Becoming the busiest HVAC contractor or mechanic in town is every local business owner’s goal. But without marketing skills, this feat is not that easy to achieve.
Add to that is the changing consumer expectation and behavior. Nowadays, consumers check reviews and ask questions online before purchasing. Thus, before you can be the best HVAC contractor in town, you also need to conquer the competition in the online world of marketing.
Thus, local business marketers must not ignore the power of online marketing. For many businesses, it is the only way to:
- Make a positive impression on their customers.
- Beat their competition.
- Become an authority in their niche.
- Have an impeccable online presence.
For these marketing goals, marketers use the internet in general and social media specifically. Here, we explain how you can use social media to target, reach out, and communicate with your audience for your local business.
What Is Local Business Social Media Marketing?
Local social media marketing (local SMM) is the same as general social media marketing, but the focus is more on a local area or audience. Social media platforms support such a focus on marketing.
Most social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest, have been changing their advertising services to the point that organically attracting an audience via these platforms is now less effective than before.
That’s where local social media marketing comes into play. With social media marketing to promote your local business, you will have new platforms and strategies to target a local audience.
Two leading social platforms for any business to use are Facebook and Instagram. Facebook is the most commonly used Social Media Marketing (SMM) platform. According to a global survey from Statista published in January 2021, 93% of marketers use Facebook to promote their business. Instagram places second with a score of 78%.
That is how important social media marketing is for businesses, in general. Your question might be: How will my business benefit from local social media marketing?
There are many reasons why. First, compelling Facebook stats. In the US, around seven out of ten adults say they use Facebook, a share that has not significantly changed since 2016, and around 50% among those who say they use Facebook say they use the social media platform several times a day.
Thus, you know the best place to be to capture your target audience’s attention. One is Facebook. The others are the other social media platforms.
But many experts say local marketers need not necessarily use the BIG platforms. The idea is to meet your audience where they are, so it can be a smaller niche platform built for a smaller community.
Nonetheless, any social platform is a great place to build brand awareness and ultimately make sales.
The remaining question here is how you can use Facebook and other social networks to actually identify and engage with the right people to target in your local area.
Cube Creative Design can help you with these steps. But first, a quick discussion on the benefits.
How Does Social Media Help Small Businesses?
Social media offers marketers options to power up their marketing and achieve the desired results. There are many effective options through social media marketing for local businesses. These include:
Consumer intelligence
Using the feature consumer intelligence allows you to decipher and forecast customer behavior. It includes gathering and interpreting information about target markets and customers.
With this marketing tool, you can analyze data from different channels to evaluate the success of your marketing initiatives and their resonance with your target consumers.
HubSpot has a great post about consumer intelligence and how it can improve your marketing. LinkedIn and Facebook have consumer intelligence options.
Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups is one way of creating a direct line to your customers. If you are familiar with this option, you might already know that many consumers join private communities to directly engage with brands.
With this option, you can do the following:
- Utilize CTAs in the Announcement section (aka Pinned Post)
- Create polls and take feedback immediately
- Build credibility and authority within your target consumer groups
When doing this option, avoid having the direct marketing or conversion mindset. Instead, when doing Facebook Groups, or any other group-targeting options on social platforms, the best approach is to see them as a branding tool.
Third-party content
Social platforms are very helpful to marketers joining them, even to the point of helping users find third-party content. The very best third-party content that you can find can be your strongest weapon for building credibility and authority in the groups you have created or joined.
Third-party content, also called curated content, is content not from your own website or blog. Somebody else owns it but allows others to use it on their social accounts.
So, what we are talking about here is content that already exists. The difficult part here involves strategic choosing and curating the best blogs and articles to support your message and brand.
Facebook and other social platforms support their users on this particular point.
Benefits of Social Media for Small Businesses
Whatever activities you do for marketing your local business, including social media marketing, these are the benefits you want to target:
- Increased brand awareness
- Improved search engine rankings
- Increased inbound traffic
- Enhanced customer satisfaction
- Improved brand loyalty and authority
- Low marketing costs
- Gain marketplace insights
Perhaps, the best advantages of SMM for any business promoting their products on these platforms are its being:
- Cost-effective
- Easy to use
- Accessible anywhere
Social media campaigns are much cheaper than traditional marketing campaigns. With social media targeting, you can expose your brand to a thousand people for less than $3.
In addition, social media campaigns are cheaper because they do not need expensive equipment to build customer engagement and lead customers to the sales funnel. Furthermore, you do not need additional staff to run your campaigns.
Another reason you should try social media is that social media does not require a lot of your time to generate significant results. According to HubSpot, 43% of marketers reported they generate traffic with as little as six to ten hours spent on social media per week.
Social media helps increase brand awareness.
Increasing brand awareness is critical, and social media can help you with this aspect of your business. It is possible with social media because this platform comes with a ton of people gathered in one place at the same time.
Use social media not only as a place to build brand awareness but also to maintain customer relationships. While you do that, social media engagement allows you to be found by new leads.
A lot of people hear about new brands for the first time because of a friend who mentioned them on social media.
Social media helps enhance customer satisfaction.
There are many ways to enhance customer satisfaction via social media. The trick is to optimally use the platform to:
- Share valuable content
- Boost customer engagement
- Respond quickly to queries – Your potential customers on social media have questions to ask about you and your business. Be quick to respond to them.
Social media engagement is also a way for you to exceed expectations and shine brighter than your competitors among the audience that they are also targeting.
At Cube Creative, when we teach our clients about social media marketing for small business, we always remind them that there is competition out there, and the best weapon to use is “enhancing customer satisfaction.”
For this, we advise them to spend more time in their shops and figure out with their staff what is in the customer’s mind when they shop. They should increase engagement rather than focus on selling and selling to customers.
The worst thing is customers come complaining, but no one is there to listen.
Effective Local Advertising Ads on Social Media
Here is a bit about the different types of advertising ads you can use on social media.
Video ads
Instagram and Facebook allow users to create short and looping video ads. Use this option to catch users while they scroll through their feed.
Photo ads
Photo ads are excellent tools for building brand awareness because they place products right in front of the target customers. Use high-quality photos that speak clearly about your brand.
Stories ads
Stories ads are a way to show your products in full-screen format. They give your customers a better view and understanding of your products and their benefits. Check out how it works with Instagram Stories or Facebook Stories.
Conclusion
Social media is not just for the big boys. Social media marketing benefits small and local businesses, as well. With social media to promote your business, you can start actual conversations and create a community of loyal followers.
The trick is to show your audience that you are not only a business entity but a person they can trust. People buy only from businesses they trust.
Social media will stay for the foreseeable future. So, arm your business with the great rewards it offers.
Do you want to know the best social media strategy for your local business but are still figuring out how to start? Cube Creative Design is here to help. Click here to start.
