As a growing business, it's more important than ever to have a social media presence. Whether your business is new to the social media scene or whether you gave it a try and got overwhelmed, there is a valid place for social media in your online marketing plan.
Written By: Hannah Kilpatrick | May 21, 2021
Hannah Kilpatrick Cube Creative DesignHannah Kilpatrick graduated from Western Carolina University in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Communication with a Minor in Marketing and a Concentration in Public Relations. She has been around social media since its creation. (Meaning, she was in the first grade when Facebook became available to the general public.) As our very own professional Gen-Z, Hannah is a whiz when it comes to social media creation and paid advertising.
As a small business owner venturing into search engine optimization (SEO) can be an intimidating endeavor. While it seems like every competitor from the 800lb gorillas to “Chuck with a truck” has an online presence. The question becomes, how do you compete online? The answer is simple. You use digital marketing or, more specifically, SEO and the content marketing pieces to better compete.
SEO and content marketing go hand in hand, like peanut butter and jelly. While SEO tactics were a thing by themselves several years ago, you can't talk about one without the other.
Here are the top ten reasons why SEO and content marketing is so critical for small businesses:
Written By: Chad J. Treadway | May 17, 2021
Chad is a Partner and our Chief Smarketing Officer. He will help you survey your small business needs, educating you on your options before suggesting any solution. Chad is passionate about rural marketing in the United States and North Carolina. He also has several certifications through HubSpot to better assist you with your internet and inbound marketing.
Local search engine optimization, or local SEO, is the act of optimizing a website for local search using specific terms and key phrases targeting searchers that your business caters to in your specific geographical location. Local SEO is very similar to traditional SEO in that it also is a process involving the placement of your site or a page in the search engine results pages (SERPs) of these search engines, often called "natural" or "organic" results. Ultimately what you are looking for are those searchers looking for something near them or in your area, in other words, "near me" type results.
Written By: Chad J. Treadway | May 11, 2021
Chad is a Partner and our Chief Smarketing Officer. He will help you survey your small business needs, educating you on your options before suggesting any solution. Chad is passionate about rural marketing in the United States and North Carolina. He also has several certifications through HubSpot to better assist you with your internet and inbound marketing.
Let’s face it, we live in a world where the internet isn’t a luxury anymore but, dare I say, a necessity (ask my son, and he will tell you it is a necessity) in the same sense that electricity is. We, as internet users, will consume on average 6 hours and 30 minutes each day (Bond Cap, 2019).
No one would think that a business owner would put having a website or at least “creating a website” at the top of their to-do list. Depending on the study and survey, on average less than 50% of small businesses actually have one (CNBC 2017). Many small business owners try to use substitutes for a website, such as the Yellow Pages online, a Facebook page, or some other form of “free” social media.
Looking at the same CNBC/SurveyMonkey, they found that:
- 55 percent of small-business owners say they have a business website
- 50 percent say they have a business Facebook page
- 21 percent say they have a business Twitter account
While these statistics might be shocking to some, we see them every day. A website will give your small business more visibility and credibility it needs to thrive.
Before I move on and address the five reasons you need an online presence, let me address those business owners who only have a social media page as “their website.” Your social media page isn’t your website, not even close! While it is a common misconception, you must think about it like this. Social media platforms are simply rented spaces.
Written By: Chad J. Treadway | May 07, 2021
Chad is a Partner and our Chief Smarketing Officer. He will help you survey your small business needs, educating you on your options before suggesting any solution. Chad is passionate about rural marketing in the United States and North Carolina. He also has several certifications through HubSpot to better assist you with your internet and inbound marketing.
