Utilizing Social Media Effectively. Basic Techniques to Promote Your Business Online

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1 Utilizing Social Media Effectively Basic Techniques to Promote Your Business Online

2 The Importance of having an Online Presence Technological advances have changed the way people communicate. Businesses who are not using social platforms are invisible to consumers. In order to be competitive this year and every year after you must have a virtual footprint.

3 The Importance of SEO & Social Media How many of you pick up your smartphone, tablet or use your computer to search for information on a daily basis? Millennials (currently 21-38); are the quickly taking over the market & if you don t have a strong online presence with a dedicated website & social pages - YOU ARE LOSING BUSINESS Rapid Growth when I rebuilt our website & started actively engaging with people through social media/review sites in 2009; our business increased 22% that year & have continued to grow every year since. If your business is not continually active online with an actively updated website & authentic interacting social sites; the search engines don t notice your business.

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5 How to Promote Your Business Online Search Engine Optimization Strategically and actively position your business website for optimal views Make your website easy to find by listing your company on Google My Business, Bing Places for Business, Yahoo Small Business as well as other popular search engine sites Social Media Use popular social networks to find and engage with customers Frequently post on your social platforms about why people need your product or service Enhance your company brand by asking loyal customer s to share their satisfactory experiences on your social feed

6 Claiming Your Business on Search Engines Be sure to claim your business on Google & Bing (Yahoo pulls from the other sites; no need to claim it unless you want to pay for it). Google Biggest player in the game; claim your business through Google My Business. This will make sure people can find your business (and the correct information about your business) on Google Search, Google Maps & Google+ all at once. If you don t already have one, you will need to set up a Gmail account.

7 Search Engines Continued Claim your business on Bing by going to Bing Places for Business. Claiming your business on each site does take time & patience. If you do not have the time; be sure to hire a local Rio Rancho company; like Sagedread Designs, to get this taken care of for you. Claiming your business on these sites is imperative; marketing in this day & age is primarily online you must have a strong online presence. If you re looking for the best ROI for your marketing dollars, your website/internet presence is where you want to invest. Search engines do not recognize Facebook Business Pages as a business website; which has a direct effect on your business s Search Engine Optimization (how search engines see & rank your business in your business category). You must have a legitimate business website; that is not cookie cutter.

8 POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES Facebook 40 million Small Business Pages 41% of Small Businesses utilizing Facebook for Promotional Efforts Twitter 74% of users follow company brands 47% of users who follow brands visit the company website Google+ Google is the top search engine used in the world 20 million mobile monthly users Instagram 300 Million active users 27.6% of the US population uses Instagram YouTube 1 billion users Has the largest engagement conversion of videos currently online LinkedIn 40% of users check this site daily Receives 2 new members every second Pinterest 30% of social media user have an account Estimated audience reach of 47.1 million people in 2015

9 Social Sites Primary: Google+ (feeds directly into Google search), Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn Pinterest (primarily female market know your demographics) & Instagram YouTube is owned by Google & videos get the most response. Quick, entertaining & informative videos work. Funny gets great responses but keep it respectful. If you can t record a short video or do a video montage always use a picture with your post Do your best to make sure it s your picture if possible; again keep authentic in the representation of your business, your services, your product.

10 Social Sites Continued They play a role in boosting search engine optimization if managed properly. Gives business owners & managers a way to personally engage with customers & possible customers. Takes time, but again it s imperative! If you don t have the time to invest; hire a local company to manage your social media sites for you Search engines look for authentic interaction between businesses & customers keep it real; trying to beat this system will eventually get you penalized (especially by Google).

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12 SOCIAL MEDIA ENGAGEMENT Like similar & interesting pages on Facebook Follow influential people & compatible industries while using trending hashtags on Twitter Join communities that can highlight your brand and follow significant business professionals on Google+ Create educational or fun videos not ads, like, share and comment on popular social site postings & stations on YouTube Design a highly skilled resume and regularly post or share business related articles on LinkedIn Pin or re-pin trending or appealing imagery to booster interest towards your board on Pinterest Remember Like, 1+. Comment & Share local, funny, relative & informative content don t always post about you & your business only.

13 Use Clear CALL-TO-ACTIONs

14 Posting Procedures & Etiquette Etiquette first typing in all capital letters means you are yelling at people don t yell at people. Keep your personal life, personal opinions, politics, etc. out of your business postings. Always post in a professional, grammatically correct manner (including proper spelling) abbreviated texting is not acceptable except sometimes on twitter because you have 140 characters per post (including pics & links). Updates & changes happen often on every site; be sure to give yourself time to make appropriate posts & have patience glitches happen. Be diplomatic; no matter what a customer/poster may say.

15 Etiquette & Procedures Continued Procedures vary depending on the site. Google+, Facebook, Twitter & Instagram you can use hashtags to highlight words & phrases so those posts are more likely to show up when people search for those words & phrases use of hashtags can even become or utilized in trends. Hashtags don t work on LinkedIn or Pinterest but website links do; which also work on Google+, Facebook & Twitter (but be sure to post a photo with Twitter) but not on Instagram (hashtag phrases work best on Instagram).

16 More Etiquette & procedures If you are sharing posts or content that are written by someone else (and you will & should); be sure to give the credit/tag them in the post. There are sites that help you manage & pre-program posts because it is good to think ahead for events, holidays & such please stay aware of current local news, if something bad has happened you want to be sensitive to that news & not post something that may be construed as insensitive. Always double (even triple check) what you are posting before you post. Even if you do a quick edit there is always a chance someone took a screen shot within seconds.

17 Review Sites Matter There are reviews on search engines (Google), social sites (Facebook) then there are review sites like Yelp (covers all types of businesses & events) & business specific review sites (like TripAdvisor). Just like search engines & social sites, you want to claim your business on review sites. Reply to all reviews.

18 Replying to Reviews Keep your emotions under control. Answer with diplomacy. Always say thank you. Other than sometimes on Facebook, don t use the persons name in your reply. Keep it professional. Never use profanity or be defensive. Replying to reviews can be used to educate the public on the quality of products &/or services you provide (without spamming) sometimes a negative review can be your best marketing tool.

19 QUESTIONS??

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