Social Media Marketing for Small Business: Half Are Losing Out

I was surprised when I read a recent research report done by Clutch. They surveyed small businesses about their usage of Social Media marketing. The data indicate that around half of them are ignoring prospective customers by not using Social Media marketing for small business. And more than half are not investing in work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO).

According to the Clutch study of small businesses:

<20% of marketing budgets are spent on Digital Marketing
only 53% do some work on Social Media
only 45% do some work on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
only 25% do work on online advertising

Small businesses are slow to invest in digital marketing to acquire new customers and expand relationships with existing ones. But Social Media marketing is about inviting people to get to know your business and for you to get to know them.

Why are many small businesses reluctant to do Social Media marketing?

I have heard various reasons from small business people I have spoken with, including:

I tried Facebook or Twitter a little while, but I didn’t get any sales from them.
I asked my customers if they use Social Media and they said no or not much.
I don’t know where to start – there are so many social networks and I can’t cover all of them.
I think I have to have a website, but I don’t have time or money to spend on Social Media.
Isn’t Social Media primarily for young people?
If I were to advertise on Social Media, wouldn’t Pay Per Click (PPC) ads be very expensive?

Why is Social Media marketing for your business important?

Increase your brand awareness
Drive more traffic to your website
Get new leads
Leverage the trust that Social Media users have in their friends, family, and people they follow
Extend your message with Likes, Comments, and Shares faster and cheaper than word of mouth
Reach new prospects for your products and services that may not otherwise find you
Provide additional differentiating information about your company, products, and services
Put a human face on your business and let people get to know your people
Find new connections of suppliers and partners in addition to reaching new prospective customers
Target very specific audiences in ads based on interests, behaviors, job titles, locations, etc.
Try out marketing ideas fast and with very low cost to see what works or doesn’t work
Contribute to your search ranking with strong social signals that you are a valuable brand (this is likely to increase in weight over time)

As I’ve blogged before, the way people are making their purchase decisions is changing. They rely much more on online reviews and referrals. When was the last time you booked travel without looking at online reviews? They often research products and services online before they have any contact with your company. They may interact with your online information multiple times during their purchase decision as they advance through their process.

Some small businesses drop social media marketing if they don’t see any immediate increase in sales. But social media marketing is not a short-term investment. You are building a timeless presence on the Internet. You are increasing awareness and starting to build relationships that will likely pay off sometime in the future. Short-term promotions on social media with contests, coupons, and specials can drive a short-term uptick in sales depending on your organic reach or ad budget.

You may not realize that half of the world’s population has grown up with the Internet and Social Media. Yes, that’s right! 50% of the world’s population is under 30 years old. They are connected, they use less and less of traditional media, and they are technology savvy. They are not kids anymore. And those in their 20s and 30s have tremendous purchasing power.

Social media ads are still an under-utilized marketing element by the majority of small businesses. With traditional advertising you are broadcasting to a very wide audience in order to reach the subset that is your target audience. Social media advertising enables you to specifically target individuals in your target audience and to only pay when the target clicks through your ad for more information. Since there is no publication or broadcasting overhead, the cost of social media ads is way less than traditional advertising. It’s also less costly than Google Adwords ads that are only based on keywords on search result pages. And how many people are like me who ignore the display ads in newspapers and on web pages. What better place to get attention on your ad than in someone’s News Feed between photos and videos of their friends and families?

How can you get started economically?

Focus on one or two Social Media platforms that have members of your target market. You don’t need to boil the ocean and get onto every Social Media platform. As I’ve blogged before each one has a slightly different audience with different interests and demographics.
Set your marketing objectives and strategy. Are your top objectives to increase awareness, generate leads, cross-sell existing customers, or ….? For each of the top 2-3 objectives, outline your strategy to use social media to support that objective.
Engage a Marketing agency, consultant, or coach. If you can’t train and dedicate an employee to Digital Marketing or Social Media Marketing, then look at hiring a marketing agency or consultant to be an adviser, a doer, and an extension of your staff part-time. Depending on how much staff time you can dedicate to Social Media marketing, you might only want a consultant to be on retainer to be your coach one or more times per month. An agency, consultant, or coach will also keep you up to date on the latest trends and where to invest time and effort for your business objectives.
Get Marketing training for yourself or your staff. If you allocate an internal staff person for social media marketing, make sure they are trained on Marketing. While almost any younger person knows how to post on some Social Media platforms, they don’t necessarily know how to do that effectively for business marketing purposes.
Look at your Digital Marketing mix holistically. Determine how much to invest in Web Design, Search Engine Marketing, Email Marketing, Blogs, Podcasts, video channels, eBooks, Social Media marketing, and traditional marketing. Speak with an agency or consultant if you need assistance.
Augment with Social Media advertising. Social Media organic reach is shrinking. Your posts will only reach 2-6% of your followers. Social Media is now pay to play for businesses. Different platforms will enable you to boost posts or insert ads into the News Feeds of the types of people and interests that you specify.

Let me know your thoughts and experience. Have you seen other obstacles to overcome? Are there other tips you would suggest for Social Media marketing for small business?

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Who Owns Your Kauai Web Design?

I have been in business a long time now. I have seen and heard a lot of different situations and worked through many challenges. But I was shocked by a couple of stories in the past month from business people located here on Kauai. In both cases, they had learned that their domain name registration and Kauai web design were not owned by them. Do you know who owns your domain and web design? Is it you or someone else?

Two Stories of Unclear Ownership

One of my clients was recently telling me how she used a web designer in the past who also registered her domain name and set up web hosting for her. When she wanted to change the web design, web designer, and hosting, the original web designer refused to transfer her domain name to an account in her name. He told her that he “owned” her domain. Eventually she got him to change the name servers so that she could create a new site and use a different hosting company. And she created her new web design without him. But she is still beholden to him to pay her domain registration to him each year and hope that he will continue to update name servers when needed.

Another local business manager told me the story of why they had to change their domain name a few years ago. Today when you type in the name of their business with a .com, you are redirected to the blog of someone who no longer lives on Kauai or focuses on web design. When they wanted to create a new website a few years ago with a different web designer, the original web designer told them he “owned” their domain name. He also refused to transfer the domain registration to an account in their name. He did offer to sell them their own domain name for several tens of thousands of dollars. Rather than pay ransom for their own domain name they made the hard decision to change it and use a longer name. He still maintains the domain registration of their name and has it redirecting traffic to his personal blog. How is that for vindictive?!

Business Components of Setting Up a Website

You may recall that there are three major components to having a website for your business. First, you need a domain name registered. This is your URL, your brand on the Internet, and the way people access your web site. You have to find an available domain name and pay a yearly registration fee for you to “own” and use it.

Second, you need a company to host your website. This is the company running the computers and network for your web site. You want a hosting company that has stable, secure, and high performing servers that are optimized for serving website content.

Third, you want a web designer or web design company that has both the graphic and marketing skills to develop a web site look, feel, plus the content that creates a great user experience for your customers and prospects. It also provides the navigation to support your customers and prospects wherever they are in their purchase decision making process.

These three things may be supplied by one, two, or three different companies. Or one person or company may arrange all three on your behalf using other vendors for one or more of the three major components.

There are lot of free lance graphics people who offer web design. They may or may not be good business and marketing partners to help you grow your particular business. And they may or may not be advising you and looking out for your business interests in addition to their own.

How to Protect Your Brand

There are a couple of things you can do:

Set up your own domain registration and web hosting accounts in your company name and separately from engaging your web designer. Many companies offer both domain registration and web hosting. You may not run into a problem with that if you are dealing with a large company with ethical leadership and well defined contract terms. But to really protect yourself it is a recommended best practice to have your domain registration and web hosting with two different companies. If you find you need to change web hosting, then you have the control instead of the company you are trying to sever ties with.
Make sure you have a written contract with your web designer or web design company that outlines not only the scope of work to be done but also who owns what. The time to ensure you will maintain ownership of your domain, hosting relationship, and website content is before you sign an agreement and begin work. I would not set up a domain or web host on a client’s behalf and then tell them I own it. But obviously there are people out there who do. They may not even give you access to the content in your website if you decide to terminate the relationship with them. A written contract will protect you if in the future something goes wrong in your relationship with your web design company.

On the beautiful island of Kaui it seems that the spirit of Aloha doesn’t always hold true in business relationships that fail. Your domain, your website security and performance, and your website look and content are all part of your brand. They determine the experience of your customers and prospects. They either help or hinder your ability to gain new customers or maintain your existing customers. It is critical that you ensure these elements of your brand are owned and controlled by you.

Have you run into difficulties with domain or website content ownership? Do you know who owns your domain, hosting relationships, and web design?

Your Blog Drives More Business Than Social Media

Website+Blog+Search Engine Optimization+Social Media+Email=Business Growth from Digital Marketing

Does that equation surprise you? Of course, it is a gross simplification. But it illustrates a point. When I speak with other small business owners like myself, I hear them talk about a website and social media posts, but a blog and email marketing are usually missing ingredients.

Search Engine Optimization(SEO) is also usually missing, but you may be able to rely on your website platform (e.g., Wix, WordPress) or web designer to assist with some basic techniques. However, depending on your website provider, they may not counsel you on the importance of content. A blog is a key way to deliver content that drives business growth from online, digital marketing.

Why Should You Care About a Blog?

In 2015 search engines such as Google are focused on creating the best possible user experience. They are continuing to increase their analysis of your web site to ensure it has the information your target audience needs. This and other factors drive your ranking in search results. If the keywords and content being searched for are not well represented and highlighted to search engines in they way they expect, your target audience may not find you online. (Or maybe you will spend a lot of money on ads.)

There is more to SEO than content that can be delivered via a blog. But a key component is content written in the language of your target customer and that hits their keywords for searching.

There are other reasons besides search engine ranking for why you should seriously consider a blog with your web site:

Establish your brand
Differentiate from competitors
Demonstrate expertise
Build an audience of potential and existing customers, partners, and vendors
Make your company more personal
Control your content as social media networks continue to change
Provide customer support for common questions
Collect email addresses

Let me emphasize that last one again – collect email addresses. In these days of social media marketing the data show that email marketing is still more effective for actually getting someone to buy your goods or services. Providing interesting, expert content and getting people to subscribe with their email address is even more effective in driving business results than all your posts on social media.

A McKinsey study found that e-mail is nearly 40 times more effective than Facebook and Twitter combined for acquiring customers. A Gallup survey found that 62% of consumers say that social media has no impact on purchase decisions. 90% of U.S. consumers use email daily. Also, the average order value driven by email is 17% higher than purchases that are attributed to social media.

I know you’re thinking:

Wait! I’m a small business owner, not a blogger!
I don’t have time for that!
I’m not a good writer!
How often would I do this and would I run out of ideas?

There are resources that can help and that don’t cost too much:

Blogs on best practices for writing a blog post
Google keyword planner for most searched keywords related to your business and geography
Online tips on where to find ideas for blog posts
Freelance writers and writing services that can research and write a blog post for $10-15 depending on the number of words
Marketing consultants and agencies that can assist to generate ideas and produce content on your behalf

Do you have a company blog? What tools and techniques have been helpful? What results have you seen?

Tag Archives: small business owners

Who Owns Your Kauai Web Design?

Two Stories of Unclear Ownership

Business Components of Setting Up a Website

How to Protect Your Brand

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