Tag: Small Business

Categories
Business Competition

This is What Causes Your Customers to Run to Your Competitor

It’s every marketer’s worst nightmare: Churn.

It’s what happens when customers, who are notoriously fickle with their loyalties, come to a company, only to leave eventually for your competitor.  If you’ve experienced this, it’s probably not specifically about your company. Every company experiences churn.

Customers are easy to lose, and that’s just a fact of marketing. Today, experts estimate that out of 26 unhappy customers, only one will complain directly to your company. The rest will simply leave. This may lead you to wonder what you’re doing wrong, why your customers are leaving for your competition, and how you can improve your level of customer service. If you’re asking these questions, you’re not alone. This post is designed to help you understand how to retain customers, why they leave, and what you can do to stop at the whole churn cycle.

Why Customers Leave: 5 Things That Will Send Them Through Your Competition’s Doors

While some amount of churn is random, owing largely to customers in decision or preferences, lots of churn can be prevented. The first step is to understand why it happens. With this in mind, here are the five most common reasons that customers churn in today’s environment:

1. You Play Favorites

We get it, there’s some level of intelligence associated with paying the most attention to your loyal, returning customers. Those customers are worth more, and it’s easier to sell to them. Despite this, though, you don’t ruin returning clients by neglecting the clients that are coming to your company for the first time. If you do this, customers will catch on. If they feel like you’re playing favorites with your more established customers, they are simply going to leave.

With this in mind, focus on customer service. 84% of customers say that salespeople don’t share enough information with them and that this causes frustration which makes them want to take their business elsewhere. Once this happens, you’re in a deep, deep hole. It takes an average of 12 positive customer service experiences to make up for a single negative experience.

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With these things in mind, it’s clear that you’ve got to start treating all your customers equally. Instead of rewarding loyal clients for expected Behavior, start focusing on nurturing new clients, as well. When you pay your full attention to both pursuits, you have a better chance of creating a more balanced client base.

2. You Make Things Inconvenient

Customers love convenience. When you make working with your company inconvenient, it’s not going to fly. In an age where Amazon rules everything, virtually everything can be had within 2 days, and for free.

Customers or shopping online more than ever before and it’s clear that offering an inconvenient or clunky sales process will just earn your abandonment. With this in mind, focus on making your buyer’s journey as simple and streamlined as possible.

If you can look at your pipeline and identify where you’re losing customers, you’ll be able to find a way to resolve the pain point and retain business. Additional elements, like a mobile app, or online payment processing will go a long way toward making your shopping experience more streamlined as well.

3. Your Wait Times are Too Long

If you work in retail, it’s likely that you still have some checkout counter somewhere. Well, these checkout counters can be fantastic because they allow you an opportunity to interact face-to-face with your customers and create a real relationship, they can also be a serious liability.

Today, 86% of customers will leave it a store if the line to checkout is too long. With this in mind, it’s time to start asking if you have developed a line management system for your retail business.

If you haven’t, now is the time to start thinking about why, and how to build one. The answer may lie in building more check-out stations, hiring more staff, or utilizing a technological waiting line management system, which can also be helpful.

4. You’re Not Innovating

Customers today get bored. Who can blame them? There’s so much to look at in today’s retail environment. Modern customers have the option of choosing from countless companies, countless products, countless marketing schemes, countless checkout options, and more. There are dozens of ways for them to get the things they want.

Because of this, your company can either innovate or sink. If you are offering customers the same old products, goods, and services they’re used to, and you’re finding that you’re experiencing a lot of churn regardless, the answer might be that you’re not innovating enough. Innovation isn’t something that you can Plateau on. It requires constant maintenance and a close attention to detail. Once you’ve done it once, you need to keep redoing it, adjusting it to your customers, and ensuring its scaling with your business. The process goes on forever. To ensure that innovation is as efficient and targeted as possible, identify a couple of common pain points in your business. Next get your team to put their heads together to find new ways to route around the issue and provide better service for both employees and customers.

5. Your Competition is Just…Better

Nobody wants to hear this, but sometimes customers leave because your competition offers a better product good or service. In this case, it’s time to put your feelings and offensiveness aside, and figure out what action you can take as a result.

While every founder wants to think of their company as the best on the block, this isn’t always true. The great news is that you can use this as a lesson. What is your competition doing that you’re not? How can you mimic or improve upon their offerings?

Are they paying attention to customers in a way that you are not, but should be? Thinking about all of these things won’t make you any weaker as a company, it will only improve your offerings and make you more aware of your surroundings. If you’re not sure what your consumers like about your competition.

Consider sending out an email survey to past customers. The feedback might be hard to read, but it will certainly be illuminating.

Keeping Customers in Your Store

Although there’s no way to retain 100% of your customers 100% of the time, there are ways to reduce churn in your organization and ensure that the customers that you worked hard to earn stay where they belong.

But improving your customer service, taking lessons from your competition, and understanding how you can treat each customer equally and compassionately, will improve the offerings of your organization, and ensure that you are building long, happy customer to client relationships.

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Categories
Facebook Marketing

The 5 Things Your Facebook Page Needs to Look Professional

Your Facebook page: it’s your company’s digital doorstep. Whether you’re setting up a new home page for your brand or trying to ensure that your existing one is as good as possible, you know that quality is everything, and it’s essential to ensure your page reflects your business to its absolute best.

The question, then, is how?

Remembering that Facebook sees nearly 2 billion monthly active users, you know that it’s essential to put your best digital foot forward and ensure that your customers are getting what they need from your page.

To put this another way, if your Facebook page isn’t displaying a comprehensive strategy designed to get you liked, noticed, engaged with, and followed, you’re missing out.

Here’s what you need to know about creating a professional, high-quality Facebook page:

Why Facebook Matters

First things first: why is your Facebook page so important? If you’re still waiting to understand the value of Facebook for business, here are a few things you need to know about the platform and its significance:

  • Facebook is the most popular social network site for marketers. Facebook is the top social channel for marketers. With more than 80% of marketers using the platform, it’s clear that not being on Facebook simply won’t do. In addition to so many people being on Facebook, marketers also overwhelmingly state that Facebook is one of the most effective marketing channels they use, with 73% of marketers saying it’s very useful.
  • Facebook is a significant driver of social media referral traffic. If you’re going to use a social media platform to gain social media referrals, Facebook is a great option. In 2014, for example, Facebook drove nearly 25% of all social media referrals, compared to the combined 31.24% driven by other social media sites.
  • Facebook offers the opportunity to create and distribute engaging social content. Facebook provides a high level of organic outreach, which makes it a perfect platform for learning how to engage and connect with your fans truly. If you’re just getting started on social media interaction, Facebook is the ideal way to master the art and connect more meaningfully.
  • Facebook hosts more than 40 million small business pages. Today, small business pages abound on Facebook. This means that anyone who wants to get noticed has to hop on the platform and participate. If most companies are using at least three social networking sites, it goes without saying that Facebook should have a place on the list.

5 Things A Facebook Page Needs to Look Professional

Now that you know why Facebook matters so much, let’s talk about what you can do to ensure your page looks professional, beautiful, and worthy of engagement:

1. Use a Business Page

If you’re operating your “business” page from a personal profile, you need to alter the approach. While a personal page is great for your personal life, using a Facebook business page will put you at a larger advantage.

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Not only do business Facebook pages offer access to content creation tools, paid promotional opportunities, and all the analytics and insights you need, but a professional profile will also create a verified page that looks more professional and boosts the confidence of potential customers. Once you’ve established a Facebook business page, use these tips to optimize it:

  • Choose the right name. Your Facebook business page should be your business name, nothing else, nothing less.
  • Customize your vanity URL. Change the default URL on your page to reflect your company’s name. As a general rule, the vanity URL should match your page’s title. Not only will this improve findability, but it’ll look more personalized and professional.
  • Complete your profile. Your profile picture, cover photo, bio, and profile should all contain up-to-date information and should reflect the professionalism of your brand. Keep in mind that consistency is key here and that your main visuals should all match one another.

2. Create an Engaging Cover Photo

Your cover photo should do much of the legwork associated with your business. Since the cover photo takes the majority of your “above the fold” space on your page, it’s essential to choose one that reflects your brand and engages your viewer. Keep in mind that you can also be nimble with your cover photo as you launch new promotions, seasonal sales, and products.

A tip for Facebook cover photo success? Cover photo guidelines change frequently, so it’s important to keep your eye on your page to make sure the dimensions match. When you keep your visuals within the official guidelines, you’ll have a better chance of them being high-quality and visible.

3. Add a Compelling CTA

A call-to-action, or CTA, is an essential part of your Facebook page. After launching the CTA feature back in 2014, Facebook has vastly expanded the options for adding CTAs to your brand page.

Today, you can choose from a variety of options like “sign up,” and “book now,” Each CTA can be customized with a piece of content or destination URL of your choice. These CTAs are a great way to increase traffic and get more views on the Facebook content business owners want to focus on.

4. Fill out Your “About” Section

One of the most important pieces of your successful page: the “About” section. Often, one of the first places a potential customer will go for more information about you and your business. It is important to outline your value proposition and mission statement clearly, and create biographies of you and your team.

Make sure it’s detailed and engaging as it is meant to build rapport between you and your new customer.

5. Post Photos and Videos

It is time to add some content. Photos and videos are an effective medium to communicate your message and engage your visitors. Visual content is 40x more likely to be shared than any other types of content, and it’s essential for you to focus on this area as you work on creating brand-specific content.

Make sure you post often content that is relevant, quality, and speaks to your brand. Don’t forget to have some fun!

A Better Facebook Page Starts Here

In today’s business environment, your Facebook page is integral to your success. These simple guidelines can elevate your brand and further drive sales all while helping you connect you to your customer base.

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Categories
Small Business Marketing

Why Branding Your Social Images Makes you Stand out From Your Competition

Today, social media is synonymous with online marketing. If you’re looking for a way to improve your brand’s online presence and encourage more people to interact with your company, engaging on social media is one of the best things you can do.

It’s also important to remember, though, that social media is a very crowded field, and standing out requires getting creative. The more you can set yourself apart from the competition, the better you’ll fare. One of the best ways to do this is simple: brand your images on social media.

Here’s what you need to know about this straightforward approach, and how doing it can improve your efforts, both now and in the future.

Why Brand Your Social Images?

Starting a business is a great deal of work. It’s especially challenging in the digital age when companies must either adapt rapidly to online norms or fade into obscurity. One consideration that entrepreneurs need to get right from the beginning of the startup process is how to deal with and stand out from the competition.

We live in a highly capitalistic society, and everyone’s “out to get theirs.” For online companies to succeed in this industry, they must develop approaches which are unique and separate from the rest of the herd.

This is where branding social images comes in. Because Facebook is a highly visual platform, it stands out as one of the most crowded platforms on the web. It’s tough to stand out and even tougher to have your images noticed in the virtual sea of images. Fortunately, it’s easier to get around this issue if you figure out how to deal with competitors right from the get-go.

5 Reasons to Brand Your Social Images

There are dozens of reasons to brand your social images, not the least of which is recognizability. Here are a few things you need to know about the benefits of branding your social images, and how it can help your brand stand out online:

1. Recognition

Part of any great brand is recognition. Think about it with the brands you know and love. Nike, for example, Nike and Coca-Cola are both highly recognizable brands, and they achieve this with intelligent branding. Each brand has a defined color scheme, a [content_leads]specific and continuous brand voice, and a masterful understanding of how best to brand their social media images and interactions. Both of these things create a sense of recognition for consumers, and make it easier for customers to trust brands across the board.

2. It Makes a Great First Impression

First impressions go a long way, we have all heard it before. Specifically, when it comes to your business’ website or social media page, the first glance can make all the difference and ultimately whether you just made a sale or not.

Our fast-paced, smartphone-driven world has accelerated this process. Having a well-designed website is essential to a productive first impression.

According to a report from the 2007 Design Council Report, companies with intentional design-conscious websites and social media sites outperformed those who did not. Simply stated, if you want a positive first impression and to form a lasting relationship with a potential customer, put some time, effort, and resources into these digital assets.

3. It’s Engaging for Consumers

When starting a new business, never be afraid to take a page out of someone else’s book. Established, successful businesses offer bulls-eye information about how effective design and creative branding can engage customers for the long run.

Take two examples: Apple and Nike.

Both use creative quotes and aesthetic design in their branding to engage consumers and ultimately offer an experience that is not just about shoes or computers. To capture the attention of a potential buyer in today’s vast consumer sea, focus on functional elements of design in your marketing with a brand strategy which speaks to your mission.

4. It Allows You to Target Certain Consumers

Whether it is a specific holiday campaign or a new product release, effective use of design in your marketing will help push sales either for a target audience or for a specific market. Make sure that your design choice aligns with your message and goal.

For instance, let’s suggest that you are the proprietor of a small local crepe shop on and as the leaves begin to change color, everyone enters a pumpkin spice frenzy. You want to further capitalize on this demand and reach as many potential pumpkin-spice aficionados as possible, so you incorporate fall design elements on your social media sites, create some storefront advertising, and perhaps put a new banner on your Facebook page to signal the return of the pumpkin spice extravaganza. All of it is equipped with your logo, and – boom! – you’ve got an effective marketing campaign.

It’s easy to see how creative and effective design and campaign alignment can boost sales in a particular group of consumers.

5. Direct Marketing Tool

There are many marketing tools in your toolbox. Print, email, website, TV, radio, etc. When reaching directly to consumers in this fashion, as we mentioned earlier, first impressions are paramount.

Effective design, consistency, and focus of message will heighten your success. For new business owners who lack the funds to be able to invest heavily in some of the more expensive direct marketing options, think and start small, a well-designed business card is an easy way to make a lasting impression.

Branding Social Images

In the digital age, the competition is more ferocious than ever, the landscape ever-changing. Creating an authentic voice into today’s digital marketplace is essential to establishing a brand consumers are interested in, and more importantly, connect with.

We all want an edge, and by using social media and other digital mediums, you take an important first step in creating a lasting connection with consumers all while establishing your digital voice.

When done effectively, your customers will value your authenticity and want to see and know more. Think about first impressions, your design aesthetic, how to effectively communicate your values, and how you can use your social images as a way to improve your business for the long run and for certain campaigns.

Are you looking for a skilled agency to help you brand your social media images? Contact our team today for additional assistance!

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Categories
Business Websites

The 5 Things People are Going to Your Website to Find

Building a website for your business is a great way to attract new customers and keep in touch with old ones. What many business owners miss, though, is that customers expect certain things from your website.

This is not a one-way relationship. If you’re going to build a website, you need to ensure that it offers the things that your customers expect to find. Here’s an overview of the top five things customers want to see on your website and will leave if they can’t.

1. Your NAP Information

First things first, your website should contain your name, address, and phone number. While this seems obvious, these are things that many website owners forget. This is a significant problem and easily avoidable.  

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Customers who cannot find your phone number also cannot call you. Considering how many website searches start with local intent, it’s downright silly not to have your address on your website.

If you don’t post your address, phone number, and name, customers don’t know where to locate you, how to get in touch with you, or really anything that they need to know to do business.

With this in mind, keep your NAP information up-to-date and on your website. As a general rule, it should be large, centrally located, and easy for customers to find no matter where they are on your site.  Bonus points for making it clickable.

If you have a separate business and mailing address, use your physical address on your website. That’s mostly the one that customers will be looking for, and is an essential one to present to them.

2. Contact Forms

In some cases, customers aren’t necessarily looking to call you right away. They may have a complaint, may have a question, or may have some other inquiry that they would rather submit via email or contact form. As such, it’s ideal to offer an electronic means of contact on your website.

This is also essential for small business owners who can’t always get to the phone, and don’t have a dedicated gatekeeper. Email addresses that are unfamiliar tend to be picked up by spamming Bots so many small-business owners set up contact forms on their website. These forms work on WordPress sites or other similar platforms. For best results keep them short and to the point.

3. Pricing Information

One of the first questions. The only way they’ll get an answer to this question is if you post pricing information on your website. With this in mind, respect everyone’s time and make your prices clear, easy to understand, and simple for your customers to navigate. Customers want to know that they’re working with a person.

Your website should have extensive pricing information. This will give potential customers an idea of the level of service they want to purchase before contacting you.

Not only will this help you come off as upfront and honest to your customers, but it will also save you plenty of time on the phone explaining your pricing and going back and forth. To avoid issues with publishing your pricing, be sure to update pages frequently and inform long-standing customers of any price changes.

4. An “About Page”

Customers want to know who they’re working with, what your company is all about, and what drives you. Because of this, it’s essential to offer a comprehensive, detailed, unique about page.

Although this about page will vary depending on who you are and what your company’s mission is, the general must-haves for an about page include your company’s background, a bit of information about the founders or managers, a breakdown of your services, and a general expansion of your company’s elevator pitch.

Your website, no matter how short or long it may be, should always have an about page that explains your experience, your company’s values, and what makes you unique.

5. Social Media Links

No website is complete without some social media links. To keep your customers coming back for more, offer social media links right off the bat. They should be prominent, featured at the bottom of each page on your website, and should link directly to the social page and question.

For best results, use matching social media icons to take customers to your various pages. When customers can find your social media effortlessly and easily, they’re more likely to follow, share, and interact in the ways that you want them to.

Additional Tips to Make Your Website Better for Customers

Once you’ve ensured your website meets the above requirements, you’re well on your way toward a functional and helpful site. Are there things you can do to make it better, though? Of course! Here’s your step-by-step guide to a better site, made simple.

  • Improve Your Images. One of the easiest ways to make your website higher-quality and more customer-facing is to reboot it with images. Think of a set of fresh images like a coat of fresh paint: it’s the perfect, low-cost way to improve your site design and ensure your customers have something nice to look at. If you’d like to, you can hire a photographer to refresh your website images. This is an option for marketing companies with a larger budget, as this will be a relatively expensive option. If you’re looking for a lower-cost alternative, consider investing in a few excellent stock images, instead. Sites like Pexels and Shutterstock offer high-resolution free or paid stock photos that you can use throughout your website and other marketing materials.
  • Improve Your Typography. A strong typeface is ideal for setting your website apart from the rest. Ideal for creating hierarchy and visual interest, typography is an excellent way to make your website more modern and beautiful. Not sure which typefaces go together?  This breakdown from Canva is a great way to see which fonts pair together nicely.
  • Add a Video. Did you know that the human brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than text? With this in mind, consider adding a video to your website homepage. An excellent way to give your customers an immediate breakdown of your company, and ensure they know what they’re getting by visiting your page, a video is an excellent addition to any high-quality website.

A Better Website Starts Here

There are dozens of ways to improve your website, but they’re not all created equal. When it comes time to build it, the first thing you must do is ensure you’re offering the experience customers want. By giving them the five things they’re coming for, you can enhance interest and ensure they have a positive experience. Take this one step further with the bullet points above for a site that will knock your buyers out of the park!

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Categories
Customer Appreciation

How to Host a Remarkable Customer Appreciation Party

If you’re planning to throw a customer appreciation party, there’s one thing you have to do, no matter what: make sure it doesn’t suck. Because the stated purpose of a client event is to celebrate your customers, recognize milestones, and say “thank-you” for all the business that has kept your company afloat and growing, it’s essential to ensure you’re getting it right when you begin the efforts of throwing a client appreciation party.

The stakes here are high, and you can’t afford to miss the mark.

Think of it this way: the last thing you want to do is invest largely in the event, pouring time and money into it, only to realize that it isn’t creating the ROI you want. Mistakes, in this arena, are costly, and it can be very damaging to try and rush a party without taking the time to pay attention to detail.

Here’s what you need to know to create a customer appreciation party that drives results.

How to Host an Event That Knocks Everyone’s Socks Off

Never was a party planner? That’s okay. You don’t have to be, and it’s still possible to throw an event that keeps everyone wanting to come back for more.

There’s a catch, though, and that’s simply that throwing a “wow” event requires ongoing planning and organization, as well as careful attention to detail. Depending on the size of the event, you’ll want to start planning about 3-6 months in advance.

This gives you enough time to iron out details without sacrificing anything, and not enough time that your customers have forgotten you’re even having a party by the time it comes around.

If you have a team that’s going to help you plan the event, it’s a great idea to meet a few times a month to discuss details and ensure everyone is on the same page.

5 Things to Consider for Your Event

The most overwhelming part of planning a customer appreciation party is that the process involves dozens of easy-to-miss details. Luckily, this list will help ensure you’re not overlooking anything you should be paying careful attention to:

1. The Purpose of the Event

Sure, a customer appreciation party is meant to show your customers you appreciate them, but what else are you looking to create at this event. For example, if you want to lightly drive attention to a new product, good, or service, now is a great time to do it. If you’ve laid the right foundation, your customers will be primed, shop-ready, and more than willing to hear about what you have to offer, regarding new products. Bonus points if they go out into the world and tell their friends.

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This is also a great time to announce a shift of direction in your company or to release any exciting new news regarding management, location, ownership, etc. that you may have.

2. Who Does What

Defining responsibilities is an essential part of ensuring the party goes off without a hook. It’s also critical for making sure nothing gets overlooked or neglected as you take your customers down to party town. To this end, be sure to lay out key details, such as who does what, the theme of the party, the event’s budget, date, and initial guest list. From here, team leaders can assign more specific tasks and work together to ensure every base is covered, from start to finish.

3. Invitations

How will you invite your customers? This is a major consideration and one that comes down to how you typically interact with your customers. If you send a great deal of direct mail, for example, you may choose to mail out paper invitations. You can also invite on social media or send out digital invitations, via your email newsletter or a service like Paperless Post. If you send out emailed invitations, be sure to follow up about 6-8 weeks before the party date.

4. Entertainment

Entertainment is essential to any great party. What you choose to hire depends, in large part, on the type of company you’re running. If you’re in touch with local bands you know and trust, consider hiring one of them to play the party for you. You can also look into creating an office band or making a move to bring in some outside entertainment that you’ve heard good things about.  

No matter what, entertainment should be exciting, appropriate, and something that your customer base will enjoy.

5. Your Venue

Depending on the size of your event, you may choose to have it at your office, or offsite, somewhere else.

The type of venue you choose depends, in large part, on the size of the party, the theme, and the budget. If you’re on a budget, consider looking into non-traditional venue options, such as parks, local community buildings, and restaurants. These are all great places to hold a unique event without going over-budget.

If you need help finding a good venue, you can always look to local party planners, your local chamber of commerce, and party rental companies who may have some great recommendations.

What About ROI?

Now that you’ve planned a killer customer appreciation party, you’ll want to come up with a plan to gauge the ROI for the event. After all, why put all this money into a party if you’re not getting something back? This is especially true if you’re offering things like coupons, vouchers, discounts, or other “appreciation” prizes to your customers, or if you’re giving them free items or materials as a “thank you.”

To gauge your ROI, you’ll want to refer back to the goal you initially set. For example, if the goal of your party was simply to encourage engagement with your customers, you’ll want to find a way to tie new business back to the people who attended your party. You can do this by adding an option to your “how you heard about us” form or by simply tracking coupons, discounts, and vouchers.

This is a great way to keep an eye on how far the effects of your party truly go, and whether your ROI is positive or negative. It’ll also provide a basis for planning future parties, and learning what to do and what not to do.

Making Sure Customers Appreciate Your Appreciation Party

The point of your customer appreciation party is to thank the people who keep you in business and allow you to keep growing, changing, and reaching for your goals. Because of this, it’s a significant event and not one you want to take lightly. Fortunately, these five tips can help you cover your bases and create an event you know you’ll be proud of. They’re also an excellent way to make the most of your existing customer base and ensure they remember your brand as one that cares deeply about them. So, what are you waiting for? Get planning!

Need help putting together an award-winning customer appreciation party? Contact our team today for top-quality assistance!

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Categories
Facebook Marketing

5 Reasons Your Business Needs to Post to Facebook 2x a day, Every day

If you run a business, you know there are dozens of reasons to be on Facebook. The first is that Facebook is the largest social media platform in the world, and that there are millions of people who use it daily.

The truth is, how you interact on Facebook makes a major difference in the overall trajectory of your business. If you’re not posting regularly or posting the right things, you risk missing out on traffic you could be earning. Fortunately, there are ways to get around this and to create a social posting strategy that truly works for you and your life. Moreover, one that works for your business.

Here’s what you need to know about why interacting more on Facebook is such a great idea.

The Benefits of Facebook Interaction

First things first: why does interacting on Facebook matter so much? Here are a few things you should  know:

  • Facebook messenger has more than 600 million users
  • There are 20,000 people on Facebook every single second, which amounts to 11 million users on Facebook every 18 minutes
  • Facebook users are accessing Facebook from their mobile platforms 79% of the time
  • 50,000 messages are sent on   every minute
  • 500,000 Facebook likes each minute
  • Every hour, Facebook generates $1.4 million in revenue
  • Facebook earns $2.5 billion a quarter from mobile advertising
  • People share 1.3 million pieces of content each minute on Facebook
  • Facebook’s user base is 66% millennials

Why You Should Post 2x Daily on Facebook

When it comes to Facebook, there’s a solid two-a-day rule that holds pretty true. There are many reasons for this. The first is that posting twice a day is essential for any company with a substantial Facebook following. In these cases, posting twice a day is almost literally the only way to maximize clicks and engagement on content.

There are also many other reasons to post twice a day on Facebook. Here are some of the largest:

1. Posting Twice Daily Hits Your Entire Audience

Facebook’s algorithm has undergone many changes in recent years. Because of this, posting twice daily is one of the best ways to ensure that you’re actually reaching your entire audience. If you only post once a day, you’ll miss certain audiences that aren’t on Facebook at certain times.

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When you post twice a day, you’ll hit your entire audience and ensure that everyone sees the content you have to offer. What’s more, posting twice a day is a great way to reuse content or share new material with people.

2. Posting Twice a day Keeps You Accountable

It’s easy to lapse when you start posting on Facebook. Fortunately, committing to a twice-daily posting schedule will keep you accountable and on top of things.

This is especially true for brands that are looking to create solid and specific outcomes for their brands. When you post twice a day, it’s easier than ever before to do this.

3. More Engagement Means More Sales

It’s simple math: the more engagement you get on your Facebook page, the more sales you’re going to make. Here’s a simple breakdown:

  • More engagement on your page means a higher rank for your page
  • More reach on your page means more traffic to your website and blogs
  • More reach for your blog posts means more clicks on your posts
  • More sales mean more money for you and your company

Think all these results sound great? Perfect, but you can’t achieve them without posting regularly to Facebook. Unless you spend a significant amount of time on the platform, your customers won’t reward you with their engagement or interaction.  

With this in mind, keep your engagement on the Facebook platform routine and regular. It’s the best way to create more engagement and, ultimately, to drive more sales.

4. Facebook Wins for Referral Traffic

Of all the social media platforms out there, Facebook drives the most referral traffic of anything. Compared to Pinterest, YouTube, and Twitter, Facebook is the heavy-hitter when it comes to driving traffic and keeping your brand in front of customers. In December of 2014, for example, Facebook drove nearly 25% of all web referral traffic, compared to the 31.24% driven collectively by all other social sites combined. If you’re still using search as your primary source of traffic, this major boost in social referrals could be a huge boon for your company. Especially as search traffic continues to change, social media referral traffic continues to become more important. The catch, though, is that you can only take advantage of this social referral traffic if you frequently post on the platform.

5. Facebook Currently Houses More Than 40 Million Active Pages for Small Business Users

While it may seem like there’s no reason to put yourself in the line of fire and compete with 40 million other small businesses, this is more of a “keeping up with the Joneses” situation.

If you’re not on the same platform as 40 million other competitors, you’re going to miss out on traffic, sales, and conversions that should have and could have been yours. With this in mind, it pays to get onto Facebook, carve out your niche, and commit to a regular posting schedule for the sake of keeping your audience engaged and attached.

The Case for Facebook

Facebook is a powerful marketing platform, and it deserves an active spot in your marketing arsenal. If you’re not posting twice daily on the platform, though, you’re not using it to its full potential. By posting twice daily on the platform, you stand to increase engagement with your customers, ensure your posts are reaching your entire audience (rather than just part of it), drive attention around your sales, events, and promotions, and create a dynamic and exciting Facebook page experience that will keep customers coming back for more.

If you’re having trouble maintaining the 2x weekly Facebook posting schedule, one of your best options is to enlist a professional agency that will work with you to ensure you’re managing the platform the way you want to, and that your customers are getting what they need from your agency.

Our team is here to ensure you get quality Facebook posting and management services, no matter what kind of company you run. Contact us today to learn more about our social media engagement services, or to select your ideal package now.

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Categories
Local Search

5 Website Elements That Will Make Your Local Customers Happy

Did you know that more than 50% of customers who conduct a local search will visit a store within a day? What’s more,78% of local mobile searches result in an offline purchase, and about 56% of all “on-the-go” searches have local intent.

To put this another way, local search is BOOMING, and now is the time to hop aboard.

If you’re wondering how to optimize your website to speak to these local customers, wonder no longer.

This post is here to guide you through the process.

5 Must-Have Website Elements for Local SEO

If local customers are everywhere, how do you attract them to your website? Here are seven actionable tips to implement right now:

1. Keep Your NAP Consistent Across All Directories

NAP stands for name, address, phone number, and refers to the “how to find us” information you must always keep consistent. The reason for this is simple: NAP information is instrumental in ensuring customers know how to locate you. If it’s inconsistent or inaccurate, you thwart the best attempts of your customers to track you down.

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Unfortunately, about 49% of businesses never update their NAP information online. To make the most of local search, don’t be like these businesses. Instead, keep your NAP information consistent and update it across all major listings whenever anything changes.

2. Collect Positive Reviews

If you want to build credibility for your business, collecting local reviews is one of the best things you can do. The reasons for this are many. The most important, though, is trust.

Right now, 84% of customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations from friends. Because of this, collecting a few high-quality online reviews is one of the best ways to position your company as trustworthy and reliable, and ensure those local customers keep walking through your doors.

If you’re not sure where to start collecting reviews, turn to social sites like Facebook, your Google listing, and relevant platforms like Yelp and Angie’s List.

3. Create Local Content

If you want to dominate local search, you need to focus on dominating local content, as well. Local content serves a few essential purposes when it comes to your site’s SEO. To start, it makes it possible to earn links and get the “link juice” you need to ensure search engines are pointing customers to your site.

Secondly, creating local content positions you as an authority in your industry, and ensures that customer will turn to you for information and knowledge.

Finally, having a large amount of local content in your holster gives you material to share on social media and boosts the likelihood that you’ll land positive press mentions, which, in turn, make it possible to grab the attention of new customers and earn the business you deserve.

4. Optimize for Google My Business

Google is the most dominant search engine in the world, and it wants to focus on sharing content it can support and verify.

While Google uses dozens of different metrics to verify a site’s quality, Google My Business is their primary tool. As it stands now, Google evaluates My Business listings to determine if a business is authentic, learn what it offers, and push listings to customers.

With this in mind, it’s essential to optimize for Google My Business. Here are a few steps to do that:

  • Create and verify a Google My Business page
  • Use Google Posts within your account
  • Gain reviews on your Google My Business page
  • Encourage customers to post and respond to reviews online

Google automatically assembles this information for your business based on other data they can find about your business online. This is important because, unless you claim your business listing through GMB, you could be missing out on positive reviews and feedback left about your company across the web.

5. Optimize Web Content

The final step in optimizing your site for local SEO is to turn your attention to your lesser-noticed content, including your URL, title tags, headers, and meta description.

While a great deal of local SEO is just showing up and making it possible for customers to find you, there’s also a very technical aspect to the process. Since Google indexes your pages for later use, it pays to ensure all of your content is optimized accordingly.

With this in mind, check your URL, title tags, site and page headers, and meta descriptions for relevant elements like keywords, geo-targeted information, and more.

Not only will these elements help your content appear in search engines, but it’ll make it possible for highly desirable local customers to find you.

The Case for Local SEO

Today, four out of five customers turn to search engines to find information on local businesses. Because of this, you could miss out on about 80% of your possible customers by simply failing to optimize for local search.

Fortunately, positioning your website for local search is easier today than it’s ever been, and following these five tips is a great way to get a leg-up on the competition.

While SEO is always changing, the importance of local search will only continue to climb, and now is a fantastic time to hop aboard.

Need help with your website? Contact our team today to start your project!

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