Social Media Is Important: A Local Business Approach

Spending on marketing can be tough to justify. Many times we spend on marketing because "it's worked in the past." New options, like Facebook, Twitter, Google Search, even texting, are half-respected, half-questioned. That's understandable. In a small business there are so so many things to worry about. We were never compleeetely sure those newspaper and radio ads brought in more than they cost, but at least we knew them.

My own Dad operates a small business. He's always been a little ahead of his competition in the technology realm, so I wasn't surprised to hear he was spending on SEO and some other web programs for the business a few years ago. Still, in conversations, I could tell he was skeptical about the value of a Facebook Ad, a follower, a like or a comment.

"How is it helping me? What do I do to improve? I just don't understand it."

Again, this is completely understandable. There's been so much to think about the past few years. It's hard, and taking on more outside opinions is always a challenge. But times really are changing. I'd like to take a quote from the recent 007 movie Skyrim, the scene with Judi Dench on trial making an argument for 00 agents:

Today I've repeatedly heard how irrelevant my department has become. Why do we have agents, the 00 section, isn't it all rather quaint?Well I suppose I see a different world than you do. And the truth is that what I see frightens me. I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us, they do not exist on a map, they're not nations, they're individuals, and look around you, who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No. Our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque. It's in the shadows. That's where we must do battle. So before you declare us irrelevant ask yourselves: How safe do you feel?

Thank you, M. Our customers aren't enemies like Javier Bardem, but they are in the shadows, making decisions away from our influence.  Before our friendly service has a chance to influence them they're knee deep in customer reviews on Google, Yelp, FourSquare, UrbanSpoon, Facebook, and more. Google calls this moment of search the Zero Moment of Truth. All of that copy we wrote, all those clever phrases, that's all on one search result in a local Google search that brings up our business. The rest of the results? 2-200? Those words were written by experienced customers, just like the one searching at home. They're knowledgable, they're trusted, and they're still talking. 

Someone searching for something we can offer can't be expected to give us the benefit of the doubt if we have no reviews, or even worse, a few very poor reviews and nothing positive. When competitors look better on paper, they're perceived better in the search.

The good knows is there is something you can do. You can control what people find when they search. Sure, you will have unhappy customers, and they may leave unfavorable reviews, but by claiming your business on the networks and making social a real part of your operations you'll get new reviews, better receptions, and more customers.

Claim your business on the networks. Fill out the information. Add photos of your products, your services, whatever it is your customers enjoy. The beautiful thing about a local business is how well they understand the area. Somehow, your business fits into that area. It could be in a big way or a small way, but it has its place. Use social to stake claim to your service to the area, let your customers and friends market for you, and have fun with it! 

Pinterest Group Boards and Local Business Collaboration

Pinterest allows you to share the input on boards with others. It's difficult to add a lot of pins for an individual business, and it's really not that fun at all. We recommend joining forces with other local businesses to reach more locals and have more interesting boards. For example, a group of restaurants could create a few boards on food, recipes, or any other topic they feel their community would welcome. The idea is simple: help build awareness for each other. 

1. Create a Board 
2. Select the board and click 'Edit Board' just under the title 
3. In 'Who Can Add Pins?" type the name or e-mail of contributors 
4. Share the board on your collective networks

From Popular to Pathetic to Popular Again

 Curatoria

Some of you are present on the planets of many, 

Others only invited to the planets of few, 

Not much awareness if there's none of Consuma.

To get where you want, 

The reach of a giant, 

Knock on some doors, 

Do not fear the knocking.

Girls do it.
Women do it.
Boys do it.
Men do it.

People want to be followed by more people than they follow. How many people happen to have 1 or 2 more in their followers than following?

Brands do it. They want to be popular too.

But, what if you're not popular? Should you look popular anyway? Do people pay for popular?

To build communities you first need to build awareness. To build awareness you to get in front of your customers. We were having trouble building a customer base from Pinterest. The owner of the business wanted to be popular. Fair enough.

"Let's follow only people that have created boards similar to the product you offer."

"You're not marketing, you've just followed a bunch of people. I'm having a hard time understanding what you're doing."

"I need access to the people first, the people passionate about the solution your products bring. To build a Pinterest page worth visiting we need to bring in the people that think it's worth contributing to."

Short term, this means not being popular.

Long term, it means your brand has a chance to become a beacon of the passion shared among many.

People see the beacon, the one your brand stands for, and come to it. As more come, the beacon gets brighter. As the beacon gets brighter, you become more popular.

Don't be afraid to sacrifice personal popularity in the name of community building.

People are out there spending time and effort curating boards and pages to solutions and results your products bring. They will not be mad if you let them know about how your products can help through beautiful pictures.

If you build it, they might come.

If they come, you better be gooey. 

Pinterest Rich Pins

Monetizing an Intimate Community, While Keeping it Intimate: Pinterest Rich Pins

1 board with Rich Pins, 5 with rich content. 

Curatoria

The Green goo was coming, 

There was nothing they could do, 

Curites had to deal and the deal was coming soon. 

"Please, Duck, keep our planets happy, 

I don't want that green gooey shit being stinky."

The Duck listened, "Your wish is my command, 

You'll barely even notice this green helping hand. 

If you do want it, 

The product they stew, 

This green that I add will bring wants to fruition. 

To Consuma you'll go, 

With questions I'm sure, 

On Consuma you'll choose if it's the right choice for you."

Pinterest Rich Pins are possibly the most non-discrete, beautiful way to sell Social users on pricing. Complimentary Google Image Search for 40 million examples.  Rich Pins are relatively new, and can be tricky to setup if not technical.

I have a client running a passion-based business that's worried her marketing on Pinterest will annoy the community. "I love Pinterest, and I don't like being marketed to on there. Facebook it's ok, because people don't really care about it anymore." We talked, and she was ok adding the Rich Pins. They aren't too flashy and are only shown on 1 of her 6 boards.

Pinterest allows you to add the Pins 2 ways. 1) through oEmbed 2) through Semantic Markup. For the non-technical person, Semantic Markup is your choice, as it involves copying, pasting and a few extra clicks.

As with everything on Pinterest, setup is very simple.

What's not to simple is understanding the environment. Is it alienating my followers?

Here's my logic, and the e-commerce client with a passion for her community agreed.

We're not pushing prices down their throats. They clicked on a board we clearly defined as products. Once there, they continued to inquire about a product we sell by clicking on a picture of it. If they were satisfied with the large, pretty image, they could click out and continue to sift. However, we understand you have some interest in this product. After all, you inquired about it by clicking. No rush, but if you're interested this is the price and product information. You can get it just here on our site. It's just a soft whisper, a helping hand.

It's nice to humanize, but you are a business. People don't expect you to be human. You're there for a reason. Keep the wheel turning and make your time on the networks worth it for the service or product you need to sell to continue doing what you love to do.