Getting started using a social media site like Twitter to market your local business online can be somewhat overwhelming. It’s a lot to manage – writing tweets, sharing links, finding and following local users, growing your own follower base – the list goes on and on. So, how can you know what tips work well best for local businesses on Twitter? To provide some ideas, we sat down with people who use Twitter every day to market to local consumers and asked them to share a few of their top Twitter tips. Check out what our ReachCast Web Presence Professionals have to say about using Twitter for your local business.
1. Follow Local Twitter Users to Build Local Reach – “If you’re having trouble finding ‘real’ local people to follow and are only following other businesses, find the Twitter account of a local celebrity, public figure, or person of interest. See who’s following them and you’ll likely find those ‘real’ local people to follow!” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Jen Holub
2. Get the Most Out of Your 140 Characters – “Get creative with wording to maximize your character count, but don’t let spelling and grammar go out the window! Don’t lose your professionalism just because social media can be an informal platform. The best tweets can be read in a matter of seconds without confusing code or abbreviations. If you have a lot to say, link to a blog post or video – a great way to get the reader looking for more.” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Vanessa Mosharaf
3. Rock the Retweet – “Don’t be afraid to retweet! Many business owners are hesitant to use Twitter’s retweet feature, but it can be very helpful to your efforts. People love to be retweeted, so make a special effort to retweet customers, especially when they mention or check in at your business in a tweet. You should also follow other local businesses and retweet them when they talk about the community or other relevant topics. And if you give, you shall receive! Those who retweet are more likely to be retweeted, meaning more exposure for your business on Twitter!” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Bradley Bowen
4. Thank New Followers to Grow Follows – “Something that can help you acquire more followers is to mention any new followers and to simply thank them for following. This can help followers grow at a much faster rate. People want to be mentioned on Twitter, and if you mention them, they’re likely to mention you as well!” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Ashley Stalnaker
5. Talk Like a Human – “Your business Twitter account should talk like a person—even if it’s representing your company or brand. Think of your Twitter account as a walking, talking personification of your entire company. Depending on your brand, you can take this idea to the limit: Use the first-person and invent a Twitter personality for the brand! This personality can discuss current events, community activities, and engage in pop culture so your consumers can relate to you and to your brand.” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Germaine Paul
6. Get Involved in Conversations – “When it comes to using Twitter for your business, it’s important to not only provide business and service-related information, but also make it a conversation! Your customers are out there wanting to hear from you. Let them know there’s a face behind the name and a smile behind the tweet! Engage with your followers and they’ll remember your effort and give you a call!” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Hayley Wood
“The best Twitter campaigns I’ve seen are done by businesses who use it for more than just promoting a new deal or item. Have fun and just try to talk with your followers like you would offline! You’ll find that more people will want to follow a business that is having a conversation with its followers as opposed to a business that uses it strictly for promotions.” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Ryan Thompson
7. Use Third Party Tools to Manage Twitter Tasks “You can use third-party tools to help your business get more out of Twitter and generate more quality leads. For example, take advantage of third party Twitter tools such as Qwitter, Manageflitter, WeFollow, etc. to help you manage who you follow on Twitter to get better results and make better use of your time.” - ReachCast Web Presence Professional Nick Marino Jr.
Are you using Twitter to market your local business online? What tips or tricks have you learned for getting the most out of Twitter as a local brand? Share your thoughts, ideas, and feedback in a comment!
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Author: Tiffany Monhollon writes about online marketing, social media, reputation management, and web presence optimization for ReachCast. Find her on Twitter and Google+.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Sep 13th, 2011. 
Yahoo and Gannett recently announced that they were expanding their partnership to include all 19 of Gannett’s broadcast markets. The companies had previously partnered on all of the 81 Gannett local publishing organizations and just some of its broadcast markets.
The extended partnership will not only further Yahoo’s reach, but it will also give local advertisers access to Yahoo’s targeted ad solution. Lem Lloyd, Yahoo’s VP of North America Channel Sales, told us that the companies hope the extended alliance will have the same success that their previous partnership has had.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Sep 6th, 2011.
In the last few weeks, Google Plus, the company’s latest launch into the social media space, has generated a lot of buzz, and it may be the fastest-growing social network ever, with recent reports claiming the project may already have 10 million users. Currently in beta, Google Plus has been the company’s most successful venture in the social space, after many different social projects it has launched to mixed results. So, what is Google Plus, and why does it matter for local businesses? Here’s a quick rundown of what you need to know:
What is Google+?
Google Plus is a social network, with similarities to Twitter and Facebook, but some interesting differences as well. The site is based around the idea of offering users some control over who they share information with through a feature called “Circles.”Essentially, a circle is a group of people you define and curate, designed specifically for sharing information. The site also features “Huddles,” which are group chats, “Hangouts,” which are group video chats, and “Sparks,” which are streams of content from around the Web based on topics you’re interested in.
Instead of having a wall like on Facebook, the primary user experience is through viewing feeds of information, similar to Twitter or the Facebook news feed. But what’s unique about Google Plus is that you can view one feed of everyone you’ve added to a circle under the “home” view, select to view unique streams of information based on the circles you’ve created, or view a feed called “incoming” for people who have added you to a circle that you haven’t added to one of your own. Your posts aren’t limited to a short character length, and you can edit a post once you’ve shared it. Like a Facebook wall, you can comment on people’s posts and interact with other people, and if they’ve posted publicly, you can comment on someone’s post even if they didn’t share it directly with you.
Google Plus integrates the +1 feature that the company launched last month, which has similarity to a Facebook “like,” except that it doesn’t actually share the content on your Google Plus profile. For example, you can +1 a comment or a post on Google+, just like you can +1 a website or blog post that has added the +1 button.
http://www.youtube.com/v/xwnJ5Bl4kLI?hl=en&fs=1
Read our overview of Google Plus, walk through a Google Plus demo or learn more at the Google YouTube channel’s Google Plus Playlist.
Who’s on Google+?
The project is currently in beta, and you currently need to receive an invite to get a profile. If you want to join in, try asking someone you know who has an account to send you an invite or ask your Twitter or Facebook connections.
Officially, Google Plus is currently just for personal profiles, meaning that businesses can’t set up their own profile yet. But, Google is launching a business page pilot soon, and they will work with a few hundred big brands and local businesses in the project, and will officially launch business pages later in the year. If you’re interested in being considered for the pilot, you can fill out a request form, though Google has already received thousands of applications and said they will close the form submissions at some point. Google also noted it will be shutting down business profiles that are not part of the pilot, so if you want to get involved in Google+, it’s best to just set up a personal profile so you can experience the site for yourself.
What Can Businesses do on Google+?
Just because businesses in general can’t have an official Google Plus Page yet doesn’t mean you can’t use Google Plus for your business! Here are a few ways you as a business owner can use your own Google Plus profile for your business and learn the rules of engagement on this new social site so you’ll be ready to use the business pages when they officially launch.
Connecting – Because of the Circles function, Google Plus is a great place to connect with different groups of people online, including people in your industry and community. Creating circles that help you share and connect with different types of groups is a great way to use Google Plus to boost your visibility and grow your personal brand as a local business owner. You can also use the Huddle and Hangouts features as a digital networking platform, by sharing messages or creating video chats with associates, mentors, or peers.
Linking – As a business owner, building your own personal profile and linking to your business’s website, review pages, and social sites across the web is a great way to get your business presence started in Google Plus and to create more inbound links to your sites. Make sure to list your business name in your own personal Google+ profile under the “About” section. You can share about your company in a variety of places on your Google Plus profiles, such as the introduction, bragging rights ( for example, XYZ Spa Named Relaxation Spot of the Year), occupation, and employment sections. If your profile is public, people will be able to discover links to the different elements of your business’s web presence through your personal Google Plus profile.
Sharing – Google+ is a great place to share content. So, sharing blog post links, specials and deals, and other information about your business, community, or industry can help you interact with other like-minded business owners and help you learn and promote your expertise.
The Future of Google+ and Local Business
As the user base expands and official business pages launch, Google+ is set to be an important tool for local online marketing. Google recently ended its contract with Twitter to source its real-time search, and it’s likely Google+ will become the company’s source for real-time search data. There is potential for the social network to impact search discovery and SEO, especially since public posts on Google+ are available to search engines. Google Plus may also be an important tool for reputation management, especially if they integrate Google Places Pages with Google Plus Business Pages, as many
expect will happen.
The bottom line is that Google is an important player in the digital space, and as Google Plus continues to evolve, now is a great time to get involved as a local business owner. Have you joined Google Plus yet? What are your initial thoughts? What features or tools do you hope they’ll add as they begin to work with businesses on the site? Leave your thoughts in a comment!
Author: Tiffany Monhollon writes about social media, marketing, and local business success as the lead blogger for ReachCast, a service that helps local business owners develop their web presence.
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Aug 7th, 2011.
As we continue to look at the fallout of the Google Panda update (more so since its international roll-out), we have yet more data to sink our teeth into.
Have you noticed an increase in local results since the Panda roll-out? Let us know.
CNET has now released some data, as it compiled about 100,000 Google results, testing Google.com in March, and then last week, just after the new update. The data reflects earlier reported data from SearchMetrics in terms of news sites benefiting and Demand Media’s eHow sliding.
One interesting element CNET’s data brings to the table, however, is that of Google’s localization and its relationship to the update.
“We also tested what happens if you connect to Google.com from an overseas Internet address. We picked one in London. We performed the same searches on the same day–the only variable that should have changed, in other words, was our location,” explains CNET chief political correspondent Declan McCullagh. “The results? Google engages in significant localization efforts, as you might imagine, with Yelp.com being the largest beneficiary by far.”
“In searches originating from the U.K., Yelp appeared only twice,” he adds. “In U.S. searches, by contrast, it was the ninth-most popular Web site, with both its topic and individual business pages weaved seamlessly into the main search results.”
SearchMetrics’ data did show yelp.co.uk as having a 29.59% boost in visibility.
Yelp picked up 45 first-page appearances for generic searches like “chocolate,” “cleaning,” “food,” “lights,” “laundry,” “tv,” and “weddings,” from a Califronia address, according to McCullagh, while Davidsbridal.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and Walgreens.com also benefited in the U.S. from localization.
It’s not all just big brands though.
Local-based results won big too, based on CNET’s testing. Not just local locations for big brands or local businesses, but locally-themed results.
“For our U.S. tests, we used an Internet address near Palo Alto, Calif., which prompted Google to rank nearby businesses and municipal Web sites near the top of search results,” McCullagh explains. “The City of Palo Alto’s Web site appears in the first page of search results for terms including ‘adventures,’ ‘art,’ ‘business,’ ‘gas,’ and ‘jobs.’ PaloAltoOnline.com makes repeat appearances (‘budget cuts,’ ‘restaurants’), as do Stanford, the Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and Mike’s Bikes.”
It’s no secret that Google has put a great deal more emphasis on local in recent times, but it’s interesting to see how this is playing out in light of the Panda update, which was seemingly unrelated (based more on content farms).
We saw how news sites and video sites appeared to come out as big winners, but this research does seem to indicate even more wins for local.
The benefits to Yelp are interesting, considering the tension there has been between Yelp and Google, regarding Google Place Pages and their use of Yelp reviews. Google’s own reviews system – Hotpot – has now found its way into Places, and right into organic search results themselves.
If you’re interested in what Google has had to say about local search relevance factors, read this.
Google is also finding more ways to improve its local listings themselves. See the “open now” and local product listings, for example. Oh, and by the way, Google just launched Map Maker for the US, so users can add their “local knowledge” to the map.
Interestingly enough, as Google focuses more on local, the competition for local eyeballs is already heavily increasing. This is not just about search in the traditional sense. You have to factor in entities like Groupon, LivingSocial, Facebook, Foursquare, and others in these companies’ respective spaces (the lines between which are getting blurrier).
The more ways people obtain the information related to local businesses from sources outside of Google, the less they’ll need to search for that information with Google.
Are Google’s results better now? Tell us what you think.
Top News – WebProNews
Internet Marketing Tools For The DIY’er HERE
Filed under Internet Marketing by on Apr 24th, 2011.
Online/interactive advertising revenue is forecast to reach $ 42.5 billion by 2015, nearly double 2010′s $ 21.7 billion, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 14.4 percent, according to a new report from BIA/Kelsey.
This growth is tied to anticipated improvement in the U.S. economy and a continued increase in overall local advertising, which is expected to reach $ 153.5 billion in 2015, up from $ 136.3 billion in 2010, representing a 2.1 percent CAGR.
As digital media — delivered to consumers through mobile, Internet or other electronic methods — continues to gain traction with local advertisers, BIA/Kelsey predicts it will represent 23.6 percent of all local ad spending by 2015.
“As the business climate improves and advertisers step back into the market, they are gravitating to digital options that perhaps were not as mature before the recession began,” said Tom Buono, chief executive officer, BIA/Kelsey.
“Our analysis indicates that as advertisers move to online, mobile and, particularly, the variants of social media, we are fast approaching a tipping point where digital media will soon become a dominant segment of the local advertising marketplace.”
Other highlights from the report include:
*The increased number of smartphones and tablets is already playing a role in affecting revenue shares earned by traditional media.
*Continued significant newspaper revenue erosion will drive pay walls and other creative approaches for rebuilding revenue base.
*The interactive/online sector continues to advance and multiply with new formats such as social and mobile.
The report also found that social media is increasingly becoming an important part of online revenue. Consumer spending on deal-a-day offers, which the firm expects will grow to $ 3.9 billion by 2015, illustrates an expanding market that includes Facebook and Twitter.
“What we’re seeing in terms of media share shifts and transformation is really unprecedented,” said Neal Polachek, president, BIA/Kelsey.
“As we look forward, the core issue challenging advertisers is to figure out a media plan that leverages the transactional nature of digital media with the scale and reach of traditional media.”
Filed under Internet Technology by on Mar 21st, 2011.
