The Internet provides powerful tools that local businesses can utilize to market their brand or promote special offerings. Search-engine rankings play a significant role in local business success as most people today use an online search over reaching for the local phone book. In addition to traditional forms of online advertising, social media provides an excellent way to reach out to current customers and encourage them to return.
Search-Engine Marketing
When people look for local businesses to shop or dine with, they turn to their favorite search engine. Google Places, Bing Local Listings and Yahoo! Local provide a way to position your business above the general search results. Pay-per-click (PPC) advertisements appear above local listings and may be a worthwhile investment if your business has a lot of local competition.
Twitter provides a way to reach out to your current customers with little effort. When you encourage your customers to follow your Tweets, you have the ability to send out messages of 140 characters or less to your followers. Because most people's Twitter feeds move very fast, it's important to time your Tweets properly. For example, sending a Tweet about a lunch special just before lunchtime will give a restaurant the best chance of attracting business.
Facebook Pages allow you to connect with your current customers and reach out to potential customers by creating a Facebook Page for your business. As your current customers "like" your Facebook Page, it will appear on their wall for friends and family to see. When you update your status, it appears on your fans' news feed, allowing you to send out messages about discounts and promotions. Facebook also offers targeted advertising. While similar to the search engine PPC advertising in cost, you can target a specific demographic or choose for only people in your local area to see your ads.
Location-Based Social Marketing
Smart phone apps such as Gowalla, Yelp, Foursquare and Facebook Check-ins offer a unique approach to local advertising that uses GPS. Players connect with their friends and compete for points by checking in when they visit places. Listing your business as a geo-target allows the opportunity to promote special deals to those physically near your business location as a way to entice them to visit while they are in the area.
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