Social Media for Small Business | Introduction and Follow Up

S O C I A L M E D I A 1 0 1 F O R S M A L L B U S I N E S S

Marina & Cow HollowS E S S I O N 1 | I N T R O D U C T I O N

WHY SOCIAL MEDIA MATTERS

• Find new customers Help new customers find you

• This is NOT pay-per-click advertising

• Connect and learn from your existing customers

• Promote new products or services, events, sales, and community or business partnerships


Think of a company website or printed newspaper as a one-way conversation


Think of social media as a three-way conservation:

your business,

the customer who visited your store,

and…….. the rest of the public all listening in

You PotentialCustomers

CurrentCustomer

SOCIAL MEDIA | JUST ONE PART….• Social Media won’t solve all your problems

challenges.

• Social Media is another way to engage with current and NEW customers

• Social media doesn’t have to cost a lot of $$$ or a lot of time.There is no one-size-fits all solution, but there are some BASIC steps you can take to help new, and old customers, that forgot about you, get to know about your business

Local Economy

Storefront Appeal

Selection & Service

Reputation Branding

Social Media

Customers have to find your website.

They typically have to already know your website address

OR

Find your website easily on search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

Not always easy to do.

WEBSITES VERSUS SOCIAL MEDIA

WEBSITES VERSUS SOCIAL MEDIA

• Websites are not always easy to keep up to date, and too many small businesses spend too much $$$ on them

• You can actually do well without a website, BUT, there are some free and low-cost website services out there so don’t give up yet.

But let’s focus on some basic social media tools first….

THE PRIMARY SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS Nearly every business should consider using the following:

• Map Websites | Google, Yahoo, Bing(getting on map websites is different from search results on website search sites)

• Reviews | Yelp & Foursquare (map sites too!)

• Outreach | Facebook & Twitter | Events, Gossip (intel), Reviews

OTHER SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS

• Instagram | Photo Sharing Site

• LinkedIn | Social networking site designed for professionals.

• Pinterest | A site to collect and share thoughts (photos, ideas)

THE PRIMARY SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS“But, Omar, my business is just a simple neighborhood store, &

everyone knows me already.”

That may be true, but remember: New people are moving in……

and some of your customers are moving out of the City.

THE PRIMARY SOCIAL MEDIA TOOLS“But, Omar, my business is just a simple neighborhood store, &

everyone knows me already.”

That may be true, but remember:There are new competitors moving in like home grocery delivery. And if you succeed, you can be a key part of what makes a neighborhood feel fun, safe & inviting

Amazon Deliveries by Drone?

How are online mapping sites a social media tool?

They often integrate reviews about a business and help reinforce your overall web presence.

Map websites show: location, hours of operation, reviews, website links, & business categories

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 1.0Have customers find you and details that matter :Why details matter | Example: Your store is open later than your competitor’s store, but no one knows because they can’t easily find your store hours on their computer or smart phone.

STEP ONE | ARE YOU ALREADY ON GOOGLE MAPS?

This local business doesn’t show up when a customer searches for “appliance repair” in the Cow Hollow area on their iPhone. ?


This local business doesn’t show up when a customer searches for shoe repair on their iPhone, even when standing in front of the store

Only a competitor,New Marina Shoe Repair shows up…

STEP ONE | GET ON GOOGLE MAPS

• If you have a physical location open to the public, adding your business to Google Maps is a major first step (& Yelp/Bing Maps too).

• It’s easy, it’s free, and it allows new customers to find you using their home/work computer AND their smartphones.


First, check and see if your business was already listed by someone/customer.

Chances are the information (hours of operation or address) is out of date, or the little marker is in the wrong location!


You can also see reviews by customers on Google Maps

And you can add Up-to-Date photos!

STEP ONE | BASIC GOOGLE MAPS LISTING

• There’s the basic information you should have: Address, hours of operation, phone number, type of business

• But, you also need to know how customers can find you based on products or services, not just your business name…


If you learn nothing else from this course, know that taking the time to think about the business categories you are listed under can make a big difference in how customers find you.

Business Type Possible Keywords

Sit Down Restaurant Restaurant, Cafe, Ethnic Food Type

Bar, Wine Bar, Coffee & Tea

CafeRestaurant, Cafe,

Coffee Shop, Ethnic Food Type

Bar, Wine Bar


Techies have their own language

Tend to create groups that may not match the way you or I see a business

Take control, tell your story, what you focus on!


Sit Down Restaurant Restaurant, Cafe, Ethnic Food Type

Bar, or Wine Bar

Wellness CenterHealth & Beauty

YogaMassage

Hair Salon Hair Salon, Barber


If you learn nothing else from this course, know that taking the time to think about the business categories you are listed under can make a big difference in how customers find you.


Dry Cleaner Alterations

Tailor

Laundry

Upholstery Repair Wedding Dresses


Example: You own a small corner market near Fisherman’s Wharf with typical small grocery items, but you also sell fishing rods, fishing bait, and other supplies.


Fishing Supplies

If you added a category field of “fishing supplies” then a tourist visiting SF, using a map app (e.g. Google/Bing/Yahoo Maps) on their smart phone or hotel computer, can find your market by searching for “fishing supplies” near them!


Tip: If you don’t have time to create a website, you can always create a custom link using twitter or Facebook to create an imitation website to use instead for many sites (e.g. www.facebook.com/torinogrocery)

Fishing Supplies

http://www.facebook.com/torinogrocery

STEP ONE | YELP LISTING

Yelp Strengths & Challenges:

Used by a large number of folks to find and rate businesses

Claiming your page and getting updates shown can take time

Challenges with having few reviews then receiving a bad review

Yelp more likely to remove a review because the information appears false or fake,but not just because the review seems “mean.”

STEP ONE | YELP LISTINGYelp allows folks to find a business based on type of business, then look closer to see: If the business is still open Search by things like price range (make sure your price range is correct) Wheelchair accessibility Whether you take credit cards

STEP ONE | YELP LISTING

Make sure your “category” is correct. El Patio Restaurant does offer Latin/Mexican dishes, but it’s primarily a Salvadoran (Country = El Salvador) restaurant.

With the wrong category they may for example miss out on folks who want to try some lesser known Latin foods other than cuisine of Mexican origin

STEP ONE | YELP | RESPONDING TO BAD REVIEWS

Acknowledge | Admit if anything could have been handled better. Even better, indicate if you made a change in response to the customers review.

Re-invite | Ask them to come back and let you know when your coming. Other People | Everyone else will see your response. Many will respect you if you respond back politely. Plus many folks will really respect you if you respond sincerely to someone whose review isn’t just bad, but also bullying or mean spirited. People like rooting for the underdog! If it looks like the bad review included false information, ask them to help you improve your business by providing more details; as you’re having trouble tracking down the experience (lack of proof that they had a service done or bought a product or dined there).

STEP ONE | YELP | RESPONDING TO BAD REVIEWS

Remember that Yelp is more likely to remove a false review, not a mean one.

Don’t reveal personal/confidential financial or medical information in your post. If sensitive ask them to contact you privately.

Consider comments as free research. Sometimes you can’t help the complaint, but you can find a related problem that’s easy to solve (e.g. bad signage/communication)

Remember, people in SF like “sassy” responses by owners, not “rude” responses

STEP ONE | BASIC FACEBOOK FAN PAGE

Facebook has different types of pages, such as: Groups (usually for an ongoing issue/topic discussion)

Events (for a one time event)

Fan Page (good for a business)

Facebook Strengths & Challenges:

Easy way for customers who already know youto hear about events, specials, new products/servicesNot an easy way for most folks to findyour business for the first time

Recent advertising changes make it harder for small business

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 1.0 An up to date listing & photos on Google Maps, Bing Maps, and Yahoo Maps

A basic Foursquare & Facebook (fan) page

A Yelp Listing

Check out the website www.townsqd.com It’s a networking site just for small/medium businesses in a certain area (like a neighborhood commercial area of SF)

http://www.townsqd.com

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 1.0

• Committing to checking your reviews at least twice a month

• Committing to posting new photos or information too!Friday after payroll should be your social media checkup day!


• Tell your story! Does your deli offer a great ethnic food dish that most people don’t know about. Is there a story behind why you make the dish, such as a family member that passed down the recipe?

• How about putting up a poster telling your story…


• Add fun photos of three types:+ New dishes/products+ Customers actually enjoying products/services+ Cultural, Fun, Local events, or Informational Stuff + For a small ethnic restaurant maybe you and your co-owner standing in front wearing traditional clothing?

Don’t let the main photo customers ssee, be one a customer took and posted on

Yelp or Google Mapson a cloudy/foggy day define your

business


Staying fresh!

Google Alerts!

Meetup. com & LinkedIn. com


• Keeping a fresh look to your pages/listings. As the seasons change, such as Summer, are you highlighting new products/services?

• Are there ways to promote your business in connection with events, concerts, festivals, Sunday Streets (where the City closes down a City street for people to walk and relax), holidays, and neighborhood issues

• At the very least, putting up new photos of your business and products from time to time


• Setting up Google Alerts so that you receive an email automatically anytime your business name or business address is mentioned on a website


• Setting up Google Alerts so that you receive an email automatically anytime your business name or business address is mentioned on a website


• Place quotes around a multi-part word in the search box if you are looking for more specific results

• “The Enchanted Crystal”

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 2.0• Consider hosting small events or Meetups

Social Networking Site for Professionals

Find Jobs

Find Potential Employees

Follow Companies & Non-ProfitsConsidered by some a more mature version of networking compared to Facebook

(postings are often about economy or work place trends).

Great tool for those who provide professional services/consulting (attorneys, accountants,) by following certain local groups

Key Tips:

You can create a profile for yourself AND one for you as the business (with a custom name instead of a bunch of letters)

You can ask clients of yours to give you or your business a recommendation

You can post basic advice or answer questions in LinkedIn groups as a way to showcase your knowledge to potential customers

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 3.0• Looking up local bloggers. Nearly every SF neighborhood has a local blog that loves

to tell stories about local businesses, events, and sponsorships

• Getting a merchant’s association or other similar businesses to link to you on their website (this helps you move up on search engine listings for Google, Bing, and Yahoo). Example: You own a shoe repair place and at the bottom of your website, place a link to a chiropractor’s office down the street that you recommend to customers, and the chiropractor lists your shoe repair place. This helps both businesses move up in rankings of how easy they are for customers to find online!

BASIC SOCIAL MEDIA PUSH 3.0• Use sites like twilert.com to see what people are saying about your business on

Twitter, even if your business is not on Twitter

• Set up a Twitter Account

• Search Twitter for search terms such as “Union Street,” “Cow Hollow, “Marina Remember to use quotes around a multi-word phrase! And choose the “Near You” option on the left hand side of the page for more local tweets about a subject.

• A basic website, OR a simple blog that requires NO computer programming skills

http://twilert.com


Finding community assets, groups, events;

• Check the SF Planning website neighborhood groups map and contact list. Subscribe to newsletters/e-mail lists.If you are on/near a neighborhood commercial street like Union Street, create a Google Alert based on “Union Street” and “Union Street event”

• Sign up for newsletters from your local County Supervisors and neighborhood police station.


• Google+ accounts, while not as popular as Facebook, help you move up in search!

• Consistency Matters! Using the same business name and address(St. versus Street) makes a difference in the way search engines “rank” your business in terms of being relevant/real!Some websites like Google will “draw” information from smaller, lesser known websites like UrbanSpoon.com, YellowPages.com, and allmenus.com.

http://UrbanSpoon.com

http://YellowPages.com

http://allmenus.com

S O C I A L M E D I A 1 0 1 F O R S M A L L B U S I N E S S

Marina & Cow HollowS E S S I O N 2 | F O C U S O N G O O G L E M A P S & Y E L P

GOOGLE MAPS

• Look up business

• Is information missing/accurate

• Notice how the photois taken from Google StreetView?

• Choose “Are you the business owner”

GOOGLE MAPS

Google will call you, orsend a postcard so you can update your listings

GOOGLE MAPS

• Information is alreadyonline for this business

• Is this information correct?Address (st vs. street), phone number,hours, category of business, location marker, photos

GOOGLE MAPS

• Search:Google Local Add Business to add a business not already listed

GOOGLE MAPS

• Information is alreadyonline for this business

• Is this information correct?Address (st vs. street), phone number, hours, category of business, location marker, photos

GOOGLE MAPS

• Notice how the business is listed as a “Gift Shop” type on Google Maps and a “Jewelry Retailer” on Yahoo

GOOGLE MAPS

• Some less popular sites will also reviews

• It takes time and work but these reviews may be opportunity to thank customers and build new sales by letting them know of other new products/services/sales of interest

GOOGLE MAPS

• Some sites pull reviews from other providers….like Yelp

GOOGLE MAPS

• While your at it, check Google and Yahoo to see what other sites mention your business.

• Check for websites that offered a review of the business


• Check for websites that offered a review of the business

• Is the content still relevant? Photos? Items for Sale?

GOOGLE MAPS

• You can even add a range (miles) for deliveries

• Remember to add photos of products/items AND people enjoying those products/items

• Also add a photo of storefront


• Or search for websites that mention “Union Street” shopping. Consider partnerships with local business (e.g. hotels)

YELP

YELP

• Some reviews get filtered out Too long winded and negativeToo nice with 5 stars and a user that has few reviews for other businesses Review language that appears scripted

YELP

• Looks good, but you may want one of the sample photos to show folks enjoying the place

YELP

YELP

YELP

• Are there other related categories beyond home decor?

YELP• My co-founder Brian told me an interesting story about a hotel he stayed at in Ireland. He

chose the hotel for its excellent reviews on TripAdvisor, and his stay at the little hotel lived up to the hype. Upon checkout, the proprietor asked him if he enjoyed his stay. Brian replied that his stay was fantastic, and it lived up to the reviews he had seen online. The proprietor thanked him, and politely asked that if he truly enjoyed his stay, to please leave a kind word on TripAdvisor. The request wasn’t pushy, and was very respectful. Naturally, Brian left an excellent review.

• Today the hotel has nearly 500 reviews on Trip Advisor, with a 97 percent approval rating.

• The hotel owner, besides being a savvy business owner, used a technique that marketers have been using for ages: the norm of reciprocity. Humans are wired to return benefits when they’ve been helped, and will reply with hostility when they’ve been hurt. Brian was compelled to leave a pos

YELP• But thanks to the rise of Yelp, travelers are compelled to check online customer reviews and try out local

small restaurants rather than Mickey D's. When someone sees that a local eatery has four or five stars on Yelp, they’re more likely to bypass McDonald’s and go there instead, according to Forbes columnist and economics professor Panos Mourdoukoutas.

• Research confirms this. In their recent book Absolute Value: What Really Influences Customers in the Age of (Nearly) Perfect Information, authors Itamar Simonson and Emanuel Rosen look at research by Harvard business professor Michael Luca of the revenues of Seattle restaurants between 2003 (pre-Yelp) and 2009 (post Yelp’s introduction), which found that a one-star increase in Yelp rating raised a restaurant’s revenues by 5 to 9 percent. Luca also found that consumers gravitated away from large chains like McDonald’s and Applebee's as Yelp usage grew in Seattle. “I find that there is a shift in revenue share toward independent restaurants and away from chains as Yelp penetrates a market,” Luca wrote.

• While much of the research has been limited to restaurants, there’s good reason to believe Yelp—and Angie’s List, Google Local reviews and all the other online customer review sites—can boost consumer confidence in small companies.

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

Social Media for Small Business | Introduction and Follow Up