Ever think about whether or not it’s worth expanding your business’s online presence? Consider this: Everyone is using the internet these days to gather information about the things they want to see. Even the super-busy executives who use your website have personal lives, and they more than likely use some of their free time to explore social channels! So, is internet marketing right for your business? The answer is: Yes!
Interested in Marketing Your Business Online?
To begin, here are a few reasons why you should market your business online:
1. Proving Your Knowledge: People want to see valuable content, not advertising, when making purchasing decisions.
2. Visibility: Content is what spreads through social networks and generates great word-of-mouth exposure.
3. Rankings: Google ranks good content well in search results because it’s what people want to see.
4. Establishing Trust: Content gets people to know, like and trust your brand.
Imagebox focuses on providing “big brands for small business,” something that wouldn’t be possible without pushing valuable content through online channels for our clients. “My biggest customer inquired on the Internet,” a man from a WSI focus group in London said. “He had no idea of our size. Without the Internet I would not have gotten that inquiry, so it has enabled me to expand my business.”
Still not sure about internet marketing? Let’s address your concerns.
“My Company Doesn’t Need Internet Marketing”
I like to try to represent both sides of an argument when making a point. Before writing this blog post, I googled, “businesses that shouldn’t use internet marketing.” It seems that there are virtually no existing businesses that couldn’t benefit from an increased online presence. I only found a few results that made online marketing sound slightly negative. Here are 5 Reasons Why Your Business Shouldn’t Be On Social Media:
1. You don’t update.
This point is simple – if you’re not using your online accounts to engage your audience, you might as well not even have them. In this case, your business will not do well on social media.
2. You pick the wrong social networks for your industry.
Should your candy store be trying to start conversations with their customers on Linkedin? That would probably be a little silly, but they would do well putting fun posts on Facebook and Twitter. On the other hand, businesses offering professional services would perform well on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. People may be on Facebook and Twitter more for fun, but if you think that no one will find you there, you’re missing an entire demographic that will.
That being said, don’t just get on a social network because it’s available. Have a strategy and reason to expect your target audience to be on each network you use.
3. You don’t know what you’re doing.
You can’t produce good content until you commit to posting regularly and understand what your audience wants to see. Customers at your pet store probably don’t want to be bombarded constantly with your products and prices online, and neither do clients at a firm. At the same time, they don’t want to hear about your company’s internal status every day. They want information that is relevant to their interests and impacts their life.
Let’s say you post 15 times per month on social media. A commonly recommended rule of thumb is 10:4:1. Ten of the posts should share outside content, including studies, news, or other blogs you found that you can talk about to establish yourself as a trusted knowledge source in your industry. Four posts should be your own blogs that relate to your audience, specifically. Only one post per month should be pitching your product or service directly.
4. You don’t interact with your audience.
The point of having social is to engage your audience and let them see you as a human by responding to comments they leave, addressing questions they ask you in a blog, or just basically addressing their interests in posts. If you don’t do that, no wonder you aren’t getting any clients through social media!
5. You don’t make it worth your while.
You have business resources on social networks: boost posts on Facebook, advertise on Twitter, create sponsored posts on Linkedin, etc. Use them, but also use the cost-free tactics I already talked about. You would be surprised how many people in your target audience you can reach just by taking advantage of the resources available for free and low costs online.
Ready to Get Online?
No matter what product or service you offer, your clients and customers are looking for it online, even if the business transaction they have with you is offline. According to TopRank Online Marketing Blog, if a customer has to call you to figure out if they should buy your product you are doing something wrong. The point is for your prospects to be able to find your content online when they want to make a purchase. Start internet marketing, and watch as more clients and customers find you!