.
Let’s say a person visited your website but didn’t purchase anything.
Don’t fret just yet – by adding a Facebook Pixel (a feature in Facebook Ads) you can retarget such visitors with branded ads based on the product/service pages they’ve checked on your website.
Let The Fans Speak For You
Social media marketing lends itself perfectly to building a passionate community around your brand.
There’s no better way to encourage people to promote you than to help them to connect with like-minded people.
This is more than just owning the conversations around your products or services.
You’re also creating long-term relationships with and between customers.
Happy customers will take care of word-of-mouth marketing for you – and even part of your customer service.
Also, they will come back to you for more business. Again and again.