It’s only natural for small businesses to seek out the broadest possible audiences. After all, the more brand awareness you’re able to build, the more paying clients you’re liable to attract. However, small business owners whose digital marketing experience is lacking generally aren’t well-equipped to maximize the online audiences of their respective enterprises. Fortunately, expanding your reach needn’t entail sacrificing a tremendous amount of time, money or effort. With the following tips at the ready, heightened brand awareness should be well within the abilities of any small business owner.
Be Active on Social Media
These days, every business under the sun maintains some level of activity on social media platforms. However, there’s a stark difference between simply having social media accounts and utilizing them to your full advantage. So, if you rarely update your business’s various social media profiles, many of your followers have likely tuned out or lost interest.
To help ensure that followers remain actively engaged, take care to update each of your accounts at least once a day. The number of daily updates each account receives will largely depend on the platform. For example, while a single daily update is ideal for such platforms as Facebook and Instagram, multiple updates work better for short-form platforms like Twitter. In addition, make an effort to grab followers’ attention with each post. This can be accomplished through the use of eye-catching images and calls for follower feedback.
Social media platforms also provide your followers with a direct line to you – and vice versa. Unsurprisingly, the manner in which you interact with followers can play a role in determining how much success your business enjoys on social media. If you’re sarcastic, short or outright impolite to followers, don’t be surprised to see your brand’s reputation take a hit. On the flipside, if you’re personable, polite and timely in your responses, your followers are more likely to feel a personal connection to your business and become invested in its success. You should also encourage followers to visit your business’s website and sign up to receive regular updates via a good mass texting service.
Target Local Search Traffic
If your business’s focus is hyperlocal, there’s absolutely no point in targeting national search traffic. In fact, doing so could be a tremendous hindrance to your search ranking, as this would place you up against a much larger number of competitors. With this in mind, take care to use locally-focused keywords and phrases when creating website content and social media posts. Phrases like “professional web design in Houston, TX” or “affordable consulting in Madison, WI” are examples of search criteria that are likely to be used by prospective patrons in your area.
Consistently Update Your Website
In the quest for a favorable search ranking, consistent site updates are sure to serve you well. Since prominent search engines tend to favor sites on which new content is regularly posted, make a point of uploading at least one new piece of content to your site per week. Said content can include blogs, feature articles, image collections and videos. To help prevent your team members from becoming overwhelmed, you may want to consider alternating content creation duties. Reaching out to freelance content creators can also prove beneficial in this endeavor.
Optimize Your Site for Mobile Devices
Since the majority of global web traffic now comes from mobile devices, it is imperative that your business’s website be mobile-optimized. If your site is slow to load or just plain nonfunctional on smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, most first-time visitors won’t hesitate to exit the page and check out the sites of your competitors. So, if no one on your team is skilled at web design, reach out to a freelancer who specializes in this field. The longer your site lacks mobile optimization, the more money you stand to lose.
Treating digital marketing as an afterthought is unlikely to work out in your favor. Even if your small business has enjoyed moderate success despite its lack of digital marketing efforts, reaching a broader online audience only stands to add to that success. Furthermore, contrary to popular opinion, bolstering your online presence doesn’t require an advanced level of tech-savviness or next-level marketing knowledge. So, if enhanced awareness for your brand is what you seek, consider the measures discussed above.
