Local social marketing has been gaining traction with each passing year. 2011 was an exceptionally busy year with the evolution of Facebook and introduction of Pinterest. Things don’t appear to be slowing down any time soon. If your small business is not yet taking advantage of social marketing, here are a few quick tips to get you started.

General Social Profile Tips

Even if you do not plan on using every social network available, it never hurts to take a few moments to grab your brand’s profile. Not only does it not hurt, it can actually help you in the long run. This prevents someone else from taking the name, and it can also increase the value of your site should you ever decide to sell. When creating your profile, here are a few things to keep in mind:

Make Your Profile Public

Use location-based keywords in your About section. Do not keyword stuff. Choose one or two phrases that describe your business and geographical location.

Set your location. This is often overlooked but extremely important for small businesses looking to market locally.

Connect with the locals. Do a search for your location and follow people or businesses in your area. Invite your friends. Follow those that follow other local businesses.

Pinterest-Specific Tips

Pinterest is a unique network, and it can be a little confusing to local businesses. If your business is able to create awesome images relating to your brand, you may be able to leverage this network for yourself.

Watermark your photos. If you are posting personal photos online anywhere, you should take a few moments to claim them as your own. With your business name or website on the image, you will continue to receive the branding and marketing benefits even if your photo and URL become “disconnected” along the way.

Set up both location- and brand-specific boards. As with any social network, there is a give-and-take atmosphere with Pinterest. Do not go in simply to broadcast your own business. Promote your fellow local businesses, local events, etc. A few examples of location- and brand-specific boards:

• Omaha Places We Love
• Omaha Area Events
• Fiona’s Flowers Gallery (your business)

Review Sites and Local Directories

Review sites are popular among consumers and they rank well in search. These are things you look for and that attract you as a consumer, why would your customers be any different? Completely fill out the profile and add photos if allowed. Once your account is active, start soliciting customer reviews.

A few local listings and citation sites to consider:

• Google Places
• Yelp
• Yahoo! Local
• Bing Local
• Merchant Circle
• SuperPages
• Yellow Pages

Social networking is all about conversations – between two parties. Encourage discussions and sharing. Watch for negative feedback and handle it ASAP. Local social marketing does not need to consume all of your time. A few minutes here and there can have a measurable impact on both new customer acquisition and retention of existing clients. Need more tips? See this article on optimizing your business for local search and social marketing from QuickSprout.

Alice Seba’s DIY PLR is one of my go-to sources for great PLR. She is making some big changes to her business model, which means big savings for us. She is retiring a ton of her PLR packages – 41 to be exact. Many of these have limited licenses. A few that I checked out for myself only had around 20 licenses remaining, so don’t wait. Once they are gone, they are gone. The coupon code to save 50% and the packages being retired can be found on her Best-Selling Retiring Bundles page.

Blogging is a big job. Whether your blog is an integral part of your business or your onetime hobby blog has grown into a business of its own, you don’t need to feel overwhelmed. Your blog and online reputation do not need to suffer due to your lack of time. It is easy to outsource blogging tasks, and here are 25 activities to consider passing along to your service provider.

© Gino Santa Maria - Fotolia.com

• Guest Posting Campaigns
• Article Writing
• Forum Posting
• Blog Commenting
• Design Services
• Article Directory Submission
• Web 2.0 Content (Squidoo, HubPages, etc.)
• WordPress Installation
• Email Newsletters
• Traffic Analysis
• Keyword Research
• Ad Campaigns
• Joint Venture Research
• Researching and Implementing Blog Monetization Opportunities
• Ongoing Maintenance, Moderation and Management
• Search Engine Optimization
• Customer Support
• Blogger-to-WordPress Migration
• Video Marketing
• Local Profile Setup and Management (Yelp, Foursquare, Google Maps, etc.)
• Transcription of Interviews, Podcasts, etc.
• List Building
• Reputation Management
• Info Product Creation and Marketing
• Niche Research

If you could outsource just five of those tasks imagine how much of your day you could regain. If you contracted a competent professional think of the places your blog could go. Start writing down those blog activities that you no longer find enjoyable or the best use of your time. Then contact your virtual assistant or freelance professional to devise a plan of action.

This is a 4-pack of PLR on the 2012 Summer Olympics. Get a jump-start on your 2012 marketing now.

2012 Summer Olympics PLR

• History of the Summer Olympics – 473 Words
• London Tourist Info – 459 Words
• The Modern Day Olympics – 489 Words
• Travel and Accommodation Info for the 2012 Olympics – 448 Words

Price: $5

*Files will be delivered instantly as Word documents. They can be opened with either Word or the free alternative Open Office.

This is a 5-pack of PLR on anticipated hot health trends in 2012. Get a jump-start on your 2012 marketing now.

Health Trends 2012 PLR

1. Dance Workout Trends in 2012 – 436 Words
2. Enjoy Functional Fitness Routines for Better Health – 594 Words
3. Fitness Professionals: Turning a Lifestyle Into a Career – 564 Words
4. Fitness Programs for Older Adults – 604 Words
5. Group Personal Training: The Economical Way to Work Out – 615 Words

Price: $5

*Files will be delivered instantly as Word documents. They can be opened with either Word or the free alternative Open Office.

It’s very rare that you see a Genesis coupon code. They do have one available right now however. This is good November 22 through November 28.

Using the code THANKS at checkout (don’t forget that), you can save 25% off of anything you’d like at WordPress design shop, StudioPress.

1. Get the Genesis Framework for only $45.

2. Snag most Genesis / design combos for a song and save close to $20.

3. Wipe the entire shop clean and get the StudioPress Pro Plus All-Theme Package. Get Genesis plus every design they’ve made, plus every design they make in the future, and save more than $74 off the regular price and over $875 off the retail price — and that’s just the existing 43 designs!

All you need to do is use the code THANKS when you check out and you’ll save 25% on anything and everything at StudioPress.com. This deal ends promptly at 7:00 pm Pacific time on Monday, November 28, 2011. Hurry up and claim your new WordPress theme before the code expires!

This is a pack of five Natural Remedies PLR articles.

Natural Remedies for Acne – 451 Words
Natural Remedies for Anxiety – 461 Words
Natural Remedies for Arthritis – 440 Words
Natural Remedies for Depression – 423 Words
Natural Remedies for Hair Loss – 454 Words

These articles are delivered as .doc files can be opened with Microsoft Word or the free alternative Open Office.

Price: $5

There are a few timely PLR sales going on right now. These are from PLR Mini Mart, another of my recommended PLR sources.

Black Friday PLR – This is a 20 pack. The regular price is $20, but you can get it for $15 by using the WSO link below.

Couponing - This niche is hot right now. This is a 10 and a half page PLR report. Give it away as your opt-in freebie, break it up for blog posts or autoresponders. The regular price is $10, you can get it for $7 by using the below link.

Black Friday and Couponing WSO Link. 

Christmas Toys and Gifts

There are four packs available here now, and Tiffany is still adding to it. Keep it bookmarked. These packs range from 10 to 17 articles and are discounted down to $7 to $12.

Christmas Toys and Gifts WSO

Happy shopping! Make sure you are subscribed to my list. I should have a new PLR pack ready to go in the next few days.

RSS feeds are convenient, but not all readers use RSS. Feed broadcasts by email can be extremely effective in getting readers to return to your blog. This video shows how to set up RSS to email in AWeber.

For many bloggers, their blogging plan is “set it and forget it.” Once a post is published, they never care to go back and revisit the content. That is not the best plan of action. You should go back periodically and update old posts.

Change of Heart or Method – Regardless of your niche or experience, things are bound to change over time. Perhaps your previous recommendation has changed for personal reasons as you have gained experience. In some niches, the best tactics change on a regular basis. If your blog uses a recommended posts plugin to interlink related content, this can cause confusion for reader. In the post your reader lands on you are talking about Method A being the best course of action, when they hop over to a linked, related post you are stating Method B is the only way to go.

Affiliate Links – In some cases a blogger may get into affiliate marketing later in their game. Or, maybe new products or services have only recently came into the affiliate marketplace. You may be missing out on potential income if you do not revisit those old posts and include your referral link.

Google Placement – Google has been known to drop stale content from their rankings completely. With the release of the Fresh Update, we now know that updated content is more important than ever in search placement. Google periodically recrawls old content. If they see you have modified that old post, that content may have another chance to shine in the search results.

SEO – Search Engine Optimization can also change over time. Maybe that first keyword choice is now outdated and no longer effective. In other cases, you may have been a later bloomer in SEO. Perhaps your very first posts were not optimized at all. They never stood a chance to bring you traffic. With a little face lift, they may get their 15 minutes of fame.

Should You Update Every Post?

Probably not. If your blog includes personal musings about your journey in your selected niche, these posts likely do not need updating. Concentrate your time on those posts that have out-of-date information, are potential income sources or are still relevant but didn’t get face time in the search engines their first time around. These revisions may take some time, but it can certainly be worth it.

If you need help updating those old posts, contact me. Let’s give that old content a second chance to shine.