Learn with Respage

Why Should I Socialize?

Improves communication within your industry, community, and with clients

• Makes it easier to connect in real time with existing or potential clients
• Lets you communicate with clients in their preferred channel, which is increasingly moving away from email
• Allows for bi-directional communication which is becoming expected

Builds community engagement

• Provides another way for existing and potential customers to connect with you
• Makes it easy to share the latest tips and news from your industry
• Allows you to show your value to potential clients before they hire you

Helps drive SEO/increases marketing website traffic

• Helps displace ratings sites and other listings you may not have control over in first page rankings
• Integrating social media assets into your marketing website can improve its SEO
• Links from social media sites provide traffic and SEO lift
• Social sites give you an appropriate venue to exchange web links with outreach partners

Helps generate leads and close prospects

• Used correctly, you can generate some leads
• Provides another way to “sell” your company and help prospects close

Ancillary revenue potential

• Your company can sell banner ads or web links to cooperating local merchants, highlighting them as a “preferred” provider of their services

Best Practices

Encouraging clients to connect on Facebook. Posts we have seen on other sites:

• Testimonials & reviews
• Industry related news & tips
• Promotion of charitable causes your company participates in
• Special event notices

Using social media to generate leads

• Infrequent promotion of really good specials and incentives
• Reminder about referral programs and incentives

SEO

• Make sure you optimize social media sites for SEO (e.g. set appropriate YouTube tags)
• Link from social sites into community pages
• Integrate blog headlines into community pages
• Link your website to your blog and social media pages
• Include links to your blog and social media pages in your email signature

Encourage consumer interaction

• Post photos from projects & events
• Ask open ended questions in Facebook (e.g. What is your favorite pizzeria?)
• When considering what charity to donate to, give choices & allow consumers to vote on Facebook & Twitter for the charity of their favorite
• Poll consumers for their opinion about potential changes you might make, their opinion on industry-related topics (especially common misconceptions), what effects their decision in who they use for your product or service
• Have photo contests

Improve communication/customer service

• Alert consumers about routine maintenance for your product/service
• Notify consumers of days that you will be closed due to inclement weather, maintenance, or holidays
• Encourage feedback and reviews