Ebook social media_101_local

Social Media 101 For
Local Businesses
www.mainstreethub.com
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MAIN STREET HUB:
SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
watch the video:
Main Street Hub specializes in the most important social websites for small businesses.
We’re experts at connecting with customers on Facebook, Yelp, Google, Twitter,
Foursquare and more. We’ll help you:
Protect your reputation:
By responding to all reviews and building long-term relationships
Grow your audience:
By optimizing your profiles and using targeted advertising to grow your fan
base locally
Engage and motivate your audience to buy:
By creating original, engaging content and offers that drive traffic
to your storefront
Track your results:
By providing a custom dashboard to track key metrics
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2

SOCIAL MEDIA FACTS
Like it or not, customers are talking about you online. Even more are listening:
Social media’s impact on revenue:
7 out of 10 consumers look online first for local business information2
80% of consumers say that they are more likely to try new things based on
friends’ suggestions made through social media2
81% of consumers say it’s important for businesses to respond to reviews1
51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy
products and services from businesses they ‘like’ or follow2
8 out of 10 consumers are likely to seek the opinions of others online before
buying goods or services4
And 64% of them have changed their minds because of those opinions5
65% of business owners using social media agree that it helps them stay
engaged with current customers and 61% say they gained new customers3
A recent study found that a one star increase on Yelp corresponds with a 9%
increase in sales6
Sources:
1. Neilsonwire
2. Forrester Consulting
3. Crowdspring
4. Mashable: Chadwick Martin Bailey Research Firm Study
5. Time: Business
6.Yelp
3www.mainstreethub.com
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contents
Customer Review Websites … 5
Where customers compare you to your competition
Social Media Websites … 16
Engage and motivate your fan base
Check-In Websites … 23
Drive repeat business and spread word of mouth
Mobile Websites … 25
Is your business mobile?
Tracking Your Results ... 27
How to understand your return on investment
Common Mistakes … 29
And how to avoid them
Time and Resources … 32
You don’t need another full time job
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Customer review sites
Where customers compare you to your competition

6
join the conversation
Review websites basically let customers have a virtual conversation about you, but
you can listen, learn, and set the record straight. When you respond to reviews, you’re
reaching out to your target market, but those reviewers and their readers don’t feel like
you’re advertising. Through conversation, you’re building a relationship.
Now we’re talking. Once you join the conversation, you can:
Got another agenda? These sites also help you:
Respond to feedback
Tailor your customer service to specific needs
Stay top of mind to encourage repeat visits
Cultivate relationships with your target market
Increase customer trust and brand loyalty
Get new ideas for sale specials
Run promotions to entice customers to act now
Highlight specific services or products
Spread word of mouth through friend-to-friend recommendations
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7
The most important customer review sites
Are Yelp and Google+ Local.Yelp is the most downloaded customer review app and has
41 million monthly visitors. Google+ integrates with search and Google maps, making it
highly visible.
*Metrics as of August 2012
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8
Get the most out of Google+
By claiming your business page:
1. Create a Google Account
2. Find your business and select “Manage this page”
3. Choose “Edit my business information” and select “Continue”
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5. Enter your basic information
6. Add details including your location, hours of operation,
product details, promotions, photos and videos
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7. Choose how you’d like to be contacted to validate your listing and hit “Finish”
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11
Make Yelp work for you
By unlocking your business page.
1. Search for your
business
2. Click “Unlock
This Business Page”
3. Enter in your information
and select “Continue”
4. To verify your business
account, you will be given
a Pin, select “Call me Now”
and enter the pin when
prompted.
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12
Set up your Yelp page
This is your time to shine, so fill out as much business information as you can.
Customer Reviews
If you want to appear active and interested in your customers online, you should
respond to every review left about your business. A few tips:
Be polite and eager to please – people are watching
Overwhelm the negative with positive
Go the extra mile for “influencers” – people who have a large following
Four stars is average – go for five
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13
MAINTENANCE
Profile management is not a one-shot deal. Once you’re set up on Google+ and Yelp,
you need to constantly monitor each. We suggest you:
Give customers a reason to consider you the moment they’re looking to spend. How?
Hint: It’s a good idea to create a special promotion or announcement just for those
who find you through Google+ or Yelp.That way, you can track the business you get.
Check for new reviews daily
Respond to every review either publicly or privately
Update the “About Business” section as your business information changes
Run Promotions and Announcements
To target a specific type of clientele
To generate business during slow times
To advertise something you regularly offer
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14
WHY YOU SHOULD RESPOND TO POSITIVE REVIEWS
Your positive reviewers are your brand evangelists. Their comments convince others
to give you a shot. Take the time to thank them. Creating a relationship with these
fans encourages the spread of word of mouth about you and improves your online
reputation.
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WHY YOU SHOULD RESPOND TO NEGATIVE REVIEWS
Replying to unsavory comments can take the sting out of the review. When you take
action, you get a chance to offer your point of view. This may cause the disgruntled
customers to change their minds and their ratings. Since a one-star increase on Yelp
can correlate to a 5-9% increase in revenue, it’s worth a shot.
You won’t get every bad review changed, but your response may impress readers
enough to agree with you. In the very least, it shows that you are willing to acknowledge
and apologize to your unhappy campers.
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social media websites
Engage and motivate your fan base

17
What is FACEBOOK?
Facebook is the most popular social media platform today. If it were a country, it would
be the third largest country in the world.
Facebook creates a place where your fans can interact with your business. That
interaction is then shared with friends, which is really valuable. Since each Facebook
user has an average of 245 friends, friend-to-friend networks significantly impact the
exposure of your business.
Friend to friend network
Local Business Customer
Customer Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Friend
Customer
x245
x245
x245
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18
CREATING ENGAGING POSTs ON FACEBOOK
Want comments and ‘Likes’? You need to post something interesting first. Publishing
content that’s relevant to your fans is the best way to encourage them to take action.
Not every post will fall under all three categories, but your page should include a variety
of each if you want to create a buzz.
We recommend posts that:
Promote your product, contest or giveaway
Have a pop culture base
Contain a question
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19
USE FACEBOOK TO GROW, ENGAGE AND MOTIVATE FANS
Promote positive reviews by responding.
Look! A healthy and growing fan base.
This restaurants got several takers on this
offer and 28 ‘likes’ on this post!
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20
WHAT IS TWITTER?
Twitter connects millions of people to their friends and interests every day. Tweeters
share information with their followers, and follow others to keep up with the latest news.
Twitter is a powerful tool for businesses to gain insight on their customers’ likes, dislikes
and behavior.
Implementing a Twitter account means you’ll have access to:
More customer feedback
Direct and real-time interaction with followers
More opportunities to spread word of mouth
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21
USE TWITTER TO CREATE INTERACTIONS
Interacting with followers means that you can:
Twitter also lets you:
Give customers a pleasant surprise by saying thanks
Reach new people in real time
Communicate relevant business updates
Integrate your Facebook page and website
Integrate into offline marketing
Search keywords to connect with your customers when they are nearby and
ready to buy
Connecting with customers nearby
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22
twitter best practices
A few notes about Twitter etiquette:
Post enough, but not too much (2-3 times a week)
Give credit for retweets
Follow back anyone who follows you
Mention buzz-words relevant to your business
When creating your Twitter
handle
Use your business name
Ex: @elaserspa
Publish the same
types of posts as FB
But condensed into
140 characters
Tweet about
trending topics
And use hashtags
for brand promotion
Ex. #Zerona
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check-in websites
Drive repeat business and spread word of mouth

24
WHAT IS FOURSQUARE?
Customers can:
The ultimate location-based social networking app for mobile devices.
Businesses can:
Check-in at your business and tell their friends (since Foursquare integrates
with Facebook and Twitter)
Claim deals and promotions
Leave tips and feedback for other patrons
Run promotions based on check-ins
Offer loyalty programs for those who frequently check-in
*Metrics as of August 2012
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Mobile websites
Is your business mobile?

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wHAt ARE MOBILE SITES?
Why are they important?
A thumb-friendly version of your current website, designed specifically for mobile
devices.
67% of users are more likely to buy from a mobile-friendly site
74% of people say they’re more likely to return to mobile-friendly sites in the
future
48% of users say they feel frustrated and annoyed when they get to a site
that’s not mobile-friendly
52% of users said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to
engage with a company
What should they include?
Mobile-friendly design and business information like
address and phone number
Positive customer reviews
Relevant updates and client
interactions
Links to your social media pages
Regular website
Mobile-friendly
website

Tracking your results
How to understand your return on investment

Tracking your results
So you’ve setup your pages, created new and engaging content and replied to all of
your posts...now what?
By constantly tracking and monitoring your social media engagement, you can see if
what you’ve been doing is working.
This is great, but how do I track all of these things?
It can seem a little overwhelming to track all of these metrics. At Main Street Hub, we
provide our clients a centralized dashboard to track all of their social media metrics. If
you are going to ‘DIY’, each website typically provides a reporting interface that helps
you track the metrics above.
What to look for: How to track your metrics: Why does it matter?
Are you growing your fan base? 51% of consumers are more
likely to buy from a business after
becoming fans of their Facebook
page. More fans = more customers.
Is the content you’re creating help-
ing spread word of mouth?
• Track comments, shares ‘Likes’
and retweets of your content.
• Look at the amount of people
who saw your posts (broken out
by ‘organic’ and ‘viral’).
• For a broader metric, look at
your ‘people talking about this’
(PTAT) number.
Engagement is everything! Not
only are people who engage more
likely to visit your business, their
engagement spreads word of mouth
about your business to their friends.
Is your business being found online Today’s consumer looks online
first before making a purchasing
decision. If your online traffic is
increasing, it’s very likely your in
store traffic will do the same.
Let’s cut to the chase, are you
getting more customers?
• Ask your customers how they
heard about you and keep track
of the different channels.
• Create special offers that are
specific to your social media
sites and measure redemption
rate.
It’s great to hear directly from your
customers that they’re finding you
on social media, but be sure to stay
on top of all of your metrics for a
complete look at performance.
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Monitor daily/weekly/monthly
increase in fans, followers and
check-ins.
Monitor the traffic to your
Yelp and Google+ listings. By
optimizing and maintaining
your profiles, you should see
a steady increase in traffic to
your profiles over time.
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common mistakes
And how to avoid them

30
COMMON MISTAKES ON CUSTOMER REVIEW WEBSITES
Some blunders to avoid:
Not responding to reviews
Responding to reviews in a
defensive manner
Not responding to reviews
Responding to reviews in a defensive manner
Leaving out important business information, or not mentioning the entire scope
of your services
Accidental typos and grammatical errors on your profile
Not removing outdated promotions
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31
COMMON MISTAKES ON FACEBOOK & TWITTER
Some typical gaffes we see:
Posting too often or spamming
Having a FB “profile” and not a “business page”
Not posting often enough
Lacking content relevant to your followers
Putting out one-way posts that don’t spur interaction
Posting too often or spamming
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time and resources
You don’t need another full time job

33
TIME IS MONEY. SO HOW MUCH DOES
SOCIAL MEDIA COST?
No training or expertise:
Experienced:
Lets assume you’ll have to pay someone for 50-75 hours a month.
What are your labor options?
50-75+ hours per month on average to make social media effective & profitable.
Recent college grad
Receptionist or another
employee
Independent consultant
$10/hour
$7/hour
$20-100/hour
$500-750/month
$350-525/month
$1,000-7,500/month
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34
Let us do it for you
Protect your reputation
We monitor the most important review and social media web-
sites 24/7 and respond appropriately to all customer reviews
and messages, while they’re fresh.
Grow your audience
We optimize your profiles, use highly targeted advertising, and
cross-promote your business across multiple social media web-
sites to get fans and followers who are ready to buy.
Motivate your audience to buy
We create original, engaging content, craft special offers, and
start real time conversations that drive traffic to your storefront.
Track your results
We provide you with a personalized dashboard where you can
track all of your key metrics and see everything being said
about your business online – all in one place.
Our full service ‘do it for you’ social media solution puts you in the driver’s
seat, while we work to:
Call us for a free social media assessment:
888.900.0920
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Client Dashboard Preview
Sample Reports
35
What we’ll do
Build and optimize your profiles on popular social media websites
Reply to positive reviews to build-long term relationships
Reply promptly to negative reviews to control damage
Design offers and promotions to spread the word about your business
Maximize exposure by cross-promoting your business across multiple social
media websites
Promote customer loyalty programs to grow your business
Get more customers from your competitors
What you’ll get:
A better online reputation, more exposure, and more customers.
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36
We get results.
Commitment-phobe?
No problem, we don’t require a long-term contract. We partner with our clients for 90
days. After that, we work on a month-to-month basis.
Read what our clients are saying:
The price of Main Street Hub is affordable, and has brought results. We
have seen increases in traffic and sales since we started with Main Street
Hub. I do not have to learn Facebook and Twitter. I can work on running
CorAzoN, organizing the Store, finding new products and artists, and
developing the staff. These are things I am good at, while Main Street Hub
handles the rest.
Susan Zdon
Corazon, Minneapolis, MN
Typical Client Results
Increase in monthly Yelp Traffic
Increase in Facebook Fans
Increase in Facebook Word of Mouth
Increase in Twitter Followers
Increase in monthly Foursquare Check-ins
After 90 Days
43%
259%
353%
266%
191%
After 180 Days
61%
330%
610%
500%
244%
Here’s Proof.
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CONTACT US
Contact us for a free assessment today:
Call: 888.900.0920
Email: sales@mainstreethub.com
Partner Program:
Call: 888.457.6821
Email: partners@mainstreethub.com
Connect with us:
www.facebook.com/mainstreethub
Twitter: @MainStreetHub
37
Watch a client testimonial:
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