Hey, small business owners! Ready to grow your online presence?

Raise your hand if gazing upon a lush, flourishing garden soothes your soul.

Now Raise your hand if you're all about getting in there - turning the soil and planting seeds.
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For us, there is nothing more therapeutic, relaxing, and yes - productive, than spending time with our hands in the dirt. But, as much as we love it, we have to admit that sometimes it can be a time consuming, back-breaking chore. Relying on the weather report to determine your watering schedule, to fertilize or not to fertilize, battling pests and constant weeding. Yeah, these things threaten to suck the fun right out of it. But just when we're ready to throw in the gardening trowel...pop! That first tender green shoot breaks through, then another, and another - confirmation that all that hard work was worthwhile.

Believe it or not, the same case can be made for your small business and its online presence. With well-planned cultivation, your website, social media, and e-marketing seeds can develop healthy roots and abundant fruit.

But how?

1. ​Start with consistent watering.

​​Don’t let your online presence fall into a drought! Posting on your social media profiles, and sending newsletters or emails on a regular basis gets (and keeps) your brand in front of consumers. Create a robust schedule and stick to it, the benefits are plentiful!
For one, you build your brand - the more recognizable your brand, the more trust you gain with your audience.  Additionally, audiences engage more with likes, comments, and follows when they feel like they know you. And when they feel like they know you - guess what, they’re more likely to want to buy your product or service. By posting daily, and being diligent with your eMarketing, you are maintaining a positive presence in your market. Many businesses are already on social media, be the one that does it well! 

​Here’s a quick guideline for Small Businesses in 2018: post to Facebook and Instagram - one to two times a day, Twitter - three to five tweets per day, and Linked in - one post per day. Social Report breaks it all down for you here.

2. ​Feed them the right stuff.

​Ask yourself this: Who is my target audience and what are they hungry for?
Great content! We’ll say it again - who is your customer and what do they want? Great content! It’s no secret; consumers have finicky palettes. Each day they are bombarded with messaging, images, and calls to action that are all competing for their attention. 

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​And you have about three seconds to deliver the goods or risk getting swiped into the compost pile. Think about it like this: if your customer is into fine dining SHOW them the fine dining experience they will have at your restaurant - make them want to eat that steamed asparagus with balsamic glaze in a perfectly lit atmosphere that makes them look ten years younger while a guitar player gently strums in the background. (FOMO is real people! Heck, we’d go there!) Whether its your website or social media channels, stunning images and attention-grabbing copy that reflect your brand are a must.

3. ​Don't let the weeds take over!

​Follower apps may promise - and even deliver - droves of followers to your social media profiles. Who wouldn't feel flattered going from 100 to 10K followers overnight? So, you download the app and wake up to a following that (it has to be said) is growing like a weed. It feels good for a while until it becomes clear that many of those "followers" are actually bots or fake accounts that don't add real value to your account. The unfortunate fact is that these “foolers” eventually choke out your authentic audience leaving you with a spam riddled feed and low post interaction. Don’t get tangled up obsessing over vanity metrics! The focus instead should be on strategies and actions to develop a strong, organic following and a credible online presence.

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(Note - purchasing followers goes against the terms of service of many social media platforms, and you risk having your account suspended.) For more information check out this super informative article by Ian Anderson Gray at Seriously Social.

4. ​Talk to your garden.

​While there may not be conclusive scientific evidence that talking to plants helps them grow, it has been proven that engaging with your followers on social media WILL increase the visibility of your posts. In other words - be social! Respond to comments, initiate discussions, use polls, videos, and stories to keep the conversation going. 
High engagement = a credible account that algorithms recognize and reward.

Now...

Raise your hand if you wish you could or if you have every intention to...but year after year the garden goes unplanted. Or worse, the seeds fail to sprout because you've spread yourself so thin that there aren't enough hours left in the day to tend to your garden.

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​While we aren’t in the business of horticulture, we do know a thing or two about helping small businesses develop healthy roots online. Contact us to schedule your complimentary consultation today.