Filed under: Social Media
This is part one in a series about how to effectively market your Raleigh business on Facebook. To start, I’ll be addressing what every company wants to know before making the leap: what’s in it for us?
First (and most importantly), it’s where your customers are. With more than 350 million active users, 50% of which log on in any given day, you can bet some (or all) of your clients have profiles. The average user spends more than 55 minutes a day on Facebook - in fact, Facebook use accounts for 5.5% of U.S. internet usage.
If your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, you’re missing out on a huge opportunity to reach those customers. While social media sites are about forging relationships and making connections, studies have shown time after time that these sites also effect consumers’ buying decisions. 40% of Facebook users say that they connect with brands on the site. 28% of U.S. holiday buyers said that social media has influenced what they’ve purchased this holiday season.
Also, with Google and Bing now indexing Facebook posts in their search results, having a social media presence is more important than ever. If nothing else, a Facebook fan page is just another way for your company to get found on the web - and that’s never a bad thing.
While getting found is good, having a Facebook fan page can do a lot more for you. Through interacting with your fans, you can learn about what makes them tick: why they love your product, what made them buy it, what it means to them and what you can do better. If used correctly, Facebook can not only be a tool for growing your business, it can a be a tool for improving it as well.
Does this mean that every company should have a Facebook fan page? No, probably not. Building a community of fans takes commitment. Plenty of people are registered on the site - but you should determine whether enough of your target demographic are Facebook users to make it worth your marketing time and money.
If having a fan page isn’t in the cards, you can still market your business on Facebook! Facebook ads are another option to consider. If you’ve used the site, you’ve noticed the ads running on the right of the page.
If you are ready to set up a fan page, great! What next? Stay tuned as the series continues.
Filed under: Social Media
Yesterday, big news dropped about the future intersection of social media and search.
First, news broke that Microsoft’s Bing had inked deals with Facebook and Twitter to include status updates in search results. Big news. Huge, as Mashable put it. Just as that proverbial wave was crashing, however, Google announced a similar deal (but without Facebook).
Both search engines plan to activate social search in the coming weeks. Why is social search such a big deal? On a personal level, it means a couple things:
- Those Twitter and Facebook status updates? Unless you’ve set your accounts on private, your personal musings will be displayed in search results. Next time you tell your tweeps that “My nose is running from eating all those hot wings,” you better believe people around the world will see that statement pop up when searching for “running” or any other word you’ve included.
- Just as strangers will see your status updates, theirs will be turning up in your searches as well. Need to know where the best vegetarian food is in Raleigh? Search Google or Bing. I’ll bet you’ll find more than a few people recommending their favorite spots through Twitter or Facebook status updates. Real-time observations mean that you’ll have recent info by consumers like yourself. Is a restaurant tasty, but crowded right now? Reading a strangers tweet complaining about the line will help you avoid the hassle.
While the news of social search is pretty cool on a personal level, the implications are even bigger for companies and brands looking to keep up online:
- Online reputation management will be more important than ever before. When a customer comments about your brand on their Twitter or Facebook profile now, that comment won’t just spread through social media — it’ll be visible to anyone searching about your company on Google or Bing. If the comment is good, kudos! If it’s bad, you’ll need to run damage control faster than you can say “social media FAIL.”
- Having a social media presence will become increasingly important. Once social search goes live, Twitter and Facebook updates will give brands another way to show up in search results. Want to show up for “Raleigh ice cream shop”? Updating your company’s Twitter and Facebook profiles with posts that include those keywords will help you show up in the ranks.
While the latter implication means that social media will be an important tool for many companies (when paired with SEO), it’s crucial to remember the cardinal rule of marketing in the social realm: don’t be spammy. It may be tempting to get a Twitter profile for your business and tweet out keywords all day, but while you’ll show up in social search, spammy content will only earn a negative reaction.
Filed under: Search Engine Optimization
Everyone wants to see organic growth with regard to their rankings on Google, Yahoo and other search engines. There are many tweaks you can make to help your company creep up into the top spots for your target keywords. Remember that this is process and that to see improvement make take weeks and in some instances months!
1. Determine Your Target Keywords: If you own a local car dealership then it would be advantageous that when someone Googled “Raleigh cars” that your business showed up in the results. Take the time to determine which search terms similar to the one above best describe your business. (Hint: Be very specific! The more general your keywords are, the more competition there will be for them.
Average keyword term= car
Good keyword term= Raleigh Chevrolet car dealership
2. Setup a Google Analytics Account: The most important step in experiencing growth via search engines is to know where you currently stand and how the changes you make influence your ranking. Visit http://www.google.com/analytics to create an account. This easy to use tool with allow you to quantify your growth.
3. Get Local: How much of your business comes from within the 919 area code? If a particular town, city or region is important to your firm make sure that when you’re targeting keywords you include terms like Cary, Raleigh, North Carolina or Southeast. This will help prequalify your site visitors and lead to more traffic.
4. Online Directories: This method is fairly simple. Find local or industry specific online directories that offer to list your company for free. Fill out the information they request and they will provide a link back to your site. The links they provide add authority to your site and can lead to a higher ranking on Google, Yahoo or other search engines. Here’s a great list of free directories to get you started. http://www.onewaytextlink.com/links
5. Spying On the Competition: If you’re curious as to what sites your competitors are being linked from surf over to Google and enter this phrase “link:www.yourcompetitor.com” Substitute in www.yourcompetitor.com with the appropriate site. This will show you who is linking to your rivals. Feel free to contact these sites and see if they’re willing to provide a link to your site as
well.
Posted on December 22nd, 2009 by Hannah
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