Ever read an article that you enjoyed, and immediately thought that you would love to share this with a friend, or one of your social networks? Odds are that you simply went to the top of the post, clicked on the “Share This” button, and selected the appropriate parties or network that you wanted to receive the information.
So when it comes to your company or small business, why aren’t you applying the same easy-to-use principal as the share button? This would undoubtedly make it easier to spread the word about your business, and more often than not, run itself after a little bit of time and energy to set up. Ultimately, the more impressions that your business receives online and through word of mouth, the more business and referrals will come walking through your door.
Here are 3 quick things that you can do to make sure that your business gets more visibility.
Market Social Media at Your Location(s)
Everybody wants a captive audience that they can market to online, but these days you are often forced to purchase ads to gain new followers on many popular social networks. So how do you gain more followers and eyeballs on your social networks? Many professional services and retail companies are turning offline and actually marketing their social networks actively at their locations.
There are a variety of ways that you can do this, but simple counter ads and window decals are a great place to start.
By tapping into your existing customer base, and gaining another avenue to reach them, you can increase the average value per relationship by easily staying in touch, and also put yourself at the forefront of their mind when they come across a situation where they can refer your business.
Check-ins are another powerful way to quickly spread the work about your business, so it is always a great idea to incentivize your customers to do so. Maybe you offer them an upgraded service or a discount for doing so. Keep in mind that every time they check in, their network will see your location. If your customer’s average network is 300+ people on Facebook, that is a great way to get in front of a bunch of prospective customers at a low investment.
Local Listings and Review Solicitation
Reviews are extremely important, as they are one of the biggest resources that consumers utilize when deciding on where to engage with local businesses and services. However, many businesses are either afraid to solicit reviews, or overlook them entirely, losing out on a big opportunity to promote themselves.
According to a @BrightLocal Survey done in 2015:
92% of consumers now read online reviews (vs. 88% in 2014)
40% of consumers form an opinion by reading just 1-3 reviews (vs. 29% in 2014)
Star rating is #1 factor used by consumers to judge a business
So what is your business doing to make sure that you not missing out on the ability to have others rave about your business?
You should actively have spots on your website, in your newsletters and offline communications, and also within your office that are actively soliciting reviews, and making it easy for your customers to find out where to go to leave their 2 cents.
Reward/Incentive Programs
Finally, it is always a great idea to put some type of reward or incentive program in place to promote enthusiasm and evangelism for your business. It is always a good idea to have a motivated customer-base, and by sweetening the pot and giving them a reason to engage more with your business, this can provide a nice bump in your revenue.
You may want to try things like:
• Freebies or discounts for making a set number or dollar amount of purchases
• Incentivizing new referrals by giving them an extra bonus such as a gift card or free services. This can be added on to popular referral systems, such as ReferMe IQ
• Providing some type of recognition to customers who reach a certain amount of engagement with your business.
Regardless of the methodology, programs like these can pay off big-time, and they tend to work on your behalf with little or no ongoing effort.
