Running your business in the digital age involves effectively managing your online reputation. The Internet affords you all sorts of ways to reach customers through advertising, but the web is often also a forum for disgruntled clients to vent their frustrations. While you may feel helpless in softening the blow of a negative review of your products or services, you … Read More
Harnessing Facebook vs Twitter For Small Businesses
Social media offers a cost-effective way of marketing a local business online. Many local businesses start out by using Facebook and Twitter for their online marketing campaigns, which is a fantastic choice because those two sites have more users than any others. However, what works well for marketing on Facebook doesn’t work so well on Twitter, and vice versa. Using … Read More
What You Need To Know About Spam Filters
What is a spam filter? The spam filter is a tool used in email to try to filter out “spam.” But what is spam? Spam’s technical definition is: “unsolicited, usually commercial email sent to a large number of addresses.”
Using Facebook’s “Stickiness” To Help Your Online Marketing
Recently, Inside Facebook came out with an article where they evaluated and measured Facebook’s “stickiness.” The article included statistics from SimilarWeb PRO about Facebook’s engagement and the influence it has on our lives. The data was astonishing—on average, there are over 828,000,000 Facebook visits a day. In addition, the average amount of time a day a user spends on Facebook … Read More
How to Create a Facebook Post That Converts
Facebook offers businesses the opportunity to connect with thousands, if not millions, of prospective customers. It’s pretty easy to get people to like your business’ Facebook page, but it’s frustrating when “likes” and “shares” don’t correspond to an increase in sales. Having hundreds of followers doesn’t do your business any good if they aren’t engaged in what you’re providing. Fortunately, … Read More
Focusing on Your Online Reputation Means Focusing on Your Customers
In today’s ultra-connected world, online reputation counts for a lot, even if your business has a strong offline element. A recent BrightLocal study found that 95% of consumers use the web to find local businesses. Bottom line is that if you do not have a strong online presence, you are going to lose customers. Why Invest In Protecting Your Online … Read More
How to Use Storytelling to Build Your Brand Online and Grow Your Small Business
Imagine having to sell a product or service without using words, only pictures. It may sound scary, but a savvy marketer would embrace the challenge by creating a pictorial storyline demonstrating the value of a product or business. The best marketers understand the basic concept that advertising is in itself a form of illustrative storytelling, relying upon verbal imagery to connect … Read More
More Customers Trust Online Reviews as Much as Personal Recommendations
A recent study on consumer behavior and local businesses reported that more customers trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations to determine the quality of a business. The study reported that in 2014, only 12% of consumers do not read online reviews, as compared to 15% in 2013 and 24% in 2012.
Why Nobody Reads Your Emails
Email marketing is a very important tool in engaging your customer base and growing your small business. Maximizing your success means making sure every email of yours will be read—and where appropriate, produce the desired call-to-action. However, that’s not always the case. Often times, people won’t read your entire email. With every email you craft, you’re investing time and effort … Read More
Yelp’s New Messaging Feature
Yelp just came out with a new instant messaging feature on their website, where customers can engage in conversation with local businesses. In 2011, Facebook came out with a private messaging system for business pages as well, but this is a big step for Yelp. For the most part, Yelp’s platform hadn’t really encouraged conversations between businesses and customers—that is, … Read More
