Don Power askes a great question: Going Local – How do You Use Social Media to Boost Local Business?
Teaching social media can be a tough when it comes to teaching small town local businesses. I know because I live in such an area. A lot of these business owners want immediate results and even though the prospect of having a presence online might light a bulb, it can be downright scary.
(And not to be boastful or make anyone feel bad that does live in smaller towns, I rarely find a person that is as savvy or resourceful online unless I go to larger cities. I remember going to Chicago and the gals at the conference would ask me if I planned to move to a larger place because they were interested in what I had to offer. However, down in Centralia, Illinois, if I do not speak in layman’s terms, then I pretty much have lost them.)
When speaking to these business owners, they are passionate and want to succeed. They are not big businesses, so they may even be family owned and operated. Always remember that. These are people you will encounter locallly on occasion at the store or library. It is important you are honest with them too.
When approaching, be friendly and simply ask them if they ever thought about being online. You might find out a few do have online presences, but they will honestly say they have not done much with it and really do not know how to apply it in order to attract people.
Be brief with them and tell them a little tidbit of information on how you can help them. Then, leave your card, and you might find them calling or emailing you. You have to be brief because they are obviously working and you speaking to them in front of customers might not be a great idea. Or, you might not get a call right away until they have a social network handle or website and have no idea what to do.
Make sure they know that having an online presence not just gets attention their business but the community too! There are new places popping up online everyday and even small towns have a virtual face.
It takes a lot of work. I cannot say that enough. In a way, social media consultants can sometimes be like cheerleaders because they try to encourage business owners that they can make more success with an online presence.
With local businesses, you never know. Some events might be local and because people are jumping on more these days to search what is available at their destination, an online presence just might make that business the place they go to first.
How have you approached local business owners about social media marketing?
I am going to start reaching out to politicians as next year is election year, and these tips came in handy. My challenge is trying to convince old school thinkers to embrace new school technology. But, I'm going to refer to this posting often because I'm going to need all the encouragement I can get with these thought processes.
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Definitely it is necessary. These people have the experience, and if motivated to learn newer techniques, they will be much more successful. Thanks for stopping by and commenting, Marcie. 🙂
Hi Nile! Thanks for buzzing my post (I'm pretty new to SeededBuzz so I'm not sure if I'm supposed to do anything – hahah!). The more I reasearch local social media marketing the more I realize what a great opportunity this represents. I think the key is simplifying it so that the local business person doesn't just "turn off" the whole concept of how tweeting (among other things) can drive traffic to their business.
I Rted your post – going to follow you on Twitter now too. Thanks for the 'buzz'!
– Don
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I write for TwitterWatchdog.com on occasion and I know from talking with local businesses that they are not against the idea, but more like – hesitant. A lot of them are sometimes strained with time because they have minimal employees hired.
The ones not yet convinced totally, I leave them a good amount of info when the call or email. It is the only thing to do and hopefully they will come around.
Ahh my first visit and I already like something I see that's always a good sign, haha. I read Don's article when it first came out and being a small business owner it makes it easy to relate. Small business owners and even many large corporations have no clue whats up when it comes to the web and how it can effect your business.
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I grew up a military kid, but when my father was toward the end, he took up other things like Amway to find something he could do when he got out into the civilian world. There are big differences between the two worlds.
While he plugged in tapes in the car on long trips to the motivational conventions, I listened. I started getting in the mentality that having your business can be rewarding… IF you can do the work. However, having a business and working it to success are two difference things. It takes finding the best resources. I believe because the Internet is trying to build a way for anyone to try to connect with easier. Instead of looking in the phone book for an address and number, you can do a search, and find several choices. Besides address, you find the services and sometimes ratings, and such. It all is a great wealth of information for consumers while also a leg up for businesses online.
I know this is nothing new to you as I see you are a business owner too. 🙂