Local Business Networking and Social Media Marketing

Top 3 Tips to be a Super Local Marketer Offline and Online

(as the Dinosaur Marketer moves out of her comfort zone)

The Dinosaur Marketer wasn’t entirely sitting around playing with My Little Pony and Happyland figures in the years between having babies and them going to school. She squeezed in a bit of local B2B marketing for the family business on the side which included going to several local business networking groups.

This, like starting the social media marketing course with @DigitalMumsHQ, took the Dinosaur well out of her comfort zone. (That comfy place having been the City office always at the end of an email or phone, but more often than not at her desk and rarely out and about meeting real people –see Blog Parts 1 & 2 https://medium.com/@SarahBennettCo/no-longer-a-marketing-dinosaur-thanks-digital-mums-a52be346337a).

But sitting at her desk and emailing or cold calling people out of the blue was not the way to attract new clients for the local family business. Newspaper ads or directory listings were just not cutting it any more. So it was time to get out and about to meet real people and their businesses. The long term objective being to attract more clients, but more immediately to get to know more local people and businesses.

Abandoning the comfort zone to stand up and talk in meetings where the Dinosaur knew very few people was scary initially. BUT, as well as being very productive for the family business, participating in local business networking meetings proved to be beneficial in the longer run online too as it slowly dawned on the Dinosaur slowly that:

Face-to-face local networking actually has a lot more in common with social media marketing than you would think.

The Dinosaur breathed another sigh of relief as she has been able to bring her 3 years of local marketing experience into the social media world.

Here’s the Dinosaur’s Top 3 Tips to be a Super Local Marketer Offline and Online:

1. Your Objectives

Whether you are at a face-to-face meeting or tweeting away, be very clear in your mind what you are trying to do. You know ultimately you would like to get more clients for your business, but that is unlikely to happen overnight. To get a new client from a one off meeting is a HUGE ask. However, to meet and interact with interesting people with whom you can build long lasting business relationships is perfectly possible.

On Social Media, the same is true.

A business looking for your product or service might come across you through a profile, keyword or # search but is unlikely to request your help out of the blue without checking out you and your reputation first.

However, choosing to build your credibility as one of your social media objectives by posting authoritative articles and comments will go a long way to satisfying the curiosity of that business owner who can can read your posts, see who you are linked with, who follows you and who you interact with. Similarly, having a goal of increasing your brand awareness/reach will help to widen the audience of your posts so you attract more of these businesses in the first place.

In both scenarios, be careful not to get distracted from your objectives (easily done over a glass of wine at a networking event, but even easier to get lost in the depths of a Facebook thread!). And crucially measure your success. There must be a point to your activity, otherwise you ought to be spending your time doing something more productively for your business. Be honest with yourself and your objectives when you peruse your social media analytics and when you look at your Return on Investment on your networking group membership fee.

2. Your Tribes

Online or Offline you need to choose your Tribe (group/club/social media channel) wisely.

Find like-minded people and businesses who will support each other, but also places where your target audience are likely to be hanging out too. Consider the format, style, atmosphere, topics discussed at the groups and decide whether it’s one you want your business to be part of. If you find one that meets your criteria, go for it and join in!

Both online and offline groups or communities are often the best way to become known and grow your business locally as word of mouth marketing goes a long way here.

Once you’ve joined a group, be loyal and support them regularly and consistently. Do this and you will get to know the core members (who are often important ‘local influencers’) really well, not just their businesses, but also their interests outside them — chat about the best places to visit or eat, sports teams, favourite running routes, schools, charities etc. The more you chat, the more likely to find something in common.

The local element is vital if your business is seeking to interact with other businesses in your area. You will be able to reach a much wider audience by talking with other local people and businesses about local events, places and news. Be active in your community — show you care! Use local products and services, use local # in your posts. Try out local Tweet Hours or Tweet Ups. Take local photos and videos. Help promote other local events or gatherings by sharing, liking or speaking up at a meeting.

Most importantly, support others; at the end of a networking meeting there is usually time for local business referrals or recommendations, so speak up and spread the word if someone has done a great job for you. On social media, comment or Retweet someone’s services. Speak up for them and someone might speak up for you! #reciprocity

3. Your Interactions

On social media, it’s called Engagement.

At local meetings, I guess it’s called Networking.

The Dinosaur saw it as simply chatting.

Whatever you call it, it’s totally essential to your local marketing. Whether you’re at a local meeting or on Twitter, if something piques your interest, join in the conversation. You don’t need to be opinionated, just reply as if you were next to the person having a chat. If you’re feeling strong, start off a discussion yourself.

Be curious and listen — ask questions of your own. Be positive and encouraging; give advice or tips generously if the conversation comes across your area of expertise. If one area seems particularly popular, you could even hold your own offline workshop or host a Tweet Chat!

Be open minded — don’t dismiss people if you think they’re not relevant. You probably have more in common with them than you think. If not, at least be polite! Try to avoid criticising other people either on- or offline as this creates a negative impression around your business — not only that, the local networking community is a tight knit one where mostly everyone knows everyone else. Online, it’s not a great move either as social media comments hang around a lot longer than you might think.

Have a laugh! People love a sense of humour and after all, even with B2B, people still buy or use services from people. Don’t be scared to share a funny image, video or anecdote, but remember to remain professional!

But in both discussion types, blatant self-promotion is a sure fire way to have fellow networkers turn their backs on you or for social media followers to unfollow. There’s a time and a place to tell everyone about your business — usually a one minute pitch at the networking meeting or at a designated time on a social media group.

There are multiple benefits to local networking off- and online. Others will see or regard you as a real person — certainly not an Egghead Twitter profile with no personality or interests. You will definitely learn more than you knew when you started taking part in local meetings or tweeting. Even if it’s not business related, you’ll retain nuggets of information or helpful people — fantastic knowledge which one day you or someone you know might just need.

Then one day, someone else might just need your help or advice. Just be ready to engage with them!

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