Let Your Customers Squeal

Small talk has always involved high praise. "Have you tried this place?" "You have to go here." "We did this." "We did that!" "He learned to make heat, a fire he calls it, I'm sure he could do it for you!" We don't need a well funded study, a new marketing book or an ad guru to prove to us that people talk about great service. There's something special about being able to answer a friend's question. To be their Google in real time, it's something we don't pass on. So when somebody mentions in passing that they're looking to renovate the kitchen (you just renovated your kitchen!) or they need a good place for their anniversary dinner (your other friend just had a great birthday dinner at that Italian place!), we squeal.

"This guy did an incredible job in my kitchen! I'll send you his number at least give him a call!" 

"I heard that Italian place was unbelievable, Italianos. Give it a search online." 

Small talk is still the same in nature, we still love to squeal, but it's not so small anymore. Now comments go online, public displays of loyalty are found on your profiles, the great products and services are being rewarded for being great. 

Not all of us squeal online. Some wait for a friend to mention a need in passing. But many of us do squeal online. Many of us are Yelp Elite members, others check-in on Facebook for their Friends to see. It could be to help the business raise awareness, or to help friends find something cool, whatever it is - it ends in a squeal. 

How can you make it easier for your customers to squeal online? 

Often someone will search your business for hours (are they open?) or a menu (do they have steak?), prices too, and much more. Each time they search for that one answer, they find many more. They see the whole show, not just the scene. They'll notice when you have many Google Reviews or just a few. They'll notice when a Facebook page pops up and (if you're not active) they won't. The customers that squeal, the ones that just enjoy reviewing, for any reason, you want to give them the chance to do so. 

Get started on Google Reviews and Facebook Reviews by asking some of your most loyal patrons to give you a shoutout. Don't say 'follow us' and leave it at that, they want to help! Say 'show us some love' and they will! 

Social Media Is Important: A Local Business Approach

Spending on marketing can be tough to justify. Many times we spend on marketing because "it's worked in the past." New options, like Facebook, Twitter, Google Search, even texting, are half-respected, half-questioned. That's understandable. In a small business there are so so many things to worry about. We were never compleeetely sure those newspaper and radio ads brought in more than they cost, but at least we knew them.

My own Dad operates a small business. He's always been a little ahead of his competition in the technology realm, so I wasn't surprised to hear he was spending on SEO and some other web programs for the business a few years ago. Still, in conversations, I could tell he was skeptical about the value of a Facebook Ad, a follower, a like or a comment.

"How is it helping me? What do I do to improve? I just don't understand it."

Again, this is completely understandable. There's been so much to think about the past few years. It's hard, and taking on more outside opinions is always a challenge. But times really are changing. I'd like to take a quote from the recent 007 movie Skyrim, the scene with Judi Dench on trial making an argument for 00 agents:

Today I've repeatedly heard how irrelevant my department has become. Why do we have agents, the 00 section, isn't it all rather quaint?Well I suppose I see a different world than you do. And the truth is that what I see frightens me. I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us, they do not exist on a map, they're not nations, they're individuals, and look around you, who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No. Our world is not more transparent now, it's more opaque. It's in the shadows. That's where we must do battle. So before you declare us irrelevant ask yourselves: How safe do you feel?

Thank you, M. Our customers aren't enemies like Javier Bardem, but they are in the shadows, making decisions away from our influence.  Before our friendly service has a chance to influence them they're knee deep in customer reviews on Google, Yelp, FourSquare, UrbanSpoon, Facebook, and more. Google calls this moment of search the Zero Moment of Truth. All of that copy we wrote, all those clever phrases, that's all on one search result in a local Google search that brings up our business. The rest of the results? 2-200? Those words were written by experienced customers, just like the one searching at home. They're knowledgable, they're trusted, and they're still talking. 

Someone searching for something we can offer can't be expected to give us the benefit of the doubt if we have no reviews, or even worse, a few very poor reviews and nothing positive. When competitors look better on paper, they're perceived better in the search.

The good knows is there is something you can do. You can control what people find when they search. Sure, you will have unhappy customers, and they may leave unfavorable reviews, but by claiming your business on the networks and making social a real part of your operations you'll get new reviews, better receptions, and more customers.

Claim your business on the networks. Fill out the information. Add photos of your products, your services, whatever it is your customers enjoy. The beautiful thing about a local business is how well they understand the area. Somehow, your business fits into that area. It could be in a big way or a small way, but it has its place. Use social to stake claim to your service to the area, let your customers and friends market for you, and have fun with it! 

Introducing the Ask Us Anything! Tab

We're constantly talking with our members about new programs, features, websites or gimmicks in the online world. New questions pop up every day. On the Ask Us Anything! tab you'll see answers to an assortment of questions we've been asked in private conversations with our members. Please, ask that question you're kind of sort of unsure of but not enough to search out an answer.
E-mail bill@gorithmic.com with the question. We'll respond privately, and post the general question with the answer in the tab under the Social Local logo above.

Here to serve.

-The Social Local Team.

Local Collaboration on Twitter

Getting followers on Twitter can be hard. I don't think it's so much that locals aren't interested in your tweets as much as they just don't know about your account. We encourage teamwork between local businesses to build awareness of local twitter accounts. Cross promote by re-tweeting and tweeting at each other. But remember, your followers can't see a tweet you send to somebody if they don't follow that person as well. For example, if Butcher Shop (you) tweets "@Candystore hi" to Candy Store, and your follower Bob doesn't follow Candy Store, he won't see the post. To avoid this,  don't lead the tweet with their tag. If you start the tweet with anything except for their twitter handle, all followers will see the tweet. 

So, do this : "Hey @Candystore" or "Hello @Candystore" 

Not this: "@candystore hey." 

Setting Up Your Facebook Page: In Pictures

Open this page: 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/create/

The end. 

Facebook Custom Audience: Campaign the Social Way

Follow up to Where Did I Put Those E-mails? .... 

Facebook’s Custom Audience tool let’s you upload an e-mail list and see which Facebook accounts are associated with those e-mails. In other words, if you’d ever like to start a paid campaign, you can target the people most likely to engage with it: your current customers. Targeting current customers doesn't mean you won't see new ones. It means your business will appear in front of people that recognize it, people that have given you permission to keep you updated via e-mail and want to hear from you. The challenge on social is getting shared. You're giving your campaign the best shot by starting with these friends.

• Click on Manage Ads 
• Click on ‘Audiences’ in the navigation bar to the left 
• Click the green Create Audience box at the top right 
• Choose ‘Custom Audience’ 
• Choose either an Excel file with your e-mails or load them from Mailchimp 

Each time you create a campaign you’ll be able to easily select this group from your saved ‘Audiences’. 

Where Did I Put Those E-mails?

Collecting e-mails can be a challenge and managing them is no fun. Someone writes their e-mail on a piece of paper in your shop, you put it in a pile and later throw it on an e-mail list. Problem is you have a few different e-mail lists. You're not sure if all those people who asked to be contacted by you are being contacted. It's disorganized. Try this: 

1. Use MailChimp or Constant Contact to collect e-mails. Both have little collection boxes for your website and your Facebook page. 
2. Segment your e-mail lists. Or don't, but the option is there. 

For those of you with wet feet in the world of internet, go with MailChimp. Their system couldn't make it any easier to setup, organize and grow e-mail lists. 

Next Clicks

MailChimp Website Signup Forms 

MailChimp Facebook Signup Forms (collect e-mails on your Facebook page)