Why Is Social Media Marketing So Important?

When you’re tight on budget but in dire need of new ways to reel in new customers, selecting the type of marketing strategy you want to invest in should be decided upon carefully. So were here to tell you why social media marketing is so important- and why you absolutely need to do it.

Social media marketing is one of the most flexible and cost-effective strategies that can help businesses maximize their audience reach. The increase in awareness of the power that social platforms hold in finding more audience, especially for small businesses, is shown in this report from www.themanifest.com:

• Almost all small businesses (89%) invest in marketing, which demonstrates the value of marketing efforts.
• More small businesses (35%) prefer digital marketing than traditional marketing (31%), as companies focus their efforts online.
• The top channels small businesses will increase their investment are social media (63%), website (54%), and SEO (35%).

As businesses – start-ups, small/big, associations, and corporations – seek new ways to market their products and services, digital marketing can become a real game-changer for any industry.

High ROI From Social Media Management Strategies

1. Customers are active on social media platforms

By 2021, the number of social media users worldwide is expected to reach 3.1 billion people; or probably more due to the increasing number of young audiences that are gaining access to these platforms. More than 50% of people who have a social account check social platforms every day and over a third check their accounts over five times a day.

Finding these prospects are easier when you become active on these channels as well. Don’t make the audience find you, go out there and promote your business.

2. Prospects are more responsive on social platforms.

Prospects spend a lot of time on these platforms for quick access to online connections, to keep in touch with people they know, and stay informed with global news. They come here mainly for entertainment, not to look out for marketing posts. Yet, a lot of them are always open to getting updates from their favorite brands, stores, and dealers.

And they are very responsive to the brands they follow. When consumers engage in the posts from the brands they follow, it’s because they find value in it. This gives brands a room to create varied content to post. May it be a promotional offer, an anniversary update, a new product launch, a change in management, a new branch location, or purely educational post; customer engagement can happen anytime. It’s another way to genuinely connect with your audience, instead of just bombarding them with marketing messages.

3. Brand visibility is frequent.

Posting regularly is the best way to stay active online. The more content that gets posted, the better your brand visibility becomes. Prospects may see your posts often in their feeds, and this brings about brand awareness which then leads to brand recognition. By giving them relatable and interesting content, your brand value increases. Your brand becomes more accessible to both current and new audiences.

4. Increase inbound traffic to your website.

Adding important links to your content is one of the basics of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) to help build traffic to your website. This is what makes social media marketing impressive because the opportunity to invite site visits is boundless. Aside from putting out engaging and valuable content, don’t miss the chance to get prospects to view your site.

More site visits mean a better opportunity to convert.

5. Cost effective.

In traditional media, so much time and finances are often allotted to complete a single campaign material. Some aren’t even budget-friendly.

Whereas in social media, one can spend a few hours a week and still get significant results. This is the advantage of going digital, it helps you cut marketing costs without sacrificing the outcome. Social posting doesn’t focus on posting good content alone, it’s partly having conversations with followers and the general target audience. It isn’t just the customers that are expected to engage with the brand. The brand itself can start a timely conversation with a single statement in a post.

6. Don’t miss the chance to gain customer insight.

How do you gain customer insight? Talk to them, of course. But how? By regularly interacting with existing customers and prospects. You’ll be able to take a look at what consumers care about, what attracted them to your brand, and what made them stay. By having conversations with them, you can unroot the challenges that they may have while buying your products and services or concerns they have dealt with or are currently dealing with after making a purchase. It is also a good opportunity to see your brand from the consumers’ perspective. Use what you have learned to improve your brand.

The Benefits of Social Media for Business

Use these tips to formulate a better online marketing strategy. There is always room to improve your #socialmedia efforts. And remember the best people to ask about the quality and value of your brand is the audience.

Get ready to get your hands on the latest strategies and social media guides we are offering to boost business growth!

The post Why Is Social Media Marketing So Important? appeared first on Neovora.

This post Why Is Social Media Marketing So Important? was featured on Neovora

Small Business Marketing in 2020: Stronger After The Shutdown

Watch on YouTube here: Small Business Marketing in 2020: Stronger After The Shutdown
Via http://www.neovora.com

Google My Business Optimization 2020: Show Up First on Google Maps

Google Maps is where the gold is. Google takes your Google My Business very seriously, and any local business can thrive with Google Maps. It serves as a badge for your business to be considered legit in the online community.

But a lot of what is involved in your maps ranking depends on your website strategy. It’s all cohesive to their algorithm, so don’t think you can get a top maps ranking in a competitive market with only a verified listing.

Equip yourself with the right marketing strategy that will help you maximize the impact of good Google photos and informative videos that influences the audience to engage in your posts, and eventually, in your brand.

There are tips and tricks to outlining a good post, a post that is fully optimized and has a better chance of ranking in Google search. Check out this video for all the details!

Eager to know how to get your business to show up first on Google Maps?

You can read more about Google on this blog post:
https://www.neovora.com/optimize-business-listing-google/

The post Google My Business Optimization 2020: Show Up First on Google Maps appeared first on Neovora.

This post Google My Business Optimization 2020: Show Up First on Google Maps was featured on Neovora

How Small Business Should Use Facebook for Marketing

As competition gets tougher, how small businesses should use Facebook for marketing demands further discussion.

Facebook still holds the top spot for social media platforms widely used by adults. A huge number of its users are using it daily which continuously opens limitless opportunities for brands and businesses to increase online visibility when and while executing strategies on Facebook marketing for local business.

Getting started with your marketing plans is often the toughest challenge, but we are here to share seven steps that will help kick start your digital marketing.

Find out how to make an easy and strategic start to get the most out of this impactful social media platform.

Clever FB Marketing Tips for Small Business

When used correctly, Facebook can be both an offensive and defensive tool in online marketing. You have to have the right set of tools and resources for your page to achieve growth and for your business to flourish.

1. Set Business Goals for Facebook

Out of the many marketing strategies available and known to man, setting the right goals for your business is always the first step.

In a survey of local business owners, SproutSocial found that:

• • 34% wanted to increase brand awareness
  • 21% wanted to increase community engagement
  • 11% wanted to increase sales and lead generation

2. Proactively Engage with Your Audience

What makes social media work? Start with the basics – social media is a place for conversation and engagement for people anywhere in the world. As a brand, be an instigator of discussions and conversations, become a community for your audience. Give them a place to interact and engage with their fellow audience and with your brand. Facebook is a great place for business-related chats or interesting general information about your industry with your customers or with a new audience.

3. Create an Elevator Pitch

Marketing can be done anywhere, anytime, and all the time. Therefore, be prepared and have a compelling elevator pitch ready.

Once there is engagement with your target audience, you have a little over a minute to make a sale. With so much competition around you, you’ll have a little over a minute to make them want your product or service. A good elevator pitch will become an offensive tool to push your marketing strategies. The ROI is potentially big when you successfully create business opportunities in these short but crucial minutes.

4. Leverage Your Community

No need to go too far when it comes to your marketing efforts. Target local markets. Check what is going on in your community. Pay attention to events that can attract locals. Organize a charity walk or a 5k fun run, sponsor a local school’s basketball team, or hand-out personalized bookmarks and donate them in public libraries. Do a little research about your prospects, what interests them, how they spend their free time, and what activities they normally will enjoy.

5. Collaborate with Other Business

How does collaborating with other local businesses sound? The marketing idea here is to put together a group of non-competitive local businesses in your area to help each other by cross-promoting each other’s business. You can go with an old school promotion like giving coupons or fliers. Or maybe cross-linking of website links, tie-up bundle promotion of a service or product, or sharing of social media posts. By collaborating with other locals, you are helping local businesses grow with you and at the same time reaching out to new customer base and new audience groups.

6. Networking

Networking works. What’s the best way to grow your business other than going out to meet new people, create new connections and make engagements, and extend your circle of friends and acquaintances? The hard part of networking is it requires time and total commitment. It won’t give you instantaneous results, you’ll have to continuously build your network of people and turn them into business assets.

7. Make Some Noise

Have you heard of Help a Reporter Out? If you haven’t yet then visit the site and subscribe to it. You can respond to reporters’ inquiries when they look for new story ideas and resources. With luck and perseverance, you’ll find small media firms that offer a good number of opportunities or major media outlets that can open wider doors for your business. By having access to these media outlets, you may never have to hire professionals to market for you.

8. Ask for Referrals

A lot of people are willing to provide a referral to a business, especially when they are satisfied with your service or product. But only a few of them will proactively do a referral for a business on their own. Referrals are another way to reach out to new customers so if you aren’t using this strategy to gain more customers, then you might be missing out on a lot out of a simple but effective marketing strategy.

9. Always Build Relationships

Starting from scratch always requires more time and effort. The same goes for keeping existing customers. Investing in acquiring new customers is more costly than keeping loyal customers. Therefore, strengthen your relationship with existing customers, keep them loyal to your brand. You can do this by staying in touch with them through email marketing. Ask for your customers’ email address when they visit your store or website. Make sure that your email communications remain informative, helpful, interesting, and professional. Give them something to look forward to.

10. Give Freebies

If a person is satisfied with his purchase, he’ll definitely want to buy again from the same store or brand. This gives brands a better opportunity to retain customers. And make sure that customers remain happy, don’t be afraid to give away freebies or free samples. People are more likely to trust a brand when their first experience exceeds expectations.

What Happens When You Correctly Use Facebook Marketing for Your Local Business?

The ultimate goal is to reach more people, increase audience reach and following, and eventually growth in sales. But by correctly using Facebook marketing for your local business, you’ll be able to:

Increase the quality of sales. Improved sales quality often starts with better targeting plans. A well-planned Facebook marketing effort will give you a better chance of reaching your target audience. Don’t stray from what you know. Focus on your resources and practices that have worked before and use the Facebook platform to maximize your reach.

Add more value to your brand. Treat Facebook as your go-to source of information so it’s easier for your audience to stay informed about your brand and your industry in general and easily access the information they may need at any day.

Know the mechanics of your industry. Ever wonder why your competitors are always one step ahead? That’s probably because they are maximizing the resources provided by social media monitoring tools. With these tools, you can track, monitor, listen, understand, and even report social conversations happening around you and your business, your competitors, or the industry as a whole. Always listen to what is happening around you before speaking up as a brand.

Shoot for smarter growth. Put a limit to your expenditures and take every opportunity to increase acquisitions – a formula that works for every successful business. Social media platforms, especially Facebook, can help you in each of these areas. Your ad spending, social media selling, audience reach, or improving targeting, the right Facebook marketing strategy will lead you to your business goals.

This post on how to use Facebook business page offers fantastic tips. Check it out!

Learn more about the importance of social media on your business with this checklist. Or if you want more traffic from social media and Google, look into our Social Media course.

The post How Small Business Should Use Facebook for Marketing appeared first on Neovora.

This post How Small Business Should Use Facebook for Marketing was featured on Neovora

Google My Business Optimization 2020: Show Up First on Google Maps

Watch on YouTube here: Google My Business Optimization 2020: Show Up First on Google Maps
Via http://www.neovora.com

How Do I Optimize My Google My Business Listing For COVID-19?

We at Neovora understand the difficulty facing every small business in America. COVID-19 (coronavirus) is the biggest shock to our livelihood and health in most of our lives so far.

This blog seeks to arm you with simple steps you can take right today to communicate with your customers, acquire new ones, and come back to normalcy stronger than your competitors. We’ll show how you can optimize your GMB listing to capitalize on this disaster.

1. Where we are now

2. What to do to retain clients while you are closed

3. How to reopen stronger than ever

Where We Stand Currently

Take a look at this timeline. As of this writing, we are past the demand crash, and are in the midst of hibernation. Unsure of when the hibernation (shutdown ends), we are eagerly waiting for the quarantine to be lifted.

Once the hibernation period ends, next comes client rush and then a surge of demand, and eventually normalcy. BUT not all medical professionals, local businesses, or other organizations will weather the hibernation.

So this guide is here to help you strategically maneuver through these difficult and unknown waters and make it through to some form of normalcy in the future.

How To Retain Your Existing Client-base in Uncertain Times

Your Website

Your website is still the first place that existing clients and prospects will visit to see your current operating status.

Ensure you have a clear message on your website homepage, that includes:

• Your opening hours. If you are closed, include a statement saying so.
• Provide contact information for emergencies.
• Display a process to show you are aware of the COVID-19 hygiene recommendations and how you are addressing them.

A nice way to make sure that everyone sees your message is to add a popup such as the example below:

Update and Optimize Your Google My Business Listing

Prospects searching for you or your market products are likely to come across your Google My Business Listing, like the example here:

Make sure that yours is up to date. These listings are crucial on mobile devices and most will use this information instead of visiting your site..

Also, you can add longer messages or descriptions that show below the reviews section. Make sure that you update this with the same information as your website:

• Your opening hours. If you are closed, include a statement saying so.
• Provide contact information for emergencies.
• Display a process to show you are aware of the Covid-19 hygiene recommendations and how you are addressing them.

IMPORTANT: If you haven’t claimed your google maps business listing – then you absolutely need to set up your google business page! Check this blog post on how to claim and optimize your listing.

Facebook Notices

All the same points for GMB apply to your Facebook page. Communicate with clients in the same way. Update your status.

Email Newsletter

Don’t forget you can email your clients if you have their emails. Send out the same notifications, updates, and policies you have on your website and Facebook page during the shutdown to inform those who have purchased with you or were once interested that you are still here for them and have their best interests at heart.

A simple image with some dialogue can go a long way:

Google Ads – Increase Your Reach

If you are open during the pandemic, you should be running Google Ads to increase your presence. This is especially true if you are performing  any emergency services: dental, HVAC, etc.

To reach these clients, implement a small Google Ads campaign. The key to making sure the campaign is inexpensive is to only show ads for those emergency or urgent terms that generate immediate inquiries.

When It’s Time To Reopen

Sometime here in the future, the economy will reopen, so before that time comes, have a plan.

1. Contact your clients who were in the middle of buying.

Contact all stalled business, those who had cancelled appointments, those who had to hold. Use their direct contact or any available channels. Cell, email, SMS, anything. Get them back into your door, explain your hygiene understanding for safety.

2. Contact all your prospects and existing clients.

There will most likely be higher than usual demand for your market and products, as things have been stalled. Contact them directly on phone, email and SMS to let them know you are open and operating for them.

3. Tell your audience and community members.

• • Update your website and all messaging
  • Add a “We’re opening back up!” message before you open.
  • Include messaging on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, in addition to your most important asset, your Google My Business listing.

Finally – How To Get Back on Track

• Update your website with your current status (hours, status, policy).
• Ensure your Google Business Listing is 100% current and up to date.
• Use email and social posts to communicate to patients and prospects.  Let them know you are around, when you’ll open, how you are handling the situation.
• Prepare your re-opening statements onto all media channels.

Learn more about the critical role Google My Business plays in your foundational marketing structure with our FREE actionable checklist. This checklist walks you though all the important elements you must have in place to reach the maximum number of new prospects and keep your sales pipeline full. It’s a 10-minute read, and walks you step by step on how you can leverage your GMB listing to increase your bottom line. Get INSTANT access by simply entering in your name and email in the form below.  Learn this information before your competitors do!

The post How Do I Optimize My ‘Google My Business’ Listing For COVID-19? appeared first on Neovora.

This post How Do I Optimize My ‘Google My Business’ Listing For COVID-19? was featured on Neovora

Here’s How To Get Your Business To Show Up First on Google Maps

Google Maps is where the gold is. You want leads to come from the internet? Impossible without Google My Business. How to get your business to show up on Google first can be a confusing thing for businesses, but once you know how, it’s smooth sailing.

What To Do After You List Your Business on Google Maps?

Read our how to optimize your GMB profile post to see if you’ve completed the essentials. Only then can you move onto more complex strategies regarding on-page optimization of your website.

A lot of what is involved in your maps ranking depends on your website strategy. It’s all cohesive to their algorithm, so don’t think you can get a top maps ranking in a competitive market with only a verified listing.

More Tips To Get Listed On Google Maps

Post Frequently Using Google Posts

After you’ve made your GMB Listing, you want to post to your profile often. Use Google Posts to post specials, updates, tips, information, and images. These get engagement, and are overall a new strategy, but Google will be rewarding those who use the feature in an effort to increase use and eventually engagement.

See our full course on GMB optimization for a better understanding of the GMB Listing.

Keep your listing updated with new and improved images. Photos help prospects learn more about you, and Google monitors image views. They are rewarding businesses that keep their profiles active with media, which users are engaging with.

Add New Videos Frequently

Keep your listing updated with videos. Sales videos, informational, anything you have will help prospects learn about you. It’s recommended that you have high-quality professional videos, a brief introduction or summary into your business is a great idea.

How to Get more Photos and Media Content?

Post your own resources.

It’s logical to post your photos and videos. But the original GMB Insights Study shows that a small percentage of businesses don’t have a lot of photos in their GMB profile. Some 6% of businesses just have one photo while a shocking 24% only have 2 to 5 photos posted in the profiles!

Posting more of your own seems to be a logical action but do remember that the photos need to reflect the customer experience for it to qualify as a legitimate GMB business photo. So the photos cannot be just about your staff in the store front.

To remedy this, think of events that will attract more customers to visit your store. This is the best opportunity to take legitimate business photos, but of course have your customers’ consent first. Another workaround is to take a few shots of the shop interior or your office so you’ll have a good amount of variation.

Encourage customers to post them.

There is a great chance that any Google-using customer will receive a review request from Google after leaving your business. Or as part of your existing marketing effort, you have probably asked a few customers to leave a review.

Another way of taking advantage of the opportunity is to try to encourage your customers to take real-time photos of their experience like a selfie or a groufie or at anywhere within your store.

Car dealers are exceptionally doing well in GMB. Go check out what photo-generation strategies are working for them. For example, if a customer buys a priced item, have your sales person ask the customer if they want a photo of them taken with it. You’re doing the customer a favor by going the extra mile while you’re putting a “brand-building bullet in the chamber of their smartphone”.

If your business is focused on providing service but without a physical location like plumbing, building contractor, or interior design, ask the customer to take photos of the completed work with them in it!

Or consider a selfie wall if you want to level up your game.

After You Optimize a Google Business Page, Work on Your Website Next

Website optimization and SEO strategies primarily were for targeting organic search results… but not anymore. They are now tied to Google Maps strategy. How to make your business show up on Google search is the same as showing up in Maps listings. Read more on website optimization.

Do everything you can to fully optimize your website and make it Google-friendly. Here’s how to optimize your site.

1. Title Tags

Are Title Tags important? Yes, they are! Title tags provide users what information to expect when they click on the page. They are also valuable for the search engines for the very same reason and they help determine the relevancy of a page in SERPs when a search is made.

2. Meta Descriptions

The meta description is a snippet of a maximum of 155 characters which provides a summary of the page content to the users. In simpler terms, it’s a tag in HTML. Optimizing the meta description is a crucial on-page SEO strategy. This short description is shown in the search results when the searched-for term or phrase is within the description.

3. URLs

Although URLs aren’t as important as they used to be, consider adding the target keywords for a new post or page whenever possible. Keep them neat, descriptive of the content topic, and keyword-focused, just like this post’s URL.

4. H1 Tags

Pay extra attention to the H1 tag. It’s the most important tag in any page or post. Make it the first heating tag and be sure to add the target keyword with a modifier wherever appropriate.

5. Optimize Photos

There are a few things to consider when it comes to adding images in your posts and pages. Use target and focus keywords when naming the images, as well as the title within the post, and the Alt-Tags.

6. At the Beginning of the Post

Don’t forget to use the target keyword in the first paragraph of every post. Google and other search engines look at this as a ranking factor for any page.

Tip: For WordPress users, install WordPress SEO by Yoast. This application provides clear instruction on page optimization in a very easy to follow steps.

7. H2 and H3 Tags

H2 and H3 headings give your content structure. They help readers find a pattern in your content that is easy to read and understand and follow. They also help search engines determine which headings should have more weight by providing a structured hierarchy. Don’t forget to use variations of the focus keywords in the headings to boost your on-page SEO.

8. Keyword Variations

Keywords must be found throughout the post or page. They further support the relevance of your target keyword. Add the target keyword and its variations in the content body, headings, and images. Any similar word or alternative phrases to the target keywords are also important additions to the content.

Boost On-Page SEO for Better Ranking

Google seriously views your GMB listing. It serves as a badge for your business to be considered legit in the online community. In the same manner, pamper your website with the best On-Page SEO strategies and practices. You can never go wrong with a mindful and carefully outlined post!

The post Here’s How To Get Your Business To Show Up First on Google Maps appeared first on Neovora.

This post Here’s How To Get Your Business To Show Up First on Google Maps was featured on Neovora