(Or, Why online marketing shouldn't be a closed book for small businesses.)
This is a reflective post, of thoughts we felt it important to share.
At our 10th birthday event recently, GWS was able to spend time with many friends and business leaders in Bristol, and we heard the following three things repeated more often than anything else:
1. ‘I started a Facebook / Twitter account for the business, but it doesn’t seem to be doing much’.
2. ‘How can I tell if my pay-per-click campaign is working? / My PPC campaign is so confusing.’
3. ‘I’m paying someone for search engine promotion, but I don’t really know if it’s having any effect.’
It has become clear to us at GWS that people can often start to feel somewhat adrift in the sea of internet marketing after the initial excitement of setting up a promotion campaign has faded.
Small businesses who want to interact with their own clients can feel bamboozled by the 'effort' involved; we’ve heard it said by some professionals that the extra time commitments and (what they imagine) is hours of self-training make online engagement not only a closed book - but one that is far too much trouble to open.
Searching the internet for assistance doesn’t always help; with reams of articles about applications you never knew existed, and a bewildering array of jargon and acronyms, it can be easy to conclude that online marketing is not worth your time.
So this week, we’ve produced a mini-series outlining four basic ideas to help small businesses take control of their social media or online marketing strategy.
This should help you get the most value out of your marketing investments, whether your SEP campaign is ongoing, or if you are just at the ideas stage.
This series will be in four short parts, and we present the first point without further ado:
1. Maximise your efforts
Make your current PR and advertising do double work for you.
If you have leaflets printed to hand out at events, put them on your website, or use the print copy to write a Facebook note.
If you attend weekly networking events, add the people you meet on Twitter / LinkedIn.
Take the time once a month to review your connections and make contact with three people who are your priorities - whether clients or potential sources of business.
If you have staff responsible for online marketing, have regular meetings with them to make sure you get the most value from any traditional marketing you do - most of it can cross over and be publicised online, which creates good value links (press releases published in online newspapers is a good example).
If you are constrained by time, pick just one social media platform and stick to it. (We’ve written introductory guides to the major social media sites you'll hear mentioned - click here).
Part 2 is coming very soon - in the meantime, please connect with us on Twitter, Facebook or right here on the blog.
If you run a small business, let us know if we have touched a chord with you!
Continue to Part Two: Understand Your Own SEO Campaign by Being Pro-Active
