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Increase Your Social Media Presence with These Tips

Managing the social pages of your small business can present an opportunity for growth when done right. There are unlimited opportunities in sales and brand awareness when you harness the power of social media because visits to social sites make up about 20% of time spent online on both mobile and desktop devices (Business Insider). If you want to take advantage of the popularity of social media to boost your business, take a look at the following steps to bolster your business’s social presence and increase customer engagement with your brand.

social media presence

Create Profiles on All Social Networks

While Facebook continues to dominate social media in every demographic, it is not the only social site that matters. Creating profiles across all major social sites—Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook—will maximize your exposure and allow you to test out different social strategies utilizing the varying formats of each platform.

Invest the Most Time on Networks Where Your Customers Spend Time

Once you begin to manage multiple social profiles for your business, you can see where you are gaining the most attention from your customers. With this data, you’ll know where to dedicate the most time to updates and interaction.

Add Social Sharing Buttons to Your Site

The content you create and post on your website can propel your social presence because it will be easy for readers to share—especially when you add social sharing widgets to your site. In addition to making your content more shareable, social buttons can also allow for one-click following, which increases the number of viewers your social profiles will see.

Avoid Obvious Self-Promotion

Successful social marketing requires a nuanced approach. Rather than blatantly advertising with social posts, you will want to primarily focus on offering helpful information or interesting discussions with your customers. About 8 out of 10 posts should be more engaging, while the other 20% can include a more direct sales pitch or promotion.

Interact with Your Followers

Finally, you’ll want to remember that social media relies on back and forth communication between users, so it is beneficial to reach out to your followers and those who mention your company. Continuing the conversation about your company can create a more positive and relatable image for your brand, which will keep customers coming back.

If you find yourself without the time to manage your social presence or you need a strong content strategy to back up your social posts, our team of digital marketing professionals can help. Call us at (904) 823-9747or visit our website to get a closer look at our social marketing services.

Resolve to Optimize Your Search Campaign in 2017

In 2017 and beyond, digital marketing is only expected to continue to grow in its prevalence and importance. Businesses of all sizes can benefit from a New Year’s resolution to optimize search campaigns. Search advertising might include boosting organic search results, using pay-per-click ads, and increasing social presence; each of these tasks requires dedicated attention and careful planning to achieve visibility and success. As you plan to take on these strategies for search advertising, use the following guidelines to ensure that you see the results you want throughout the coming year.

search campaigns

Set Clear Goals

Not every business will share the same goals for a search marketing campaign, so it is essential to customize your strategy with clear, measurable goals from the get-go. Start with a broad goal such as raising newsletter subscriptions, boosting sales, or increasing brand awareness. From here, you can narrow down the more specific goals that will lead you to your key objectives.

Redesign Your Landing Pages

No matter what you want to accomplish with your search campaign, you will want to get your website in shape before making substantial investments in AdWords and other advertising services. Quality landing pages are a must for any search campaign, whether you are relying on paid or organic results. Every keyword should be paired with a unique and informative landing page that will grab consumer attention, deliver the information they want, and provide an actionable conclusion.

Do Your Research

Even if you have an existing search campaign, you will want to take the time to research keywords and current marketing trends, as these steps will ensure that your campaign is current and effective. If you are just beginning a search campaign, a lot of research may be needed to get started, and this can be facilitated by professional marketing experts who can weigh the cost and benefits of potential keywords for your business. It can be tempting to just opt for the most popular keywords regardless of cost, but you might not rank for these search terms without some established authority through your site.

Balance Paid and Organic Search Campaigns

Most successful search campaigns will achieve a balance between paid search and organic search. Paid search results are the most visible on the page—even more so since Google updated their SERP design to include even more paid results per page—but organic search results are often viewed as more trustworthy by consumers. Investing on both fronts can help you see the best from both worlds, achieving optimal exposure for your business.

Whether you want a fully managed search campaign or you simply need assistance with the technical components of AdWords, Local Search Essentials can help you see the results you want for search advertising in 2017. Call us today to discuss your business’s digital marketing needs. (904) 823-9747

Are You Utilizing Facebook Advertising?

facebook ad setup

Facebook ads not only let you advertise on the budget of your choice, but allow your customers to help promote your business to their family, friends and the community.

Did you also know?

  • 1 of every 5 minutes people in the US spend on mobile is on Facebook
  • Five new profiles are created every second
  • Worldwide, there are over 1.79 billion monthly active Facebook users which is a 16 percent increase year over year

But before you can start selling to your audience, you need to know who your ideal customer is, where they are, and what they will buy. With Local Search Essentials, we will provide what your business needs to find and keep those potential customers.

call out to audience

Advertising on Facebook makes it possible to find – the right people – at the right time – through targeting, to capture their attention, and get the results you and your business need. Whether you’re ready to get started, have questions or simply want more information, Local Search Essentials is here to help. Call us today at (904) 823-9747 or visit our website: www.localsearchessentials.com

Extending your reach has never been this easy!

Are You Promoting Your Business In The Right Places?

The number of review sites available to customers who want to voice their opinion about a business or product just keep growing. But did you know that 63% of consumers read reviews on search engines, like Google and Bing, over review sites, like Yelp? While many focus on review platforms like Yelp and TripAdvisor, smart marketers know that Google reviews — reviews, ratings, and customer feedback that appear on Google Maps and Google search results can be much more important. Especially considering how millions of consumers find businesses, brands, and services through “Googling”.

For more than 10 years, we have been helping local businesses across 100’s of industries dominate local search and promote their businesses online.  Are you turning to the right source to promote your business? For more information, please visit our website or give us a call today. (904) 823-9747

online reviews

Will My Online Reputation Impact My Business?

How Is Your Reputation?

Social media has grown immensely in the last few decades. While many companies are aware of the importance of establishing an online presence along with reputation, some are not. As a business owner, you must know that having a good online reputation is essential for business growth. Whereas a negative online reputation could greatly impact your bottom line.

reputation-marketing-1

With the rise of the digital age, it has become extremely easy for people to instantly share their ideas and opinions with potential customers online. This can lead to an amazing opportunity of increased exposure for businesses. When happy customers leave five star reviews and share their positive brand experiences with friends and family on social media, it brings brand awareness to a whole new level. But negative reviews can be quite dangerous to your reputation. 88% of consumers read online reviews before they purchase local services and 92% believe what they read! What the public says about your company online has become the single most important reflection of your company’s character, reliability, and skill.

Managing Online Reputation

Local Search Essential‘s proprietary software enables local businesses to collect and syndicate customer reviews and predictively advertise to past customers.  We offer the following comprehensive services for managing your online reputation:

  • Customer Review Management
  • Social Media Integration
  • Automatic Service Reminders
  • Review Syndication
  • Multi-channel review generation

Working with our local search specialists, businesses get more new customers, build their online reputation and grow revenue from repeat customers with predictive advertising.  Visit our website: www.localsearchessentials.com or call us today to discuss managing your online reputation. (904) 823-9747

 

 

mobile marketing

5 Essential Mobile Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Business Now

The explosive use of smartphones and tablets has created a new world of opportunity for today’s businesses. No other medium in the history of technology has been so personal, so powerful, or so disruptive to consumers’ day-to-day lives. Mobile devices put the world’s information directly into consumer’s hands 24/7, providing an abundance of choices and affecting decision-making in ways we have yet to even fully understand.

Those organizations that have recognized the power of mobile to drive deeper, more meaningful connections with their customers and prospects are the new leaders in a mobile-first world. But just in case your business has yet to fully jump into the mobile fray, here are five important mobile marketing strategies to help put you on the road to success:

1. Apps are where it’s at

Last year, mobile apps surpassed television as the medium with which consumers spend the most time. The mobile web, meanwhile, accounts for only 13% of the amount of time spent on mobile and is generally used for basic searches. However, native apps provide a more sophisticated experience — they’re typically faster, more interactive and serve as a dynamic two-way communications channel. Apps can utilize smartphone features like push notifications, the camera and the phonebook, and they allow businesses to get creative with personalized offers, loyalty programs and exclusive content. So while having a mobile-optimized website is important, remember that to truly deliver an enhanced mobile experience, apps are where it’s at.

2. Up your game

Once you’ve committed to an app, think about how it can serve as an extension of your brand while providing a great experience to your users. An app allows businesses to stay top of mind by occupying coveted real estate on a user’s mobile device. And while apps are capable of delivering experiences that other mediums cannot, it’s imperative to consider how your app’s functionality addresses your target audience’s needs, desires and intentions. What utility does it offer? How can it simplify previously difficult tasks? How does it entertain and delight users? Are you using it to reach people with the right message at the right time? The easier, better or more enjoyable you can make your customer’s lives, the more they’ll use your app.

 

3. Engage users one-on-one

Not all mobile users are alike. They will demonstrate different patterns and behaviors based on any number of characteristics, such as which type of device they use, where they live, how they found your app, and of course their own personal styles and tastes. One recent study, for example, found that app engagement is highest on weekends for iOS users but that the opposite is true for Android phone owners. Insights like these can help you decide when and how to deliver content, offers and other initiatives that cater to the user’s preferences and have maximum impact.

 

4. Become data-driven

Apps can collect a goldmine of data on your users. And with the right analysis, any business can truly get to know its customers better and understand what makes them tick. But it’s up to you to harvest the right insights from your data and put it into action. In today’s competitive mobile landscape, these insights can help improve the app, deliver a more personalized experience, and, when promoting your app to obtain users, to understand which marketing and advertising channels are most successful.

This last point, known as mobile attribution, is essential for measuring the effectiveness of your marketing efforts so you can optimize your budget accordingly and attract the highest quality users to your app. “Attribution analytics are absolutely essential for app marketers in today’s environment,” said Oren Kaniel, founder and CEO of AppsFlyer, a mobile attribution and marketing analytics platform that helps marketers measure their mobile campaigns across Google, Facebook, Twitter and 1,500 other media sources. “Without it, marketers are simply flying blind, but the data from attribution analytics can help them get the greatest return on their investment.”

 

5. Connect the dots

Don’t let your app strategy exist in a silo. The average US household owns 5.7 Internet-connected devices, and consumers aged 18 – 64 use three or more devices every day — which means that your business’s marketing strategy should integrate all of your web, social, mobile, and even any broadcast or offline campaigns into a cohesive experience for your customers. With technologies available today, it is possible to recognize users as they move from their laptop to their smartphone to their tablet, and to create a seamless experience across all their devices.

 

Committing to Mobile

No one ever said that building a successful mobile strategy was easy. It requires the right mix of creativity and imagination with a data-driven mindset and an adherence to your brand. Most of all, it requires a commitment to providing the best customer experience possible. But, given that mobile serves as consumers’ primary and most personal devices in today’s world, the payoff for those businesses that get their mobile strategy right stands to be a game-changer.

 

Originally Posted at: http://www.inc.com/dave-kerpen/5-essential-mobile-marketing-strategies-to-boost-your-business-now.html

The Science of Social Media Content

What constitutes a well-rounded social media marketing plan? The ideal mix of social media content blends four different elements – general content, customized content, online specials, and reviews.

  • General content: Posts that are about topics relevant to, but not about, your business. These can be topical, inspirational quotes, related to current events, related to local happenings, or humorous photos/cartoons. Link to reputable sources of content whenever possible.
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Making Local Social Work

Many local businesses view the thought of social media marketing with disdain, believing it is too much work with no return on investment for their business. Nothing could be further from the truth. A social media strategy, when managed properly, allows businesses to engage existing and potential customers, advertise in a very targeted manner, create trusted links to their website that boost search engine and local listings optimization, and show the world the business’ mission, values, and personality.

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Individual commitment to a group effort — That is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.

Vince Lombardi