More and more local business people are asking us about Twitter and whether it is worth them getting involved with it from a local marketing perspective; at the same time more and more local businesses are starting to use it and getting some great exposure for their business.
My answer is generally something along the lines of, “yes it is probably worth you getting involved as a local small business owner but only if you are prepared to make some time for it in your day”.
Online networking is much the same as networking face to face in that it is about connecting and communicating with people, offering help and support as appropriate with the occasional opportunity to directly promote your business, which takes time; it just happens to be online, which still takes time although not as quite as much as you can do it from your office!.
Scott Gallagher, a fellow local internet marketing for small business advocate, talks about this in his recent blog post and I was particularly taken with these comments, “The fact is, marketing a local business on the Internet is merely the process of being where prospective customers are. You attend trade show, chamber meetings, networking events and go on sales calls. You own business cards, brochures, websites and give aways. These events and collateral are simply tools in your marketing toolbox to built, establish and nurture relationships. Over time, you earn the right to do business with these prospects you meet. The electronic world is no different. You are not using the Internet to sell your services, you use the Internet to find relationships, take them offline and earn their right to business”. You can read more over on his blog Twitter for Local Business.
So, are your potential customers online on Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn? I would guess that some of them are, obviously depending on your business and target market. On that basis maybe you should be too.
But as Scott says online marketing, and social media in particular, are just elements of your total marketing plan. And they can be great time wasters too, just like if you go to a networking event and stay an hour or two longer than you intended! Networking is about connecting and sharing but it does need to be planned if you don’t want to find that you spend all your time networking, online or offline, leaving no room for direct selling or actually providing your products and services!
If you would like some help in working out a plan on how to use Twitter, Facebook and other social media marketing tools to promote your local business, or if you have a plan already how to execute it, then add your details below to request our free report and you will be added to our mailing list to get our weekly newsletter about local online marketing.
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