If you have not claimed, updated or thought about getting your business properly listed in Google Maps or as it is now called Google Places, then you need to make it a priority now. 

Listen Here to the Google Maps Audio

Getting to page one of Google in the organic search results can take months, years or possibly never but you can get their through the Local Map Database.

Takeaway:

Your primary Facebook account should be your personal name and have a picture of you on the profile.  You should become “friends” with your friends, family and other people you want to stay in touch with which can include people you do business with.

Your business should be setup as a Fan Page.  This is where you add a picture of your business to the profile and include comments, photo’s, videos and blog posts about your business.  You can invite your friends, family, clients and prospect to “like” your business page so you can stay in touch with them.

Create a welcome page and make that the default page for when new people land on your Fan Page.  Tell them what your business is all about and that you want them to click the like button so you can stay in touch.

Publish great information to your blog and have it feed directly into your Fan Page so people you know see it.  Blogs are a great way to both get found in Google through organic search, as well as notify people who already are connected with you.  Your circle of influence with expand if you use these tools together.

If you spend time connecting with people, it can help you grow your business.  But if you use your primary account as your business then you run the risk of getting the account, and all your hard work removed without notice.

For those of you still hesitant to launch your local business involvement in social media, here’s another wake-up call: A new study released by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies surveyed over 1,500 people to reveal that people are more likely to purchase and recommend products/services from brands they follow in social media.

Specifically …

• People are 67% more likely to purchase products from brands they follow on Twitter.
• People are 51% more likely to purchase products from brands they follow on Facebook.
• 60% of people are more likely to recommend a brand once they become a fan of it on Facebook.
• 79% of people are more likely to recommend a brand once they become a follower of it on Twitter.

If this doesn’t convince all the social media skeptics out there to sign up for Twitter and Facebook accounts, I don’t know what will.

While these statistics alone are impressive, perhaps the most important takeaway from the study’s results is the motivating factor behind people’s social media engagement with brands.  You guessed it: offers.  While some indicated they followed a brand just for the sake of showing support, most people are in it for the goods.  They want something in return, such as a discount, new information or remarkable content.

The study proves a valuable point: it’s not enough just to be there in social media. Rather, you need to be engaging your followers and fans with valuable content and marketing offers in order to be successful in keeping them — many of which are potential customers — engaged with and excited about your brand.  Followers desire a brand presence that is worthy of their support and appreciation.  In exchange for their support, you need to give them something in return.

Our suggestions? It’s simple, really.

1. Sign up for Facebook and Twitter if you haven’t already.
2. Start creating interesting content, whether in the form of blog articles, webinars, videos, etc.
3. Share this content with your social media followers. (We think you’ll find that you’ll be rewarded with more followers, more leads, and ultimately, more sales!)

Successful online relationships are just like successful offline relationships.  You wouldn’t expect to develop a mutually beneficial relationship by always taking and never giving something back, would you?

Everybody knows — or should know — that blog content is critical to successful online marketing in today’s world.

Less talked about is how to use a call to action to generate leads.

As a small business owner, offers are your lead generation ammunition.  They’re information and resources  your site visitors want to consume and are willing to give you their contact information in exchange for. Offers are simply the best ways to generate leads from your website.

The people who respond to your offers might not always realize it, but by providing that informational resource, they have turned themselves into leads for you and your sales team to follow up.

So, what makes a good offer?  How do you go about creating these resources?  Perhaps a better question is, “Who is your target?”  One of the real truths about Web site visitors is that a huge majority of them are simply looking for information.  People who find your site organically have likely visited some other site before they even got to yours, so creating offers that will educate and nurture the top of your funnel is your number 1 priority.

Great, so you’ve got some people in your funnel. 

Now what?

The next step can be extremely automated, and it’s a step where your offers can do a lot of the work for you.  If you’ve got a lead that converts through a top-of-the-funnel offer, you should consider giving yourself the ability to put more middle-of-the-funnel offers in front of them by simply sending them some email.

We call this lead nurturing, and it’s been proven to work wonders for many companies in terms of automating an effective marketing tactic.  The goal of these lead nurturing campaigns should be to get other offers in front of your leads with the hope that they’ll re-visit your site and convert on a lower funnel offer.

So, with two lead-conversion events under their belts and without having to use any actual manpower, your sales team is going to forget they ever had to make a cold call.

In essence, you’ve won.  Your leads will be better educated and versed in your product offerings and will be more likely to use your solution to solve their problem.