If you haven’t already been sold on the idea that social media will be a major key to growing your business now and even more so in the coming years, watch this 3-minute video. (Even if you are convinced, watch it anyway; it’s well-produced and thought provoking).

While the video wedges in a lot of interesting facts, I think one of the most important takeaways revolve around facts like this: “90% of people now skip ads on their Tivo/DVR” and “Only 18% of TV ad campaigns have a positive ROI.”

You can see this trend in a lot more than television.  Think of any other traditional media:

• Radio — iPods, downloaded MP3’s, and steadily satellite radio are all commercial free.
• Newspaper — Not only are people moving to online versions of major papers or even just blogs, we read an article here and there, instead of sitting down to digest an entire paper (and some of its ads). Also, with the advent of the RSS reader, news is even further filtered to exactly what we want and nothing else.
• Traditional Websites — Web browsers have become increasingly good at blocking ads.  When a site does force you to watch an ad, they’re easier to ignore.

A heatmap of where readers' eyes go on some average web articles. (Note: it's not the ads.)

Which brings me to my next point: people are getting really good at ignoring ads. Before the time of the web, ads were a part of a world of limited content. We didn’t have access to any fact at any time in any place.  We took what was given to us whether we liked it or not.  We could read one of a few local news papers, listen to AM or FM, and driving down the highway, even billboards were another source of new information.  New content was much more rare, so each new piece intrigued us a bit more than it does today.

Now, we can find just about any information we could ever want with a click or a search. Advertisements become less novel in a world full of more information than you could ever hope to consume in a thousand lifetimes.

So, here’s the point.  If people are increasingly ignoring advertising everywhere else and can tell when they’re being “sold to”, you should know what’s going to happen if you use social media as a bull horn to spout your marketing and nothing else.

Social media is about getting people to trust you. Then, instead of ignoring what you have to say, they’ll listen.  They’ll also be much more likely to trust that your product is worthy of their hard earned time and money.

Now, how to earn that trust?  More on that coming soon…

Previously, I talked about the importance of online reviews on sites like Yelp. Yet, Yelp has even more to offer which I’ll be covering right here, right now!

If I had to choose, I would say Yelp is closer to Facebook than it is to Yellowpages.com.  Yelp allows reviewers to create profiles detailing everything from their favorite food to their second favorite website.  Reviewers can become online “friends” with each other and give out “compliments” (colorful little badges that serve as decoration and recognition on your profile).  Yelp even sponsors local events for frequent reviewers.

How does this relate to local small business marketing?  Well, this group of local people eventually get to know and trust each other quite well.  Studies show that about 20% of consumers write 100% of reviews online, and those in the Yelp community are the ones that make up that 20%.  So, if you can establish a good reputation with the few consumers that decide your online reputation, it will go a long way to building up some making it great.

What to do? It’s easy—Get involved!  Here are a few tips:

1. Create a Yelp reviewer profile—You already (should) have a Yelp for business owners account, now go to Yelp.com and create an account to become a part of the reviewing community.  Create a profile, include a picture (of yourself!), and be sure to put something about your business in your tagline.
2. Review every single local business you frequent! This will get you noticed by other reviewers and other business owners.  They’ll see you, see what you do, and talk to you and about your business.
3. Give out some compliments! As I mentioned above, Yelp allows users to give each other public props.  People love to be complimented and they’ll love whoever does the complimenting.
4. On your Yelp business account, Respond to EVERY review on your business—this point is last, but certainly not least.  I can’t stress how important this point is.  Did a customer have a bad experience? Find out how you can make it right.  Did they rant and rave about how you’re the only dentist they’ve ever loved?  Thank them for their kindness and let them know that you appreciate their business and the review.

If you do these things, you’ll be a Yelp superstar.  I’ll close with a story regarding the all important point number 4.  I had a bad experience at a local establishment and left a 2-star review on Yelp saying as much.  A few days later, I received an apologetic message from the owner saying that she wanted to make it right.  My opinion of the business went from “awful, I will never go back” to “maybe I could give them a second chance” with one simple message.

Now, get Yelping!

At one time or another, you have been handed a little piece of card-stock and a golf pencil and were asked to fill out a survey, and leave some comments about your experience as a customer of whatever business you just patronized.

With enough of these completed surveys, the business owner found out what went right and got some ideas about what needed fixing. Getting candid customer feedback is certainly valuable information to any business and can tip off a business owner to a brush fire, before it becomes full blown forest fire of bad customer experience.

Old School: Comment Cards

Mostly, these cards are kept to the eyes of those on the inside, but what if we gave your potential customers a peek as well?

Today, customers get more than a peek—they get an eyeful. And it’s not up to you to decide who sees what, for better or worse.

That is because the new comment cards are online customer reviews. In case you are not familiar, online reviews are essentially comment cards for any business, posted on one of many popular internet portals that anyone can write and anyone can see.

While that may be seem a bit frightening at first glance, I think there is actually an awesome opportunity under the surface.

One study showed that about 50% of consumers used online reviews to begin their buying process.  Unfortunately, many businesses have little or no online reviews, leaving customers in a position to either guess or go somewhere else.

Personally, that is what I do.  I recently chose a shop to get my brakes fixed at, based on nothing but online user reviews.  Tons of places had no reviews, and I did not bother looking into them any further. I have not chosen to go to a restaurant that had less than 4 stars on Yelp in as long as I can remember. (4 & 5 stars are not the traditional kind of stars where more stars means more $’s—Mexican, anyone?)

Some business owners are nervous that a negative review will ruin their reputation. My advice? Do not worry so much. You know that your business provides a great service and that in general, your customers are happy and loyal. If one malcontent posts something bad, do not sweat it. With enough reviews, your true reputation will always come through.

Convinced?  Here are some tricks I use to encourage customers to write reviews:

1. Just Ask! – Do you have a friendly relationship with some of your customers?  Would they be glad to do a favor for you?  If someone compliments your service try responding with this, “Thanks!  Would you mind letting other people know?  I am trying to get some reviews online and if you think of it, would you mind writing one?  I would really appreciate it.”  This tactic is also likely to render a good amount of positive reviews.

2. Review Cards – This one is easy and requires only a little work.  Just get some business cards printed up that say something to the effect of “Like our service?  Let others know and review us online!”  Be sure to provide detailed instructions. (Go to maps.google.com, search for us, click write a review.)  Just set the cards out, or better yet, staple them to some paperwork that you regularly give to customers.

3. Make It Easy – One of my clients actually came up with this one!  Spend $200 on a netbook and setup a “review station” right in your place of business. Ask satisfied customers to write a review while they’re in the store.  They will not forget or get distracted by the other 10,000 things online and off, that are constantly vying for their attention. Plus, the experience will be fresh in their minds.

4. Incentives – Provide a discount or freebie to anyone willing to write a review. Promote the fact that you will be giving a discount to anyone that writes an online customer review. The owner of a restaurant that I often frequent gave me a free breakfast after he saw my glowing online review.  It only made me even more of a loyal fan.

That is all for now.  I would love to hear some more ideas or field any questions—So, post a comment!

Thanks for reading.

-Craig

I will be the first to admit, when I heard about Twitter I thought…WHY? Do we really need one more thing to update and check—and then check again?

Well, I guess need might be a strong word. However, Twitter is about more than just finding out what pop stars are up to in their spare time (Lily Allen is drinking Guinness and watching cricket as I write this).

In case you’re not yet intimately familiar with this contraption, Twitter is a website that allows a user to send out 140-character-or-less public messages to anyone that “follows” him or her. Anyone can follow anyone, and “tweets” (messages) are seen by everyone.

This sounds deceptively simple and mostly useless, but I assure you, it is pretty damn cool. In fact, my favorite thing about Twitter—and the reason I have written this post—is that it can be a useful tool for business.

For example, if you have ever sent out any sort of direct marketing materials, you know how excited the average person is to receive another piece of junk mail. Instead of an envelope that does not get opened, what if that envelope engaged in a conversation with your potential customer? What if you could sell your pizza to anyone that happened to be hungry at the exact moment they are looking for something to eat? It might go something like this:

Bob owns a pizza place and beerboy847 is a regular customer who follows Bob’s account on Twitter.

beerboy847 Starving! What to eat?

BobzPizzaBiz @beerboy847 How about 20% off a pizza? Thin crust sausage, right?

Not only is beerboy impressed by the level of personal interaction, but anyone else following Bob is pretty darn impressed too.

But that’s just a little sample-size taste of what Twitter can do. Check out Twitter’s very own guide for businesses and follow us on Twitter for more!

-Craig