How Small Businesses Can Use Social Media in Their Customer Experience Strategy in 2018
Mary Helber-Jamboretz • May 14, 2018
Social media marketing is an affordable way to expand your reach. But to be effective, you need to put the customer experience first.
It’s no secret that we’re all obsessed with social media. We’re on our phones checking to see what everyone’s up to, who’s saying what, and what the latest trends are. Businesses are jumping on the social media bandwagon now too, finally understanding the benefits of putting the customer experience first.
Having a presence on social media is an affordable and effective way for companies to expand their reach. We’re going to break down how each social media site can help benefit your business’ customer experience strategy in 2018.
Facebook, essentially, is an interactive knowledge base. Customers can like pages where they can find all the help they need regarding your products and services, eliminating the need to call or go to the store in person. With more than 2 billion users worldwide, this is the biggest and best place to reach social media users.
Most of your customers are probably spending time on Facebook, too, so if your business doesn’t have a Facebook page, start by creating one. Next, play an active role in the community. Respond to all comments — good and bad. You can even use your Facebook page to showcase events your business is taking part in or running.
Finally, don’t ignore certain demographics. With so many potential customers using Facebook already, the last thing you want to do is alienate anyone unnecessarily.
Instagram is like Facebook for those with smaller attention spans; however, this does not mean businesses should avoid reaching out to customers on this platform. One thing businesses can do on Instagram is develop a theme with your content showcasing all your products.
One way to create this theme is by deciding what kind of pictures you want to take. They can be sociable, natural, staged, or filtered. Then think of hashtags that represents your brand and your followers can get behind and spread. Finally, be clear about how your followers should contact you. Provide links, a number, or an email in your bio.
It doesn’t seem like Twitterwould be useful in any way shape or form, even with the recent character-limit increase, but people love it for quick updates and interactions with other followers — including businesses.
Because Twitter is so fast-paced, the key to providing valuable customer experience is by responding to your followers quickly. The character limit makes things difficult, but limitations can also be freeing. Use pictures, gifs, and ironic hashtags to connect with everyone. Again, provide followers with links to contact your business directly.
Getting the opportunity to hear directly from other professionals is a great way for businesses to look at what they’re doing and determine whether or not they’re on the right track. There’s also less of a chance that LinkedIn users run into questionable and downright bizarre opinions often found on other platforms.
Be proactive about customer experience by organizing networking events. These events are amazing ways to showcase to the public what your business does, and they allow you to connect with other businesses, to see what they’re doing and how you can improve upon it.
Pinterest is a female- and millennial-dominated platform similar to Instagram in that pictures are the focus. It turns out that Pinterest is one of the most up-and-coming social media platformsbusinesses are using to improve customer experience.
Emphasizing the visual aspects of your business is a great way to connect with customers who don’t want to spend too much time looking at products. Look at what your customers are pinning and re-pinning to learn more about what they want and how your business can work for them.
Starting in February 2021, Googles phrase match will begin to incorporate behaviors of broad match modifier (BMM). With this change, both phrase and broad match modifier keywords will have the same matching behavior and may show ads on searches that include the meaning of your keyword. This also means that the new matching behavior will consider word order when relevant to the meaning. For example, the phrase match keyword “moving services NYC to Boston.” will continue to cover searches like “affordable moving services NYC to Boston.” It will also cover searches that traditionally only matched under broad match modifier, such as “NYC corporate moving services to Boston.” Phrase match won’t show ads for searches where the direction is reversed (for example, people looking to move from “Boston to New York City”). In July 2021, the creation of BMM keywords will no longer be available, but the same matching functionality will be available through phrase match. Existing BMM keywords will continue to serve using the new behavior. This change will become available to advertisers in the following languages first: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, and Russian. For all other Google Ads languages, the new matching behavior will roll out later this year. Keep in mind: The changes to phrase match and BMM will not impact negative keyword match types. Below are more examples to illustrate how matching behavior will change after this update:
One of the main benefits of Local SEO (search engine optimization) is that it can help your business thrive, by funneling more and more visitors to your website. Google is used by just about everyone in the world, and so that means you can broaden your horizons and widen your potential customer base to include those in other states or even countries. But local SEO is different: it focuses on helping you reach the people in your area. Many businesses today have begun to focus their attention on local SEO. Now it’s no longer about ranking high in Google searches when people look for keywords associated in your niche. Now it’s about ranking high when people limit searches to particular locations, such as a particular city or state. And for many businesses today, growth can be encouraged with the right implementation of local SEO. We have generated many clients with focusing on San Jose Seo services. Here are some of its advantages: 1. Local SEO helps potential local customers know about your company. A lot of people today use the Internet in the same manner that people long ago used the Yellow Pages. They want to know the local businesses that can provide for their needs. By using proper local SEO solutions, you can then make sure that your potential customers will find out more about your business. Google can show them not just a link to your website, but also a map to your location and links to reviews of your company from previous customers. 2. You can boost your interaction with mobile Internet users. Mobile users use the Internet in a wide variety of ways, but two are becoming more common. The first way is to instantly provide information about a local business. So when someone on the road needs to find a restaurant or a local hardware store for supplies, then that need can be addressed right away. The other common way of using mobile Internet is to review and find discounts on particular items while the user is already out in shopping centers. For example, if a user finds a gadget in an electronics store which they may want to buy, they can go online and find reviews about the brand and the gadget before buying. They may also discover whether they can get the gadget cheaper when they buy it from another store. With local SEO , you can then present your business as a viable alternative even when shoppers are already in a competitor’s store. 3. You can save more money. If your business is limited to a particular area, then it doesn’t make sense in paying for advertising and marketing that reaches people in areas you don’t serve. For example, a law firm is usually limited to a particular city or state, because their license doesn’t allow them to practice in other states. In such case, focusing your SEO efforts in your state will ensure you can reach your target market and at the same time, save money on your SEO campaigns. Today, local SEO has become so successful that even businesses with a wide reach choose to focus on particular locations. If you own a small business, it makes perfect sense to focus on your market using the right local SEO strategies. We have combined local and national rankings to become the best seo company San Francisco .
How Businesses Are Responding to Coronavirus The whole situation feels like something out of a movie about a dystopian future, but the good news is that patients with coronavirus have since recovered. Still, it is important for us to take precautions. One of the ways that businesses are combating the spread of coronavirus is through social distancing . In the event of an infectious outbreak, public health officials recommend reducing contact with others to minimize the spread of the disease. Businesses are following these recommendations by allowing employees to work from home. However, many businesses are already feeling the economic impact of the coronavirus and are now burdened with logistical issues of allowing employees to work remotely. The mismanagement of operations during this crucial time could severely impact businesses long-term. So how do companies protect their employees from spreading coronavirus while minimizing the impact social distancing will have on their business? Low-Cost Online Tools To Keep Your Business Moving While the coronavirus continues to run rampant across the globe, many businesses and organizations are facing the need to support remote employees. HJ design uses several digital tools to collaborate remotely with our customers. Based on our experience, we highly recommend you review the digital tools necessary when working remotely. Productivity Suites G Suite is an invaluable tool that equips your newly formed remote workforce with essentials such as video conferencing, email, spreadsheets, documents, and calendars. Collaborate on documents in real-time Your team can view, create, and edit documents, spreadsheets, presentations remotely. Emailing attachments is a thing of the past. Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides all enable employees to collaborate in real-time. Changes save automatically and previous versions of the document can be accessed easily. Store and Share Resources in the Cloud With Google Drive, team members will have easy and secure access to shared files. You can store just about every file type and share it with the full team or select employees. Coordinating with team members Google Calendar allows your team to stay organized. You can create multiple calendars to keep track of meetings, training, vacation, and more. Need to reach someone immediately? Google Hangouts is a great tool for sending text messages or hopping on a video call. If you prefer Microsoft products, Microsoft 365 offers a similar suite of productivity tools including Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, SharePoint, and Microsoft Teams. Work Planning and Management Teamwork can be used to manage our internal initiatives and client projects. Teamwork offers multiple time-saving, collaboration-enhancing features to make project management quicker and more efficient. All projects are composed of task lists, tasks, and sub-tasks allowing you to have a detailed plan of action. Milestones and calendars allow managers to see an overview of individual projects or multiple projects. Coworkers can collaborate on tasks through messaging and uploading files. Managers can make sure all projects run smoothly through time tracking, customizable dashboards, and risk management. There there are plenty of other excellent project management tools available on the market. Trello | Trello’s boards, lists, and cards enable you to organize and prioritize your projects in a fun, flexible, and rewarding way. Asana | Asana is the work management platform teams use to stay focused on the goals, projects, and daily tasks that grow business. Basecamp | Trusted by millions, Basecamp puts everything you need to get work done in one place. It’s the calm, organized way to manage projects, work with clients, and communicate company-wide. Team Communication and Collaboration If you can’t communicate with your team, getting work done is going to be impossible. Slack is the go-to choice for instant communication. Employees can easily follow and contribute to conversations. Creating channels allows conversations to be organized based on project, topic or team. Slack also has a deep inventory of app integrations to connect with other productivity tools like Google Drive, Asana, Trello, GitHub, Zoom, and much more. Best of all, Slack is easy to pick up and accessible via desktop and mobile devices. Here are a few other options to explore. Microsoft Teams | Microsoft Teams is a hub for teamwork in Office 365. Keep all your team’s chats, meetings, files, and apps together in one place. Google Hangouts Chat | Hangouts Chat makes it easy for teams to be able to get their work done in one place. Discord | All-in-one voice and text chat that’s free, secure, and works on both your desktop and phone. Workplace by Facebook | Empower and transform your whole business, with familiar features such as groups, chat and video calls. Skype | Easily generate your online meetings in three simple clicks. Meetings & Video Chat Some businesses may need more than just a simple messaging app. One of the most useful tools for increasing productivity of remote workers is tele and video conferencing. If video conferencing is a major aspect of your business, Zoom is a great solution. Zoom offers simplified video conferencing across any device. All meetings have end-to-end encryption and you can record your meetings locally or to the cloud. Additionally, Zoom integrates with other productivity apps to help you manage email communication and set up calendar events. The platform’s built-in collaboration tools allow multiple participants to share screens, create annotations, and more. If Zoom isn’t your cup of tea, here are a few alternatives. Google Meet | Connect with your team from anywhere. With easy-to-join video calls, you can meet face to face without the added cost of travel. Microsoft Teams | Invite everyone you work with to chat, meet, call, and collaborate all in one place, no matter where you are. WebEx | Work remotely or from home. Stay connected. Unlimited usage on the most secure collaboration platform. Customer Support Most of what we have discussed have centered on internal communication. What about communicating with customers? With the coronavirus outbreak in full swing, communicating with your customers is more important than ever. Business software like Intercom allows you to connect with people on your website. Your customer support team can work together to respond to customers and address their inquiries. If you utilize Intercom’s smart automation features, you can streamline and personalize most of your messaging so you can focus on the unique issues your customers are facing. If you have a large customer base, Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software can be crucial to managing and responding to customers. The benefit of a CRM is that it includes a suite of features that go beyond live chat. For example, Zendesk Support puts all your customer interactions in one place to create a seamless experience. Communicate with clients and maintain an organized history of your interactions. While live chat will mainly focus on website interactions, a CRM can connect with customers through websites, emails, and SMS/Text messages. If you aren’t looking for more sophisticated software, you can use your social media channels to broadcast announcements and answer customer questions. Facebook business pages have business-focused features that can be incredibly useful for communicating with customers. Recently, Facebook released a new resources hub to support small businesses during the outbreak. Twitter can be another great customer support platform. Many businesses already use Twitter to broadcast messages, even before the outbreak. Some large businesses even have Twitter handles that are dedicated to providing customer support. LiveChat | LiveChat is a 360° customer service platform that automates your work and fuels your sales. PureChat | The easiest & fastest way to add live chat to your website. Free. Olark | Olark’s live chat software and customer data tools help you learn from every online interaction. ZoHo CRM | Zoho CRM empowers a global network of businesses to convert more leads, engage with customers, and grow their revenue. Keap (formerly InfusionSoft) | Get better organized, be more efficient with your time, and delight your clients every step of the way. Making The Most Out Of Remote Work Adopting a tool won’t guarantee success. Business managers will need to consider other factors to maintain morale and productivity. Transparency For remote work to work, you need to be transparent with your team. Employees must be proactive in discussing and sharing their work. Managers must communicate clearly and frequently. Setting up daily standups via a video conference can be a great way to get everyone up to speed. Establish check-ins throughout the day so that all employees are held accountable for sharing their progress, successes, and setbacks. Trust Not being able to see an employee typing away in their cubicle can be stressful for some managers. With remote work, teams need to build a strong sense of trust among each other. Employees should be responsible and earn trust over time. Managers should focus on trusting their employees to get the work done and do their best not to micromanage. Many of the productivity tools we’ve listed keep records of interactions, updates, and progress. Use these to oversee employees and guide them through the project. Time Management Working from home can present some challenges for employees. There are so many distractions at home. Chances are their kids will not be attending school. It is difficult to deflect household duties. In some cases, employees may overwork just to prove they are working. Employees and managers will need to take advantage of the flexibility of remote work. Decide on optimal hours for the team to sync up. Commit to strict deadlines to show reliability and dependency. Employees should focus on self care and be mindful to take breaks throughout the day. Ultimately, business leaders will want to make this transition as comfortable as possible. This is incredibly important if this is the first time the business is being forced to work remotely. Success now will mold expectations for the future. What This Means For Your Business Future It should be said that these productivity tools will not solve every problem you come across. Many businesses rely on in-person interactions to manage their business and will struggle to adapt regardless of the tools available to them. Some businesses have adopted a few tools, but have not considered how these tools integrate with overall business goals. Still other businesses have crucial operations that can’t be resolved with a productivity tool. The coronavirus is forcing many businesses to rethink how work is organized. While these productivity tools will help in the short-term, it is important to consider the unknown. What if this temporary inconvenience becomes a several month or year long process? What if other circumstances arise that require the team to collaborate remotely? Businesses need to be prepared. The reality is that a few SaaS tools isn’t ever going to be a long-term solution. Business leaders should be considering how each aspect of their company will function should something like the coronavirus outbreak happen again. A messaging app isn’t going to solve critical supply chain delays. Google Hangouts isn’t going to allow medical staff to treat patients without being exposed to a pathogen. Powerpoint will not be a viable solution for forecasting business trends or overseeing business performance. The future of business will rely on the innovative technology that helps support it. If we don’t take strides to prepare, the glimpses of social and economic ruin we are witnessing today could be far more severe in the future.
During this unprecedented time, I wanted to share some lessons for businesses that were learned the hard way during the last recession.
IF YOU DON’T YET HAVE A STANDING APPOINTMENT ON YOUR CALENDAR TO MEET WITH YOUR MARKETING AGENCY EACH MONTH CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD PUT SUCH AN APPOINTMENT ON YOUR CALENDARS NOW.
Even if you do not have an experienced in-house SEO associate, you can still start making some positive changes that will help you improve your search engine optimization. With a little SEO knowledge under your belt, you can be on your way to improving your brand’s search engine ranking in no time.
Below, we’ll provide an answer to the million dollar question – what is SEO and how it works? We’ll also cover some of the basics of SEO so that you can better understand how it impacts your business and what you need to do to be in good shape.
If you’re here, you’re probably wondering what is SEO and how it works. Let’s dig deeper.
Having a small business, you may not have sufficient funds to provide your employees with laptops, tablets and others. In many small companies, employees use their own devices to access the company’s data. Have you ever thought about how unsafe such situation is? In this case, employees put the company’s private information at risk. Another large challenge you face is protection your current employees jobs and the company they work for when an disgruntle employee departs.
To illustrate, the Ponemon Institute, a Tucson based research group, conducted interviews with 945 adults who were laid off, fired or changed jobs in the last year. The results were very interesting and highlight the magnitude of this important issue.
Does Social Media Make a Difference in your Business
-channel marketing is defined by many organizations, unsurprisingly, as communicating with and marketing to prospects and customers across many channels, including online and offline.