Does Your Business Really Need Digital Marketing?
February 10, 2019
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As a local business owner, it can be difficult to come up with great content ideas when you’re in the middle of running your business. Today I want to share 5 valuable content tips for local business social media success, so that you can spend less time thinking about what to post and more time doing it.
The ideas we cover are super-specific to local businesses such as yours, and that’s a key advantage for you. Because you’re selling to people in your local area, you can build deeper connections with them by building personal connections and talking about things that are relevant to your city. Here’s how.
The big idea from this blog post is all about being personal and staying relevant. As a local business owner, your customers want to know you on a first name basis. Don’t shy away from opportunities to share your journey as a business owner and to talk about the growth of your business. People love to get behind likeable local heroes.
Also, aim to ensure that your content is relevant to your area. Find ways to make it specific to the people in your town, whether that’s specific tips for people in your area or referencing different parts of your city. By using little details about your area, it makes your content and marketing feel a whole lot more personalised and specific to your customers.
Every city has local events, milestones and news that are relevant to the people that live there. Talking about the various things that are happening in your city throughout the year is a massive way to show your local roots, and to connect with other people in your area.
For example, you may have an annual marathon that takes place. Post about this event taking place or even find clever ways to link it to your services. If you’re a mechanic it could be something as simple as a picture of the finish line for your local marathon and a caption that reads,
“As much as we all love the annual city marathon, nobody wants to be left running around without a working car. Find out how we can help you spend less time stressing, and more time training for next year. Congrats to all the runners at today’s race!”
This could even be done on a smaller level too. If there are local markets happening, or a local basketball game – why not share that you’re attending and talk about how great it is to have these events happening in your town.
Maybe it’s even specific to your industry. If there’s an industry seminar, workshop or event taking place that you’re attending, show that you’re involved and heading along. This can help show your passion for your line of work and your desire to improve and help more people.
These little posts that are personal to your town make you more relatable to your customers. They see that you’re just like them, going to local sporting games or getting involved in community events. Plus, there is usually always something happening in the local community so you’ll never have an excuse to run out of local content ideas.
As I mentioned, people love doing business with other people. There’s a different sort of connection that happens when you know the person you’re buying from. Building up this connection and sharing the faces who make up your business can be a powerful way to strengthen your customer relationships.
This means you might share your stories about what’s happening in your business this week. It may be a funny customer story, or how something that happened in your office, or even one of your employees achieving something big. Celebrate and share the stories, of all sizes, that happen within your business.
When people start to see these stories online, they start to learn more about what goes on behind-the-scenes of your business. This gets them buying into who is a part of your business. They start learning that you and your team just celebrated being open for two years now. Or, the fact you’ve just brought on a new team member to help with your growing customer demand.
You can even go a step further and share employee profiles and have little quick facts about who they are and what they do. This can help to lower the barrier to customers purchasing because they start to see exactly who they will likely be dealing with. Plus, they’ll feel like they already sort of know you and your team.
There’s nothing better than a job well done. Especially in the eyes of potential customers. If they can see that you’re delivering fantastic results for other people, they’ll know you can likely do the same for them.
Sharing and highlighting stories of happy customers can be a great way to build up your perceived local loyalty. What I mean is that each of these success stories builds up your image as the local hero in your particular industry.
If you’re a local real estate agent, it may be getting a photo with a happy family as they move into their new home you found them. Share the journey you had with them, some of the troubles they were facing and questions they had. Also, go into a bit of detail about how you came together with them to work through those problems.
What this does is help other people in similar situations relate. They too may be feeling worried, for example, about what is the right home for them and their future family. By showing them that you worked through some big questions that others can answer to get some clarity, you show that you care, that you’re helpful, and that you know what you’re doing.
Also, a quick point is that it may not even be once a sale has been made. If you’re just meeting up with a customer or on the job somewhere, why not share the work you’re doing. If you’re a roofing company and you’re working at the local highschool, why not share this job you’re doing for them? Show that your work contributes to the wider community.
This is another important one for local businesses to start doing more of. Look for ways you can share valuable tips and insights to help people in your local community. Bonus points if it relates specifically to your target audience and engages with them.
If you run a local car dealership, it could be helpful content such as “3 things to ask yourself before you purchase your first car” or even more helpful to the broader community “How to clean your car in just 10 minutes”.
What you’re trying to do is share informative content that helps your wider community, and is also somehow tied into your industry or line of work. If it helps people solve a problem they’re having, or helps them improve their lives in some way, you’re doing great!
Sharing tips, tricks, insights or guides can all be great at positioning you in the local community as the “go-to” person for those types of jobs. Imagine being perceived as the most knowledgeable accountant in your area or the most experienced lawyer.
People want to do business with those they know can get them the results they want, so invest in showcasing your expertise. Share helpful bits of information and try to solve your customers problems or find ways to improve their lives.
The final concept idea is to get involved in your community and show how your business is giving back. You may be sponsoring the local football team or you donate a percentage of your profits to a good cause. It could even be fundraisers that your staff are taking place in, such as Movember or Relay for Life.
As much as you may feel worried to share these things because you don’t want to come across as being egotistical as a company, you should share them. It can be done in a genuine and authentic way, so just show that you come from a good place and are looking to help.
Being able to show that you’re involved in the community from the smallest things you help support can do wonders, because it shows your dedication to the people in your town. If you’re consistently showing that you’re a business that supports local people, that’s something everyone can get behind.
So, whether you’re sharing your business or providing helpful information to your followers, your key advantage as a local business is that you’re local. Lean into it if you want to win and start thinking about how you can start posting each of these types of content.
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