Ebook social media_101_local

Social Media 101 For

Local Businesses

www.mainstreethub.com

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MAIN STREET HUB:

SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

watch the video:

Main Street Hub specializes in the most important social websites for small businesses. We’re experts at connecting with customers on Facebook, Yelp, Google, Twitter, Foursquare and more. We’ll help you:

Protect your reputation:By responding to all reviews and building long-term relationships

Grow your audience:By optimizing your profiles and using targeted advertising to grow your fan base locally

Engage and motivate your audience to buy:By creating original, engaging content and offers that drive traffic to your storefront

Track your results:By providing a custom dashboard to track key metrics


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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT6QxSlg_lU





SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS

Like it or not, customers are talking about you online. Even more are listening:

Social media’s impact on revenue:

7 out of 10 consumers look online first for local business information2

80% of consumers say that they are more likely to try new things based on friends’ suggestions made through social media2

81% of consumers say it’s important for businesses to respond to reviews1

51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy products and services from businesses they ‘like’ or follow2

8 out of 10 consumers are likely to seek the opinions of others online before buying goods or services4

And 64% of them have changed their minds because of those opinions5

65% of business owners using social media agree that it helps them stay engaged with current customers and 61% say they gained new customers3

A recent study found that a one star increase on Yelp corresponds with a 9% increase in sales6

Sources:1. Neilsonwire2. Forrester Consulting3. Crowdspring4. Mashable: Chadwick Martin Bailey Research Firm Study5. Time: Business6. Yelp

3www.mainstreethub.com

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contents

Customer Review Websites … 5Where customers compare you to your competition

Social Media Websites … 16Engage and motivate your fan base

Check-In Websites … 23Drive repeat business and spread word of mouth

Mobile Websites … 25Is your business mobile?

Tracking Your Results ... 27How to understand your return on investment

Common Mistakes … 29And how to avoid them

Time and Resources … 32You don’t need another full time job


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Customer review sitesWhere customers compare you to your competition

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join the conversation

Review websites basically let customers have a virtual conversation about you, but you can listen, learn, and set the record straight. When you respond to reviews, you’re reaching out to your target market, but those reviewers and their readers don’t feel like you’re advertising. Through conversation, you’re building a relationship.

Now we’re talking. Once you join the conversation, you can:

Got another agenda? These sites also help you:

Respond to feedback

Tailor your customer service to specific needs

Stay top of mind to encourage repeat visits

Cultivate relationships with your target market

Increase customer trust and brand loyalty

Get new ideas for sale specials

Run promotions to entice customers to act now

Highlight specific services or products

Spread word of mouth through friend-to-friend recommendations


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The most important customer review sites

Are Yelp and Google+ Local. Yelp is the most downloaded customer review app and has 41 million monthly visitors. Google+ integrates with search and Google maps, making it highly visible.

*Metrics as of August 2012


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Get the most out of Google+

By claiming your business page:

1. Create a Google Account

2. Find your business and select “Manage this page”

3. Choose “Edit my business information” and select “Continue”


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5. Enter your basic information

6. Add details including your location, hours of operation,product details, promotions, photos and videos


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7. Choose how you’d like to be contacted to validate your listing and hit “Finish”


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Make Yelp work for you

By unlocking your business page.

1. Search for yourbusiness

2. Click “UnlockThis Business Page”

3. Enter in your informationand select “Continue”

4. To verify your businessaccount, you will be given a Pin, select “Call me Now” and enter the pin when prompted.


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12

Set up your Yelp page

This is your time to shine, so fill out as much business information as you can.

Customer ReviewsIf you want to appear active and interested in your customers online, you should respond to every review left about your business. A few tips:

Be polite and eager to please – people are watching

Overwhelm the negative with positive

Go the extra mile for “influencers” – people who have a large following

Four stars is average – go for five


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13

MAINTENANCE

Profile management is not a one-shot deal. Once you’re set up on Google+ and Yelp, you need to constantly monitor each. We suggest you:

Give customers a reason to consider you the moment they’re looking to spend. How?

Hint: It’s a good idea to create a special promotion or announcement just for those who find you through Google+ or Yelp. That way, you can track the business you get.

Check for new reviews daily

Respond to every review either publicly or privately

Update the “About Business” section as your business information changes

Run Promotions and Announcements

To target a specific type of clientele

To generate business during slow times

To advertise something you regularly offer


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WHY YOU SHOULD RESPOND TO POSITIVE REVIEWS

Your positive reviewers are your brand evangelists. Their comments convince others to give you a shot. Take the time to thank them. Creating a relationship with these fans encourages the spread of word of mouth about you and improves your online reputation.


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WHY YOU SHOULD RESPOND TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS

Replying to unsavory comments can take the sting out of the review. When you take action, you get a chance to offer your point of view. This may cause the disgruntled customers to change their minds and their ratings. Since a one-star increase on Yelpcan correlate to a 5-9% increase in revenue, it’s worth a shot.

You won’t get every bad review changed, but your response may impress readers enough to agree with you. In the very least, it shows that you are willing to acknowledge and apologize to your unhappy campers.


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social media websitesEngage and motivate your fan base

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What is FACEBOOK?

Facebook is the most popular social media platform today. If it were a country, it would be the third largest country in the world.

Facebook creates a place where your fans can interact with your business. That interaction is then shared with friends, which is really valuable. Since each Facebook user has an average of 245 friends, friend-to-friend networks significantly impact the exposure of your business.

Friend to friend network

Local Business Customer

Customer Friend

Friend

Friend

Friend

Friend

Friend

Friend

Friend

FriendCustomer

x245

x245

x245


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CREATING ENGAGING POSTs ON FACEBOOK

Want comments and ‘Likes’? You need to post something interesting first. Publishing content that’s relevant to your fans is the best way to encourage them to take action.

Not every post will fall under all three categories, but your page should include a variety of each if you want to create a buzz.

We recommend posts that:

Promote your product, contest or giveaway

Have a pop culture base

Contain a question


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USE FACEBOOK TO GROW, ENGAGE AND MOTIVATE FANS

Promote positive reviews by responding.

Look! A healthy and growing fan base.

This restaurants got several takers on this offer and 28 ‘likes’ on this post!


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WHAT IS TWITTER?

Twitter connects millions of people to their friends and interests every day. Tweeters share information with their followers, and follow others to keep up with the latest news. Twitter is a powerful tool for businesses to gain insight on their customers’ likes, dislikes and behavior.

Implementing a Twitter account means you’ll have access to:

More customer feedback

Direct and real-time interaction with followers

More opportunities to spread word of mouth


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USE TWITTER TO CREATE INTERACTIONS

Interacting with followers means that you can:

Twitter also lets you:

Give customers a pleasant surprise by saying thanks

Reach new people in real time

Communicate relevant business updates

Integrate your Facebook page and website

Integrate into offline marketing

Search keywords to connect with your customers when they are nearby and ready to buy

Connecting with customers nearby


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twitter best practices

A few notes about Twitter etiquette:

Post enough, but not too much (2-3 times a week)

Give credit for retweets

Follow back anyone who follows you

Mention buzz-words relevant to your business

When creating your Twitter handleUse your business nameEx: @elaserspa

Publish the sametypes of posts as FBBut condensed into140 characters

Tweet abouttrending topicsAnd use hashtagsfor brand promotionEx. #Zerona


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check-in websitesDrive repeat business and spread word of mouth

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WHAT IS FOURSQUARE?

Customers can:

The ultimate location-based social networking app for mobile devices.

Businesses can:

Check-in at your business and tell their friends (since Foursquare integrates with Facebook and Twitter)

Claim deals and promotions

Leave tips and feedback for other patrons

Run promotions based on check-ins

Offer loyalty programs for those who frequently check-in

*Metrics as of August 2012


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Mobile websitesIs your business mobile?


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wHAt ARE MOBILE SITES?

Why are they important?

A thumb-friendly version of your current website, designed specifically for mobile devices.

67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site

74% of people say they’re more likely to return to mobile-friendly sites in the future

48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site that’s not mobile-friendly

52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company

What should they include?

Mobile-friendly design and business information like address and phone number

Positive customer reviews

Relevant updates and client interactions

Links to your social media pages

Regular website

Mobile-friendly website





Tracking your resultsHow to understand your return on investment

Tracking your results

So you’ve setup your pages, created new and engaging content and replied to all of your posts...now what?

By constantly tracking and monitoring your social media engagement, you can see if what you’ve been doing is working.

This is great, but how do I track all of these things?

It can seem a little overwhelming to track all of these metrics. At Main Street Hub, we provide our clients a centralized dashboard to track all of their social media metrics. If you are going to ‘DIY’, each website typically provides a reporting interface that helps you track the metrics above.

What to look for: How to track your metrics: Why does it matter?

Are you growing your fan base? 51% of consumers are more likely to buy from a business after becoming fans of their Facebook page. More fans = more customers.

Is the content you’re creating help-ing spread word of mouth?

• Track comments, shares ‘Likes’ and retweets of your content.

• Look at the amount of people who saw your posts (broken out by ‘organic’ and ‘viral’).

• For a broader metric, look at your ‘people talking about this’ (PTAT) number.

Engagement is everything! Not only are people who engage more likely to visit your business, their engagement spreads word of mouth about your business to their friends.

Is your business being found online Today’s consumer looks online first before making a purchasing decision. If your online traffic is increasing, it’s very likely your in store traffic will do the same.

Let’s cut to the chase, are you getting more customers?

• Ask your customers how they heard about you and keep track of the different channels.

• Create special offers that are specific to your social media sites and measure redemption rate.

It’s great to hear directly from your customers that they’re finding you on social media, but be sure to stay on top of all of your metrics for a complete look at performance.

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Monitor daily/weekly/monthly increase in fans, followers and check-ins.

Monitor the traffic to your Yelp and Google+ listings. By optimizing and maintaining your profiles, you should see a steady increase in traffic to your profiles over time.


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common mistakesAnd how to avoid them

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COMMON MISTAKES ON CUSTOMER REVIEW WEBSITES

Some blunders to avoid:

Not responding to reviews

Responding to reviews in adefensive manner

Not responding to reviews

Responding to reviews in a defensive manner

Leaving out important business information, or not mentioning the entire scope of your services

Accidental typos and grammatical errors on your profile

Not removing outdated promotions


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COMMON MISTAKES ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER

Some typical gaffes we see:

Posting too often or spamming

Having a FB “profile” and not a “business page”

Not posting often enough

Lacking content relevant to your followers

Putting out one-way posts that don’t spur interaction

Posting too often or spamming


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time and resourcesYou don’t need another full time job

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TIME IS MONEY. SO HOW MUCH DOES

SOCIAL MEDIA COST?

No training or expertise:

Experienced:

Lets assume you’ll have to pay someone for 50-75 hours a month.What are your labor options?

50-75+ hours per month on average to make social media effective & profitable.

Recent college grad

Receptionist or another employee

Independent consultant

$10/hour

$7/hour

$20-100/hour

$500-750/month

$350-525/month

$1,000-7,500/month


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Let us do it for you

Protect your reputationWe monitor the most important review and social media web-sites 24/7 and respond appropriately to all customer reviews and messages, while they’re fresh.

Grow your audienceWe optimize your profiles, use highly targeted advertising, and cross-promote your business across multiple social media web-sites to get fans and followers who are ready to buy.

Motivate your audience to buyWe create original, engaging content, craft special offers, and start real time conversations that drive traffic to your storefront.

Track your resultsWe provide you with a personalized dashboard where you can track all of your key metrics and see everything being said about your business online – all in one place.

Our full service ‘do it for you’ social media solution puts you in the driver’s seat, while we work to:

Call us for a free social media assessment:888.900.0920


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Client Dashboard Preview

Sample Reports

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What we’ll do

Build and optimize your profiles on popular social media websites

Reply to positive reviews to build-long term relationships

Reply promptly to negative reviews to control damage

Design offers and promotions to spread the word about your business

Maximize exposure by cross-promoting your business across multiple social media websites

Promote customer loyalty programs to grow your business

Get more customers from your competitors

What you’ll get:A better online reputation, more exposure, and more customers.


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We get results.

Commitment-phobe?No problem, we don’t require a long-term contract. We partner with our clients for 90 days. After that, we work on a month-to-month basis.

Read what our clients are saying:

The price of Main Street Hub is affordable, and has brought results. We have seen increases in traffic and sales since we started with Main Street Hub. I do not have to learn Facebook and Twitter. I can work on running CorAzoN, organizing the Store, finding new products and artists, and developing the staff. These are things I am good at, while Main Street Hub handles the rest.

Susan ZdonCorazon, Minneapolis, MN

Typical Client Results

Increase in monthly Yelp Traffic

Increase in Facebook Fans

Increase in Facebook Word of Mouth

Increase in Twitter Followers

Increase in monthly Foursquare Check-ins

After 90 Days

43%

259%

353%

266%

191%

After 180 Days

61%

330%

610%

500%

244%

Here’s Proof.


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CONTACT US

Contact us for a free assessment today:Call: 888.900.0920Email: [email protected]

Partner Program:Call: 888.457.6821Email: [email protected]

Connect with us:www.mainstreethub.comwww.facebook.com/mainstreethubTwitter: @MainStreetHub

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Watch a client testimonial:


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Ebook social media_101_local

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