A local business has its own challenges and pluses. While the market is small, the advantage is that one can easily plan and market their services. Local businesses have to take a slightly different path to reach social media success.
Here are some NEW techniques that can be useful for marketing a local business on social networking site:
Find Out The Most Popular Sites
It’s important to know where your local crowd is. Facebook and LinkedIn may be very popular on records, but is that where your TG is?
For instance: There was a time when Facebook was extremely popular in Turkey and Canada while Iran was living on Orkut; similarly Twitter was a Japan thing and LiveJournal was a Russian favorite.
This simply means, one has to know where the local crowd is before making wild jumps in to social networking sites.
Make A Genuine Profile
Whether it’s a Gravtar or profile, in either ways keep it honest. Pick things of your choice, list interests and start connecting with people.
Once you build genuine bonds, people will know you as a person. Slowly build on this genuine connection and share products and services. Of course this can be your company profile; you can have your company name as well, but don’t forget to be a “human being” first!
Take interest In Local Activities
If yours is a local business, you need to be close to the locals. Where are they going, what activities are they participating in, what are their reviews and other such things are going to be of relevance to them. If they are interested in this, so should you be! After all, local businesses run by local buyers. Take interest in their lives – interact on social networking sites and participate in conversation.
Create Interesting Activities
Create fun games online!! Yes! Do that.
You don’t have to go out and hire a software engineer to design games but you can design activities around your locality.
For instance, keep contests on social media sites related to your city or state. Your page can have activities that give away freebies of your products. These activities could have a local flavor. Something like – post a picture of the most beautiful park in our city and win free coupons to the amusement park fair – something of the sorts.
Be Casual With Promotions!
Last, but not the least, be casual! Since you are a local person on the local forum of social networking sites, chances are that most of the people who might be your buyers, already know you! Perhaps you have crossed roads, or are in neighboring cities – no matter how near or far you are, every person has aa slight idea about who you are already. Hence, the best deal is to be casual. You aren’t like Apple Inc. or Dell Computers – the companies that are so huge and so far. You are a local businessman, and people can get in touch with you. Your promotions should be causal, as though not letting them know that THIS is promotions!
So, keep it simple, be casual and enjoy social networking while improving your companies’ virtual presence. All the best!
About Brandon Leibowitz
