Built-In Social: Essential Social Marketing Practices for Every Small Business by Jeff Korhan

Author:Jeff Korhan [Korhan, Jeff]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2013-03-19T14:00:00+00:00

GIVE THEM SOMETHING TO TALK ABOUT

People talk—and now, with social media, they share photos and videos, too. You want to give them something to talk about that favorably speaks to your business merits. This obviously involves caring for your customers exceptionally well and encouraging them to share those experiences. But unless you are a mainstream consumer brand, this alone won’t provide enough material to keep the conversation alive.

Recall from Chapter 1 that searching for solutions to common problems is what drives the web. To that end, being the go-to source of relevant solutions in your industry is one of the most powerful ways to assure that people are frequently talking about your business online. This opportunity is still wide open in every community, for the simple reason that the best solutions are often local, and the majority of local businesses have yet to embrace content marketing.

It’s time for that to change—and you can be part of facilitating this change. If you are a small business, with decades of experience and local customers, you are ideally equipped to be a content-marketing leader in your community, and quite possibly in your industry as well. Your direct experience with the community is relatable, and is invaluable to buyers who want to minimize risk.

In buying situations where there is risk—which is many of them—content from trustworthy community insiders will naturally be considered the most valuable. This “wisdom of friends” that is occasionally a by-product of Facebook is more readily found within focused community and industry blogs. Develop the practice of blogging; give your communities a reason to share commentary that is a direct result of your interactions with local customers.

Just because a business is local does not mean it understands the local community. For example, while some national chains may have brick and mortar locations in our communities, their staff has limited historical experience with its members. This creates opportunities for local businesses that do have that information—what many refer to as local knowledge.

Golfers use this term to describe the subtle ways the greens respond to a putt, or how the prevailing winds will tend to shape a shot. In a friendly match, these subtleties can make a big difference, and are therefore highly valued. Over time, truly local businesses learn similar nuances about the buying behaviors of their customers—information that allows them to earn their continued loyalty.

Customers quickly gravitate toward businesses that they perceive care about them, and the easiest way to create that perception is to put their needs first. This means being a friendly and trusted source of information that helps them make better buying decisions.

Anyone that has a vested interest in your business is a viable partner, and that obviously includes customers. The challenge for businesses is engaging and involving community members to the extent that they feel they have partnership stake in the success of your business. Customers usually understand that if your business does well, they will in turn share in your prosperity. Mostly they just like to be acknowledged as being part of it.

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