Using Twitter for local marketing

Local businesses need to use every tool available to them to effectively target their local market. If you’re a local business owner, you might be surprised to discover that the massively popular microblogging site Twitter can be used for local marketing even though it attracts a global audience.

I was recently interviewed by Aaron Hoos, a business writer and strategist who also runs a regular Twitter-based networking group called BusinessLunchClub. We spoke about Twitter as a useful tool for local business marketing.

Here is a copy of the transcript of the Twitter-based interview. The tweets are color coded for your convenience.

@AaronHoos: It’s social media week at #BusinessLunchClub. Each day this week, we’ll talk about a social media and your business.

@AaronHoos: We have Jonathan Harr talking to us about using social media to market local business. #blc

@AaronHoos: Jonathan is the founder of http://localsemexperts.com, a company that helps businesses with local internet marketing. #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Hello there, good to be here #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr Why should businesses use social marketing to reach a local audience? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos This so called web 2.0 wave provides so many vehicles to make your local presence stand out from the crowd.#blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr How does LOCAL social marketing/networking differ from more conventional social marketing we’re familiar with? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos With social networking you could be all over the world not really benefiting you locally so you really want to…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos start targeting locally with your social networking time if you have a local small business. #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr Which social networks do you recommend businesses use for local SEM marketing (and why)? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Facebook is a huge player to build out a fan page all about your business and link it with your…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos We all know YouTube. YouTube has a huge growing audience of 80M+ monthly people…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Get your video channel out in front of them… #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Use blogspot.com and wordpress.com to build out business blogs by posting relevant content linking…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Twitter of course to build out your local audience and get locals to RT your business affairs and recommendations… #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …another social media network coming into play really big is Google Wave. Use It. #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr Great! YouTube is on my “must do” list for 2010. And I’m looking forward to using GoogleWave, too. #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr Can you talk about how to make specific sites effective locally? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Yes, I can talk about them…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Twitter: Establish local followers, practice reciprocity, in return establish local network of tweeters in city…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …use wefollow.com,chirpcity.com to find locals …#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Facebook: Establish facebook business fan page for product or services, make local friends and invite to fan page…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …promote fan page thru bookmarking…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …Linked In: Establish profile at linkedin.com and invite your friends, clients, etc… to help build your…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …with social proof – testimonial, reviews, feedback, your experience, etc…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …YouTube: Setup your business channel with videos of product/service demonstrations…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …connect videos to facebook fanpage, and your websites as well as web 2.0 properties. #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr That was a great list. Very practical… and all within 140 characters. Nice! #blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr How do you build an audience of LOCAL followers/friends/etc.? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Just like in real life you want to get to know your followers by simple conversation and providing news,…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos info, and fun entertaining chat without a sales pitch all the time, mix it up. They will like you for this.#blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr How do you increase foot traffic to your business with local social marketing/networking? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos You want to promote your business thru content, audio, and video targeted locally…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …using the different web 2.0 properties you see all over the place online.#blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr When you coach people on local social media, what questions do you answer/challenges do you encounter? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos I always a get the question “how do you do that?” It’s a lot of work especially maintaining it, and you have to…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …do it right otherwise it could backfire. You don’t want to be or look spammy with…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …these sites or Google will knock you down for it. I find a lot of business…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos …owners don’t have a grasp on marketing and its just too overwhelming to maintain.#blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr What best practices do you recommend business owners apply to local social marketing/networking? #blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Learn it and take it one step at a time. Don’t rush into it. Just apply and do it and don’t spam!…#blc

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Be genuine, true, and transparent with your followers. If you will reciprocate they will too.#blc

@AaronHoos: @jonathanharr Thank you for spending time with us today. Your local social marketing insights were extremely valuable. #blc

@AaronHoos: Thanks to those who tuned in for today’s #BusinessLunchClub interview. Be sure to visit @jonathanharr at http://localsemexperts.com

@jonathanharr: @AaronHoos Thank you Aaron, Glad to help out. #blc

Why Internet Marketing is Right for Local Offline Businesses — Part 2 of 4

This is part 2 of a series. To read the first article, click here.

Recently, my wife and I made plans to go to dinner with friends. We had eaten at all of the “regular” places and were feeling adventurous so we decided to try something new. We went online, typed in our city, the kind of food we want to eat, and the word “restaurant”. “Boston Chinese restaurant” or “Boston Italian restaurant” or something like that.

Very convenient! Google is “feeding” the local search frenzy by providing services like adding your place of business to a map that appears at the top of local searches.

Alllll the way back in 2005, The Kelsey Group (an advisory service specializing in internet marketing and other marketing channels) found that 70% of internet searches use the web to find local businesses. (Read their findings here).

That was 4 years ago and that number had increased by 16% between October 2003 and March 2005 (an increase of basically 1% per month).

I believe that this number is going to be much higher now for the following reasons:

1. There has been a growing emphasis on local search since then
2. Wifi has become more ubiquitous, allowing for search-on-the-go
3. Social networking sites have seen growth in the local side of networking (an example being Twitter, which is used to connected globally but also locally through hashtags like #nyc or #la or #miami or #boston, etc.)
4. Smartphones (especially the the iPhone) offers numerous apps geared to local businesses.

Twitter… In Plain English

Local businesses learning to create a web presence and market themselves effectively online wonder at the value of Twitter. Will their followers really care to read “I’m eating a ham sandwich” or “I’m drinking coffee”?

Twitter is so much more than that. I love what the folks at CommonCraft have done to explain how Twitter works:

Twitter does give local businesses an online presence and adds search engine marketing and search engine optimization benefits through backlinks and to help increase web traffic.

See us for starting your Maryland Social Media, Maryland Search Engine Marketing, and Maryland Search Engine Optimization Services today.

3 Ways that Local Businesses can Use Social Media

Small businesses are eager to get on board with the social networking phenomenon. And it’s no wonder, either: social networking is a massive trend with profound social implications.

People spend a lot of time in social media for work and leisure. And smart businesses are meeting them there. Here are 3 ways that your local business can use social media to improve your online marketing:

1. Create a fan page on Facebook. Think of it like a Facebook page for a business. Your customers become fans and you can interact with them through Facebook in a similar way that you might interact with family and friends. Host discussions, hold contests, share photos, poll your audience, and more. Engage them!
2. Create a Twitter hashtag for your business (for example, if you own Maryland Eatery, your hashtags might be #marylandeatery or #mdeatery. Run a program like Tweetdeck to keep an eye on what people are saying about you and tweet frequently with that hashtag. (Hashtags can be registered at wthashtag.com.
3. Start a blog. Yes, a blog is social media! You can create one on Blogger or through Wordpress. Post regular content and, most importantly, engage your audience in a conversation!

Local businesses might shy away from web marketing and social media because it seems like an “international” marketing medium. But there are exciting local internet marketing opportunities.