Social Media Engagement Leads to Results
Creating business profiles on multiple digital platforms helps keep your company abreast of an ever-changing, constantly diversifying marketplace. Platforms can gain and lose momentum as quickly as new apps are being created. It’s important to utilize the tools these platforms afford while they are trending and available.
Keywords and hashtags, for example, help your business stay involved in industry and local conversations and allow your information to be digitally archived for future searches. Participating in forums and threads introduces your business to relevant markets and can establish your brand as an authority in its field. Generating events and print marketing provides opportunities to engage with real world clientele and multiply your exposure possibilities.
Learn which platforms and tools are right for your local demographic and marketing needs (enlist a Marketing Agency for best results!) and then introduce your company on those networks.
Introduce Your Business on LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, & Social Media Platforms
Once your business is set up on the largest platforms – Google, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube – determine which of the smaller platforms are a good match for your business and your marketing demographic. A few of the more popular secondary venues are listed below:
Instagram is a network of over 400 million users. It’s a great platform to share still and short videos that highlight events and assets of your business. It feeds into the success of sharing company culture and behind-the-scenes moments in your industry, creating a more personal connection for a digitally based user. Social Media engagement on Instagram takes a different type of effort and creativity.
LinkedIn currently hosts over 450 million users. It is the go-to professional networking site for businesses. Because of its business-oriented nature, it is extremely useful for building local networks amongst companies and industry-related contacts. Having an active and engaged profile on this platform can establish a good reputation for your business amongst its peers. Building business partnerships is an effective means of creating goodwill and a sense of community, both of which resonates with potential customers. Having a solid LinkedIn profile also significantly improves the rankability of your business in search engine results.
Pinterest has over 100 million users and an exponential amount of archives. It serves as a type of product catalogue shared amongst networks of like-minded consumers. Perpetuating your goods and services on this platform will allow your business to be stored in boards and archives of keyword databases spread throughout numerous users in the community. Pinterest offers long-term exposure with high incidences of content sharing and social media engagement.
Introduce Your Business with Popular Digital Tools and Effective Print Marketing
Once you have established your social media profiles, it’s time to start interacting with your online and local markets through effective digital marketing tools and cross-media strategies.
Keywords and Hashtags:
Keywords and hashtags have a similar goal for business marketing – relating your business to terms on words of popular searches that will connect you with potential customers and interested demographics. This will greatly enhance your social media engagement. Learning the most popular terms associated with your industry is paramount in effectively utilizing these modern tools. Programs that monitor trends and professional marketing reports are the best source of insight into this constantly updating landscape.
A helpful tip in attracting your local market, however, is to use locally referenced keywords and hashtags in your content and marketing strategies. Ensure your city, neighbourhood, and specialty are all listed and hashtagged on your website and social media platforms to reach maximum SEO potential.
Blogs, Forums, and Threads:
Forging online relationships with other local businesses by sharing their content and adding to their dialogue is an effective means of having your content shared reciprocally. Advertise for each other and take a community approach to communications and you’ll be able to tap into the already established networks of your local businesses.
Join the dialogue within your community between locals, industry professionals, and businesses complimentary to your own. By engaging with like-minded individuals on blogs, guest-blogs, forums, threads, and in chats about your industry and the services you provide, you can organically introduce your business to your local community. Blogs and forums in particular are a fantastic way to display your company’s expertise and professionalism in a grounded and unobtrusive manner. It shows you are engaged with your network and willing to expand your presence through goodwill and community building.
Events:
Use your diverse set of social media and marketing platforms to invite your local community to mutually beneficial events put on or sponsored by your business. Take these opportunities to document, share, and introduce your company, your services, and your sense of community to your neighbourhood and online networks. Be present at other community members’ events and support their initiatives visibly. The public tends to see these reciprocal, community-minded efforts as a positive, stable force within their area and will often go out of their way to support your services in kind.
Print Media:
The fantastic thing about Print Media (and there are many to choose from) is that it can be incorporated into all of your storefront and online initiatives. With options for flyers, posters, banners, direct mail campaigns, merchandising, print advertisements in magazines and papers, you can reach your potential market in every corner of the local community. Simply list your social media campaign hashtags, your online profile addresses, and use keywords attributed to your online content strategies on all materials you put forward to the public. Any print marketing you present to the locals will have the added benefit of guiding them to your more complete and interactive information on the web and in your storefront.
Make a Good Impression and Be a Positive Presence in the Local Community
Much in the same way you can build your brand with uniformity and prevalence, potential customers will start to associate your business with particular keywords in your industry and hashtags associated with your brand when they continually see these elements online, in your store, in their mailbox, and posted in neighbourhood buildings. By further incorporating your community into these modern marketing tools and platforms, you will establish your business as an active and positive presence in the local area with an increase in your social media engagement.
All signs (social media, videos, pictures, keywords, hashtags, blogs, forums, threads, events, and print media) should point back to your two home bases – your business storefront and your business website. After creating complementary spaces between your online and real world addresses, you can introduce your business to the local market with pride and confidence, knowing your strategy will have a lasting and positive impact with your community and potential customer base.
CM2 Media is a marketing agency that specializes in localized marketing campaigns and social media engagement. We have the tools, knowledge, and drive to get your brand big results. Contact us for an introduction to our services and a free consultation for your business.