It’s easy to get lost in the sea of social media platforms, social media marketing strategy, search engine optimization and paid advertising. As a lawnmower and tractor dealership, you may be wondering if social media marketing is really worth your time and effort. After all, what kind of value can posting pictures of mowers and tractors on Instagram really bring to your business?
The truth is, social media marketing can have a significant impact on your dealership’s online presence and ultimately, your bottom line. More and more potential customers are using social media to research and make purchasing decisions and that number is estimated to continue growing as we trudge deeper into the digital era.
Statistical Evidence
How does this translate to lawnmower and tractor dealerships? Let’s look at some relevant statistics:
There is estimated to be 4.89 billion social media users worldwide.
The average time internet users spend on social media a day is 151 Minutes.
Social media can be a valuable tool for lawnmower and tractor dealerships. By creating a strong social media presence, you can reach potential customers where they already are – on their mobile devices scrolling through their feeds.
But simply having a presence on social media isn’t enough. To truly maximize your online efforts, you need to approach social media marketing strategically.
Social Media Marketing Strategy
Social media has become an integral part of modern-day communication and marketing strategies. With the widespread adoption of various social media platforms, it is essential to have a clear plan for how you want to leverage these channels to achieve your business goals. Developing a social media strategy can help you define your objectives, create a consistent brand voice, save time and resources, understand your audience, and provide a roadmap for success. Let’s take a closer look at why having a social media strategy is crucial for any organization looking to succeed in today’s digital landscape.
Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy
Helps you define your goals: A social media strategy helps you identify what you want to achieve through your social media channels. Whether it’s increasing brand awareness, generating leads, or driving sales, having clear goals helps you focus your efforts and measure your success.
Ensures consistency: A social media strategy helps you maintain consistency across all your channels. It ensures that your messaging, branding and tone of voice are consistent, which helps build trust with your audience.
Saves time and resources: With a social media strategy in place, you can plan and schedule your content in advance, saving you time and resources. You’ll also have a better idea of what works and what doesn’t, so you can focus on the strategies that generate the best results.
Helps you understand your audience: A social media strategy involves understanding your audience and what they want. It helps you create content that resonates with them, engage with them in meaningful ways and build long-term relationships.
Provides a roadmap for success: A social media strategy provides a clear roadmap for success. It outlines the steps you need to take to achieve your goals and helps you stay on track. It also helps you adapt to changes in the social media landscape and make data-driven decisions.
What Types of Content Should I Post?
Showcase your products: One of the most obvious ways to use social media for your dealership is to showcase your products. Share high-quality photos and videos of your lawnmowers and tractors in action and highlight their unique features and capabilities. This can help potential customers visualize your products and understand why they’re worth investing in.
Share customer reviews and testimonials: Social proof is a powerful tool for building trust with potential customers. Share reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers on your social media channels and encourage happy customers to leave reviews on your website and Google Business Profile.
Create engaging content: To keep your social media followers engaged and interested in your dealership, create content that’s informative, entertaining, and valuable. Share tips and tricks for lawn care, highlight industry news and trends and offer exclusive promotions and discounts to your social media followers.
Use targeted advertising: Paid advertising on social media can be a highly effective way to reach your target audience. Use targeting options to show your ads to people in your local area who are likely to be interested in your products, and experiment with different ad formats to see what resonates with your audience.
Monitor and respond to feedback: social media is a two-way conversation, so it’s important to monitor your channels for feedback and respond to comments and messages in a timely manner. This can help you build relationships with potential customers and address any concerns or questions they may have.
Create educational content: you can also use social media to provide educational content related to lawnmowers and tractors. For example, you could create how-to videos on topics like lawn maintenance or tractor safety, which can help position your dealership as an expert in your field.
Host live events: Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram allow you to host live events, which can be a great way to showcase your products and connect with potential customers. Consider hosting a live demo of your latest lawnmower or tractor models, or even a Q&A session with your followers.
Run contests and giveaways: Social media contests and giveaways can be a fun way to engage with your followers and encourage them to share your content with their own networks. Consider running a contest where followers have to share a post, tag friends, or create their own content using your products for a chance to win a prize.
Collaborate with influencers: Influencer marketing can be a highly effective way to reach a new audience and build brand awareness. Consider partnering with social media influencers in the lawn care or agricultural industry who have a large following and who are likely to be interested in your products. You can offer them a discount or even a free product in exchange for featuring your lawnmowers and tractors in their posts.
What are the Benefits of Social Media Marketing?
Brand Awareness
One of the primary benefits of social media marketing is that it can help increase your brand’s visibility and awareness. By creating a strong social media presence and regularly posting high-quality content, you can reach a larger audience and get your brand in front of potential customers.
Social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have billions of users worldwide, and by creating a strong presence on these platforms, you can reach a wider audience than you might be able to through other marketing channels.
Consistently posting high-quality content, using consistent branding, and messaging and engaging with your followers can help build brand recognition and loyalty over time. By including links to your website in your social media posts, you can drive traffic to your website and increase brand exposure.
Increase Sales
In addition to increasing brand awareness, social media can also directly drive sales for lawnmower and tractor dealerships. By using targeted advertising, promoting special offers and showcasing your products, you can encourage potential customers to make a purchase.
Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram offer powerful targeting options that allow you to show your ads to specific groups of people who are likely to be interested in your products. This can help increase the effectiveness of your advertising and drive more sales. By promoting exclusive discounts and promotions on your social media channels, you can incentivize potential customers to make a purchase. Sharing high-quality photos and videos of your lawnmowers and tractors can help potential customers visualize your products and understand why they’re worth investing in.
Putting it All Together
We’ve looked at the statistics and seen the influence social media has and will continue to have in the future. We’ve talked about why it is important to have a marketing strategy and how to implement one. We’ve talked about the types of content you should post and the main benefits of social media for your dealership. It can seem overwhelming to know that this is just one piece of the marketing puzzle. If you only take one thing from this post, take this: Just Start. Take that first step into implementing a killer social media marketing strategy and reap the benefits of social media marketing.
If your too busy running your dealership to worry about your social media marketing strategy, Dealers Digital can help. Contact us today to start the conversation and take the leap into Social Media success!
You understand the importance of maximizing your reach and driving more leads and sales to your dealership. But how do you actually do that? One of the most effective ways to achieve this is through social media marketing. Billions of users across various platforms allows social media to provide an unparalleled opportunity to reach and engage with your target audience.
Lawn mower dealers, Tractor dealers and outdoor power equipment dealerships face unique challenges when it comes to marketing your products and services. With the right strategy and approach, social media can be a powerful and low-cost tool for increasing brand awareness, building customer relationships and driving more sales.
In this post we will cover the key benefits of social media marketing for lawn mower, tractor and outdoor power equipment dealerships and provide actionable tips and strategies you can easily implement for maximizing your reach and success on social media.
Understanding Your Target Audience
It’s important for you to understand your dealership’s target audience for many reasons. It can help you to determine which products and services they are most interested in and what their needs and preferences are. This information can then be used to create relevant marketing campaigns and product offerings that will resonate with the target audience.
Knowing your target audience will also help you to tailor your messaging and social media content to their interests and preferences, which, in turn, will increase engagement and build stronger relationships with your customers.
When you understand your target audience, you can better allocate your resources to the channels and platforms where they are most active, maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing efforts. It can also help you provide a better overall customer experience. By answering questions and providing support and by showcasing the types of services and products your offer.
To gather data about your target audience, you can use tools like social media analytics, customer surveys, and market research studies. You can also look at demographic data from your existing customer base and analyze customer reviews and feedback to gain insights into their preferences and buying habits. By understanding your target audience, you can create more effective and targeted advertising campaigns on social media, and ultimately maximize your reach and impact.
Drilling it Down
Let’s take a deeper look at the (generalized) target market for Outdoor Power Equipment, Lawnmower & Tractor Dealerships.
Demographic Information:
Age: Typically, the target audience for lawn mowers and tractors is between 35-65 years old. However, it can also depend on the specific product and its intended use for example older adults may be more interested in riding lawn mowers for easier maintenance, while younger adults may be interested in more heavy-duty equipment for larger properties.
Gender: Can be either male or female, as both genders may have an interest in maintaining a lawn and/or garden. This industry has predominantly had a higher percentage of male clientele.
Location: Typically are homeowners and property owners who live in suburban or rural areas.
Income: Typically have a moderate to high income, as these products can be relatively expensive.
Occupation: May be homeowners, property owners, or business owners who require equipment for maintaining lawns, gardens, or properties.
Buying Habits and Preferences:
Need for Equipment: May need new or replacement equipment for maintaining their lawns or properties.
Brand Awareness: May prefer certain brands, based on past experiences or recommendations from friends or family members.
Budget: May have a budget in mind for their equipment purchases.
Online vs. In-Store Purchasing: Historically has been in-store.
Social Media Usage and Behavior:
Platform Usage: May be active on social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and may use these platforms to research and gather information about products and services.
Engagement: May engage with brands and businesses on social media by following their accounts, commenting on posts, and sharing content with their friends and followers.
Ad Response: May respond well to social media advertising, particularly if the ads are relevant and offer a clear value proposition.
Now that we know who we are trying to reach, we can look at creating relevant content.
Creating Relevant Content
What does it take to create relative content? Armed with the information you have gathered about your target audience (which may differ some from the above example, depending on where in the US you are located) you can consider the importance of visually appealing content, highlighting unique features and benefits of your products and services, and creating a strong call to action and create some killer content!
Importance of Visually Appealing Content
Attention-Grabbing: To stand out on social media, it’s important to create visually appealing content that grabs the attention of your target audience. This can be achieved through the use of high-quality images, videos, and graphics that showcase your products in an attractive and eye-catching manner. Customers in this industry prefer to see the products in use rather than stand-alone images.
Building Brand Awareness: Visually appealing content can help build brand awareness and increase recognition of your dealership and its products among your target audience.
Making a Strong First Impression: Social media users are bombarded with countless ads on a daily basis, and first impressions are crucial. By creating visually appealing content, you can make a strong first impression and increase the chances that your target audience will engage with your content.
Highlighting the Unique Features and Benefits of Your Products
Product Differentiation: Highlighting the unique features and benefits of your products can differentiate your dealership and its products from competitors and position your business as a leader in the industry.
Providing Value: Emphasizing the benefits of your products can show your target audience the value that your products can bring to their lives and how they can make their lives easier.
Demonstrating Expertise: Showcasing the unique features and benefits of your products can demonstrate your dealership’s expertise and knowledge in the industry, which can help establish trust and credibility with your target audience.
Creating a Strong Call-to-Action
Encouraging Engagement: A strong call-to-action (CTA) can encourage your target audience to take a specific action, such as visiting your website, making a purchase, or contacting your dealership for more information.
Increasing Conversion Rates: By including a clear and compelling CTA in your content you can increase the chances that your target audience will take the desired action, which can ultimately lead to increased conversion rates and sales.
Measuring Success: By including a clear and specific CTA, you can also measure the success of your advertising campaigns by tracking the number of conversions and actions taken.
Analytics
You can use analytics to access how your content strategy is working and adjust the course when needed. Take time each week to look over the performance of your posts and take note of which posts performed the best.
Are they Videos, Still Images or Facebook Stories?
What was the topic?
Have you covered this topic in full or are there other points you can address in follow up posts?
Analytics can play a critical role in maximizing your reach on social media by providing valuable insights into the performance of your social media marketing efforts. What types of metrics should you be tracking?
Engagement: Likes, Comments, Shares and Followers. Posts with more engagement are resonating with our audience more.
Demographics: Keeping an eye on the demographics of your audience can help you to better tailor content to fit your specific audiences needs and wants.
Reach: Impressions, Reach & Page Views show you how many people are seeing your content and how far it is spreading.
Conversion Rates: Use analytics tools to track conversion rates and determine the effectiveness of your social media campaigns in driving leads and sales.
By using analytics to track the performance of your social media marketing efforts, you can make data-driven decisions and optimize your strategy to maximize your reach and drive better results.
Summing it Up
Social Media Marketing is an essential tool for lawn mower and tractor dealerships looking to reach a wider audience and drive more leads and sales. By understanding your target audience and creating relevant content, dealerships can increase engagement and build stronger relationships with their customers. Using analytics to track the performance of your social media marketing efforts and making data-driven decisions can help you maximize your reach and stay ahead of the competition.
Whether you are just getting started with social media marketing or looking to take your strategy to the next level, implementing these proven strategies can help you achieve your goals and succeed in the digital age. With the right approach and the right tools, dealerships can harness the power of social media marketing and achieve long-term success.
Are you to busy running your dealership to worry about social media? We can help! Contact Us today to schedule a consultation and get started!
Managing customer experiences is crucial for any business looking to drive business growth and retain customers. After reading reviews about a business, almost all potential customers will take their next step in a space that the business has complete control over. This means that the majority of customer interactions and experiences are within your control. Whether it’s through your website, physical location, or communication channels, the power to shape the customer experience is in your hands. By effectively managing these spaces, you can turn leads into paying customers and create a positive, lasting impression that will keep them coming back. In this blog post, we’ll dive deep into the importance of managing customer experiences and provide you with tips and best practices for optimizing your website, creating a positive in-store experience, and managing communication channels to improve customer engagement and satisfaction.
The Customer’s Journey: By the Numbers
96% of adults read Local Business Reviews
91% of consumers take the next step in the buyer’s journey.
51% of those people will visit your website.
27% of those people will visit your physical business location.
13% of those people will contact you (phone, text, email, live chat)
8% of consumers move from reviews to your social media profiles.
It is more important now than ever to create a positive and seamless customer experience across all touch points. By effectively controlling your website, physical location, and communication channels, your dealership can create a consistent and cohesive brand image and message. Additionally, you can use customer data and insights gathered from these spaces to personalize and optimize the customer experience, improving the chances of conversion.
Maximizing your control over the customer experience starts with identifying and addressing pain points. Utilizing data from your website, physical location, and communication channels can help you do just that. By analyzing website data, you can pinpoint areas that need improvement and enhance the user experience. Similarly, data from your physical location can be used to optimize store layout and improve the in-store experience. And by monitoring communication channels, you can improve customer service and address concerns in a timely manner. By utilizing data from all these sources, you can create a seamless and positive customer experience that drives business growth.
Let’s take a deeper look at each touch point.
Utilizing Your Website to Drive Business Growth
Having a strong online presence is crucial for businesses in today’s digital age. A website can be a powerful tool for attracting and retaining customers for lawn mower, tractor, and outdoor power equipment dealers. A well-designed website can provide customers with information about the products and services offered, as well as detailed specifications and pricing. It can also allow customers to easily browse and purchase products online, making the buying process more convenient for them.
Your dealership’s website can also be used to create a sense of trust and credibility with your customers. By including customer testimonials, photos, and videos of products in use, and detailed information about the company’s history and experience in the industry, a website can establish the business as a reputable and trustworthy provider of lawn mower, tractor, and outdoor power equipment.
A website can also be used to provide customers with ongoing support and education. For example, a dealer can provide information on how to properly maintain and repair equipment, or tips on how to get the most out of their equipment. This can help to build customer loyalty and encourage repeat business.
If your dealership has no website, or it isn’t quite up to par, we can help. Dealers Digital can help you maximize your online exposure and boost sales. We are the green industries digital marketing experts with over twenty years of digital media experience. Contact us today to get started.
Optimizing Your Dealership’s Website
Here are a few tips and best practices to optimize your dealership’s website to drive conversions and improve the overall customer experience.
Navigation: Make sure that your website is easy to navigate. Use a clear and consistent layout, organize your content in a logical and easy to understand way.
Optimize for Mobile: Over 80% of people browse the internet via mobile and expect for their experiences to be seamless. Your website should be responsive, meaning it adjusts to fit the screen size of the device being used to view it.
Clear Calls to Action (CTA): Your site should have clear CTA’s that guide visitors towards the next step. Whether that is to make a purchase, request more information, or to schedule a consultation.
Contact Information: Make it easy for visitors to contact you by including your phone number, email and physical address and contact form prominently on your website.
Testimonials & Reviews: Use testimonials and reviews from satisfied customers to help build trust and credibility with potential customers.
Search Engine Optimization: Optimizing your website for search engines (IE: Google) can help increase your visibility and drive more traffic to your site. There are many free resources out there to learn about and implement SEO, or you can hire an agency, like Dealers Digital, to help. Get your Free Local SEO Report.
The Value of Your Physical Location
Reviews are a powerful tool for driving foot traffic to your dealership! Reviews provide customers with valuable information about your dealership’s products and services, and can influence their decision to visit your dealership in person. A dealership with a high number of positive reviews is more likely to attract customers, which in turn, increases sales.
Your dealership should make an effort to encourage customers to leave reviews, and respond to both positive and negative reviews in a timely and professional manner. The way that a company handles a poor review says a lot about who they are.
Cultivating a Positive In-Store Experience & Utilizing Your Physical Location
Here are some tips on how to cultivate positive in store experiences and utilize your physical location to drive sales.
Create a Positive In-Store Experience: A positive in-store experience can help to turn customers in loyal brand ambassadors and encourage them to leave positive reviews. By providing excellent customer service, having a knowledgeable staff and creating an inviting and visually appealing store layout can help you to achieve this.
Utilize Your Physical Location: You can offer promotions and sales that are only available in-store or highlight products that aren’t available for purchase online. You can create in-store displays, or by offering special discounts or deals for customers who visit the store in person.
Provide in-store consultation: Offer in-store consultation services like product demonstrations, product trials or shopping assistants. This will allow your customers to have a more hands-on experience and get more personalized recommendations, which can lead to increased sales.
Encourage Customers to Leave Reviews: Encourage customers to leave reviews by providing a clear call to action, like a sign or card that directs them to the review. Respond to reviews in a timely and professional manner, and then use the positive reviews to help promote your dealership.
3 Types of Communication Channels
Effective communication is crucial for providing a positive customer experience and driving conversions for lawnmower and tractor dealerships. By managing phone, email and live chat effectively, your dealership can ensure that you are responsive to customer inquiries, provide accurate information, and address any issues in a timely and professional manner.
Phone: Phone communication allows for immediate, personal contact with customers. It is important to have well-trained staff who can answer questions and help quickly and efficiently. Business texting has become increasingly important in managing customer pickup and service notifications.
Email: Email communication can be used to provide detailed information to customers, such as product specifications, financing offers or promotions. It is important to respond promptly to customer inquiries and to make sure that the information provided is accurate and up to date. We offer automation solutions.
Live Chat: Live chat allows customers to receive immediate assistance while browsing your dealership’s website. It is important to have staff available to answer to chat requests in real time, or use a chat-widget, like Dealeramp to provide 24/7 automated responses.
Managing Communication Channels Effectively
By effectively managing these communication channels, your dealership can improve your customer’s experience and increase the likelihood of conversions. You’re also likely to increase your customer engagement and satisfaction while you are at it. Customers can reach out to your dealership in the way that they feel the most comfortable and convenient. This provides them with a greater sense of control over their buying experience.
Set clear expectations: Let customers know when they can expect a response to their inquiry, regardless of the channel. This will help manage the customer’s expectations and reduce frustration.
Respond promptly: Respond to all customer inquiries as quickly as possible. This shows that your dealership values the customer’s time and is committed to providing a positive experience.
Train Staff: Ensure that your entire staff is well trained in your dealership’s products and services, as well as in communication and customer service best practices.
Personalize your communication: Address customers by name and make sure to use a professional and friendly tone. Your customer will feel more valued and comfortable.
Gather and act on feedback: Regularly gather feedback from customers and find ways to act on it. This can help the dealership identify areas for improvement and make changes to better meet customer needs.
Despite the statistic that only a small percentage of customers may move from reviews to social media profiles, managing and maintaining a strong presence on social media platforms is crucial for any dealership’s marketing strategy. While the customer journey may vary, social media offers a variety of opportunities for dealerships to increase brand awareness, engage with customers, manage reputation, generate leads and stay informed about industry trends and customer preferences. By effectively utilizing social media, dealerships can improve the customer experience, drive conversions, and gain a competitive advantage in the market.
Brand presence and awareness: Having a strong social media presence can help increase brand awareness and establish your dealership as a reputable and trustworthy source.
Customer Engagement: social media offers an opportunity for your dealership to engage with customers, answer questions and provide information about products and services. This helps build loyalty and trust with your customers.
Reputation Management: Social media can be used to monitor and respond to feedback from customers. This can help your dealership proactively address any issues and maintain a positive reputation.
Industry insights: social media can be used to track industry trends, competitors activity and customer preferences.
Managing Social Media Profiles
Let’s look at some tips for creating engaging and effective social media profiles that can help drive business growth.
Define your target audience: Understand who your ideal customer is and tailor your content to fit their interests and needs.
Create a consistent brand image: Use consistent branding across all of your profiles.
Use Storytelling: Use storytelling to create engaging content that highlights the dealership’s unique selling points and the benefits of its products and services.
Engage with customers: responds to comments and messages in a timely manner and use social media as an opportunity to build relationships with customers.
Create a content calendar: Plan and schedule content in advance to ensure that you project a consistent and organized approach to your content.
Harness the Power
Mastering the customer experience is key for any business looking to drive growth and retain customers. By harnessing the power of managing customer experiences, dealerships can take control of the customer journey and turn leads into paying customers. Through effectively managing your website, physical location, and communication channels, businesses can create a consistent and cohesive brand image, personalize, and optimize the customer experience, and improve the chances of conversion. By utilizing data from these spaces, businesses can identify and address pain points, creating a seamless and positive customer experience that drives business growth. By implementing the tips and best practices discussed in this post, businesses can maximize their control over the customer experience and drive business growth. Harnessing the power of mastering the customer experience is essential for any business looking to succeed in today’s competitive market.
We’ve all been there before. It’s the afternoon and you realize that you haven’t posted anything all day on your social channels. Or maybe you woke up to find that a competitor has posted something that completely stole your spotlight. Either way, you want to make sure that doesn’t happen again. After all, your business is only as good as your social media presence. But how should you create, distribute, and analyze your content?
As a consumer, you’re probably used to being bombarded with content from every angle – but as a small business, it’s important to make sure that your content stands out from the crowd. If you’re an outdoor power equipment dealership looking to increase your social media engagement and reach, there are a few things you can do to make sure your content is up to par. Keep reading to learn more about how you can improve your social media presence!
The Keys of Engagement
Tell A Story: People love stories that move them. It’s really easy to tell someone how great your brand or product is. People are tired of hearing it! Show your consumers how your product helps them solve a problem or issue in their life. Make your content more meaningful by telling stories to get your point across.
Be Relevant: Consumers want the content they consume to be relevant to them. This resonates whether the content is happy, sad, realistic or drives anger. People like Meme’s because it draws attention to the things that people think, but don’t usually say out loud. A few ways to be certain that your content is relevant is to speak to customer’s pain points, follow current trends, appeal to their emotions and sharing personal experiences or challenges with the subject. Another way to find engaging content ideas is to look at your competitor’s social media accounts. What posts perform well? Which perform poorly?
Promote User Generated Content: Create a social media challenge (or use a current trend) or contest to cultivate user generated content. Ask your customers to create content of them using the products or the way their lawn looks after using the lawnmower they bought from you.
Employee Focused Content: Allow your employees to share a glimpse of their work life and what it is like to work for your dealership. Have an employee create videos educating customers on specific products and their features. But don’t force your employees to participate. This will show through in the content that is created. Encourage the employees most passionate and comfortable with social media content creation to participate.
Share Customer Testimonials: Reviews and Reputation Management becomes increasingly important as we mover deeper into the digital era. 95% of Potential customers are researching brands and reading reviews before they even consider setting foot in your door. Sharing testimonials also helps you build trust with potential customers.
Share Content from other Brands/Authorities in the Green Industry: There are several applications that do a great job of showcasing products from the manufacturers that you carry. You can also share articles and posts from industry experts and share your thoughts. This will give your audience a bit of a break from your brand, so they don’t get overwhelmed by your content.
Create Behind the Scenes Content: Some consumers find it interesting how the process works. Sharing content of your staff unloading inventory into your showroom or getting the show room ready for the day can be an interesting way to showcase your business. Giving consumers a behind-the-scenes look of life behind the counter can also make your business more relatable and understandable.
Use Hashtags (Correctly): A hashtag (#) is used to index keywords and topics on social media channels. Essentially, the hashtags that you use will allow the platform to properly categorize and distribute your content in the various types of feeds. In short, Hashtags make your content more discoverable. You want to make sure that the hashtags that you use are relevant, popular and add understanding or context to your content. There are many free keyword research tools that you can use to find the most widely viewed hashtags for your topics. Most platforms will allow you to use up to 30 hashtags. Do so but do it wisely.
Frequently Asked Questions About Social Media Engagement
Why is Social Media engagement important?
Engagement is a ranking signal on all social media platforms. If people engage with your content, the algorithm will see that content as interesting and valuable, and surface it to more users. This means that social media engagement can help you grow your social accounts and reach more people. Engagement also helps to build relationships with potential and current customers, which can lead to more sales and conversions.
What is considered a “good” engagement rate?
Anything between 1-5% is considered “good”. You will want to look at your social media analytics and see what your historic engagement rate is, so that you will know when you have increased it.
How do I calculate my engagement rate?
You can calculate your social media engagement rate by dividing the number of public interactions with a post by the number of account followers and multiply it by 100. For Example, if your last post had 75 likes and your account has 300 followers- Your engagement rate would be 75/300 X 100 = 25%. Most social media platforms will calculate this for you in their analytics section.
Why should I care about my engagement rate?
Keep these insights in mind as you fine-tune your strategy to reflect your target market’s taste, interests, and expectations more accurately.
Keep it Consistent
There’s a myth that creating great content takes a lot of money and it is time consuming. It doesn’t have to be. When used correctly and in unison with other strategies, you will have more time for other areas of your business that need your attention. When you increase your engagement, you will also increase your leads and ultimately, sales. Your customer retention and loyalty will also increase. The most certain way to increase your social media engagement is to be consistent with your posts. Your followers will come to expect to see your content, so you need to make sure that you have a steady flow of great content in que.
Don’t have the time for content creation and posting on social media? We can help! Contact Us Today and let’s talk about how we can help you grow your business! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with all the latest news!
Recession Proof your Dealership with These 5 Tips!
There has been a lot of discussion about a recession being on the horizon, and with inflation rates at an all-time high, it’s understandable to be worried. Recessions can be devastating, and many businesses never recover from the financial loss. So how can you make sure that your business makes it, regardless of the state of the economy?
Lead by Example
As the leaders within your organization, you can stabilize your work environment and maintain health and balance within the workplace. You do this by leading by example. Show your employees that you are all on one team. And lastly, cut costs where you can but don’t sacrifice quality or your employees’ livelihoods. Your morale will be easier to maintain, and you will have a greater capability of responding to crisis. People want to do business with those they know, like and trust. By ensuring customer excellence is achieved in all interactions, you increase the likelihood of creating a loyal customer. Trust becomes even more important at economic downturns occur.
Targeted Marketing
Promoting your business during an economic recession might seem counterintuitive, but it’s actually essential to surviving tough times. To be successful, you’ll need to be tactical in your approach. The best way to reach your customers is by meeting them where they are – whether that’s online, in-person, or through word-of-mouth. Hyper targeted marketing is a low-cost way to reach your consumers. A few ways to utilize targeted marketing are listed below:
Content: Good content is essential for SEO success, and it’s also key to attracting organic traffic to your website. When creating content, make sure it’s high-quality and targeted to your audience. Relevant content will not only help you rank higher in search engines, but it will also attract more organic traffic to your website.
Social Media: While, like most things, you can spend money on social media. It is not necessary. You can achieve the basics of social media without spending a cent. When it comes to social media, you get what you put in.
SEO: SEO has the highest potential for value per dollar of any other marketing effort. The successes of good SEO will stick with your site, long after you stop paying for services. No matter how long you have been in business, your website can always benefit from an SEO update. SEO is a crucial part of being seen by your customers.
User Experience & Website Design: Existing in the digital world is an essential part of being a business today. The success (or failure) of your online efforts can often be determined by the appearance and usefulness of your site.
Stay Ahead of the Curve
Talk to your partners and suppliers now. Do not be surprised by supply chain or staffing shortages. Be aware of trends for your industry and allow yourself to anticipate not only business needs but also the needs of your ideal customers. There is a good chance that other companies in your industry are dealing with the same obstacles, so communication with suppliers and customers is not only crucial but can be game changing. You want everyone on your team to be on the same page. This can help you to identify pitfalls before they even happen.
Think Twice About Big Investments
It becomes even more important to manage your cash flow when you are in the throes of a recession. Looking at your finances and projections can help you anticipate where cash flow might get a little tight so you can prepare solutions and adjust ahead of time. Do everything you can now to evaluate your operations and trim the fat to strengthen your cash position prior to entering into a recession.
Stay on Top of Accounts Receivables
During a recession, everyone struggles financially. Your customers may start paying more slowly and you may have a more difficult time collecting receivables. Evaluate your customers paying habits and make adjustments now, to save you lots of time and headaches later. Stay on top of collections. Offer additional ways for clients to pay: such as, electronic payments. You can also stop working with clients who are reluctant to pay or stop extending credit if your cash flow can’t withstand it.
Work Smarter, Not Harder
There is nothing you can do to control the economy. It is important to focus your attention on what you can control, and that is how you run your business! A recession will bring countless struggles and challenges for your company. Knowing your numbers and leaning into smart changes will help you to lead your company with a fearless growth mindset and allow you to overcome and emerge a leader in your industry.
If you find that you don’t have the time or expertise to handle your dealership’s marketing, we can help! Dealers Digital has a proven track record of helping Outdoor Power Equipment Dealerships maximize their online reach. With over 20 years of digital marketing experience, we know your market and we know how to reach your customers! Contact Us for more information about how we can help your Dealership turn those clicks into cash!
It seems there is always some new Social Media Trend or Controversy. Social Media dictates how a lot of people live their lives. We turn to it for attention, sympathy, support, advice, help and entertainment. We consume so much of it that we don’t event think twice about it. We use it in our personal lives as well as our professional lives. With over 3.78 Billion users worldwide, its safe to say that social media is here to stay.
If it is here to stay, then it begs the question, is it really important?
55% of consumers learn about new brands on social media! Social media has always been a place of discovery, and people are now using social media to learn about brands and companies just as much (or more) than TV or Radio Advertising. The average person spends 2 hours and 29 minutes each day on social media. That gives you lots of opportunity to get in front of the right audience.
In today’s age of streaming, we don’t need or want to watch or listen to ads anymore. We’re able to fast forward, change the channel or take our pick from infinite libraries of ad-free content. However, on social media, ads and brand content sits next to our social streams and looks like the content that we consume from our friends, family or other connections. So, Why is this important? Gen Z and Millennials are especially likely to use social media for brand discover. As the spending power of these generations increases, so will social media usage. Your brand should be ready to capitalize on these growing networks, or consumers will most likely discover your competitors first.
Social media users tend to treat social media like a feedback loop where they are able to report an issue with a product, leave a review, or privately message the company. If your consumers can’t engage with you, they may find another company who can. Engagement is the primary goal of many marketers and drives a positive influence on customers’ decisions to buy from a brand. Responsive brands that continuously react and engage in communication with consumers are better equipped to serve their customers’ needs, dial up personalization and humanize their content in a way that forges deeper connections with customers.
What can social media do for my business?
Besides the most obvious, getting your name and brand out to more people quickly and cheaply, there are many other benefits of utilizing social media marketing for your business.
Helps you engage with current and potential customers
You can find out what people are saying about your business
You can advertise your business and promotions
Social media can help your business attract customers
Allows you to gain and collect customer feedback
Helps to build customer loyalty to your business and brand
Who are the major Social Media Players?
Facebook is the market leader when it comes to social media with over 68% of Adults in the US using it on a regular basis. 1.84 billion people use Facebook every day! More than 90 million small businesses have Facebook pages & 67% of marketers say Facebook is the most important Social Media platform in their strategies. With such whopping statistics, it’s no wonder Facebook generated $27.19 billion from ad revenue in Q4 of 2020 alone! With so many people regularly using (and buying) from Facebook, it should be a crucial part of your digital marketing strategy too!
Instagram is owned by the same company as Facebook, Meta. The difference in the platforms is that Instagram only allows you to post visual content, while Facebook allows Text Only Posts. Boasting over 1.5 billion users a day and over 200 million businesses on Instagram, this platform is known for user engagement. Engagement rate on Instagram are approximately 6 times higher than those on Facebook (81% VS 8%).
Twitter has long cemented itself as the hub of political discussions, memes and the prime place to go back and forth with brands. 436 million monthly users troll on twitter. Content strategy can be a little tricky on Twitter, but it’s an important pillar of a strong digital marketing strategy.
TikTok has amassed 42.4% of the adult population in users and is the fastest growing social network with 105% user growth rate in the US over the past 2 years. TikTok is giving Instagram a run for its money when it comes to Influencers. TikTok is now more popular among the Gen Z population than Instagram.
Pinterest has an impressive 400 million monthly user base and has a diverse, big-spending audience that are more dedicated and engaged than any other network. 7 out of 10 “pinners” say Pinterest is their go-to place to find products and services they can trust and their shopping carts are 85% larger than buyers on other platforms. With dedication like that from your consumers, why wouldn’t you be using this platform?
What should my business be doing on social media?
Have complete and correct profile information. Users want to be able to find your phone number, address and website when they need it so make sure that you have added the information and that all information is correct and up to date on your social profiles.
Post regularly. Businesses who post consistently show consistent organic growth. Just like you would nurture any other sales lead, nurture the audience you build through social media.
Set aside time each week to read and respond to all comments. With so many people using social media as a way to connect with brands, it is key that you respond to each and every comment consumers leave about you or your business. Respond to negative reviews professionally and compassionately.
Create content that enhances your target audience’s life. Consumers are accosted with so many advertisements each day, they don’t want to see gimmicky ads when they turn to social media. Your content should resemble other content on the platform and add value.
Humanize your company. Have a new office manager? Do you celebrate employees’ birthdays? Document and post “fun” activities, introductory posts and other ways to share who your company is at its core is a good way to promote your business on social media.
It’s safe to say that social media is here to stay. Your customers are looking for you online. Give them what they want and make it easy for them to find you. Let Dealers Digital help you maximize your online exposure and boost your sales. Because we only work with outdoor power equipment and green industry professionals, we know what content to curate, what your customers want to hear and when they want to hear it. We also work with you to open up the lines of communication from your social channels to utilize them as sales lead funnels.
Contact Us now for more information about how we can help you and your business! Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to keep up with all of the latest news!
This article originally appeared in the November edition of OPE Business.
There seems to be a never-ending deluge of marketing buzzwords that inundate business owners year after year. And every year, the next hot thing that you just HAVE to do for your business changes. So, the toughest thing for any business owner to figure out each year is whether that next hot thing is actually the next must-have to take your business to the next level. One topic I get lots of questions about is reputation management.
Over the past several years, dozens of companies have entered the landscape touting the importance of reputation management. You’ve likely even been contacted by companies that market themselves as end-to-end reputation management companies. But what is reputation management and why is it important?
At its core, reputation management is exactly what it sounds like – tools that help you manage your business’s reputation online. There are three main pillars that make up the foundation of your online reputation.
Review Generation & Monitoring
Business Listing Optimization
Website
Review Generation and Monitoring
I know every dealer has had the importance of reviews pounded into their consciousness over the past several years. And for good reason – they’re that important. Consider the following data from Qualtrics.
91% of 18–34-year-olds trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
Customers are willing to spend 31% more on a business with excellent reviews.
94% of people say an online review has convinced them to avoid a business.
3 is the minimum star rating of a business consumers would engage with.
The value of reviews goes beyond just driving consumer action (or inaction). Businesses with positive online reviews get more love in Google search rankings too!
One of the most frequent questions I ask is “can you remove a negative review for our business?”. Most of the time, the answer to that question is no. It is possible to flag a review with Google if you can prove that it’s not actually a review of your business, overly offensive or explicit or creates a legal concern. If you’re successful, the review can be removed, but it’s a rare occurrence.
The absolute best thing to do is respond to every review, positive or negative. When customers see an articulate response to a negative review of your business, it has been proven to create a positive impression because it shows you care enough to reach out to try and make things right.
Understanding the importance of reviews is one thing, but generating reviews at scale is where you gain real momentum and that’s where software comes in. Automating your outreach is the key to making massive gains in review generation. It’s also the quickest way to bury bad reviews. When you consider that 72% of customers will write a review if a local business asks them to, investing in review generation is a no brainer. I recommend this to every dealer I talk to.
Business Listing Optimization
Business listings play an integral role in your business’s online reputation. While reviews and social listening are more customer centric, business listing optimization is a key component of your reputation in Google’s eyes. If you recently added a new location or maybe moved from an old location, making sure your business details are accurate is extremely important for search engines and how the judge the integrity of the listing. There are hundreds of directory websites that Google uses to assess the value of your listing and you’re not going to update those manually, are you? Of course not. And even if you wanted to, many of them wouldn’t allow you to edit the listing if you tried. I recommend business listing optimization so every local business we work with because it has measurably positive effects on your local SEO efforts.
Dealership Website
I’ve mentioned in this space before that 75% of consumers admit that they judge a business’s credibility on the quality of their website design so the importance of your web presence can’t be overstated enough. While your website isn’t necessarily a tool like the review generation or business listing optimization, but I absolutely consider it to be central to the overall brand experience of the dealership.
Where the OPE industry is unique from many others is that dealers often rely heavily on OEM co-op funds for most of their advertising and typically have outside firms managing their campaigns. This means that I see many instances of dealers not being privy If you’re a heavy spender in digital media, sending traffic to an unprofessional website might actually be hurting your business. A banner ad campaign with a modest budget of $1,000/mo could drive over 10,000 visits to your website on average. That’s a lot of eyeballs to expose your poorly designed website to.
It’s an age-old phrase, but it’s never been truer than it is today. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. Managing your online reputation properly means being a customer’s first thought, first interaction and first option for their sales dollar. It takes a long time to earn a positive reputation and, in the Internet age, a short time to destroy it if you don’t proactively protect your good name. Investing in reputation management can provide quality and consistent long-term ROI for your business and that makes it a must-have for your yearly marketing budget.
This article originally appeared in the October edition of OPE Business.
When I talk to dealers about implementing social media efforts into their overall marketing plans, I’m either met with excitement, disdain or indifference. In my experience, no other marketing channel is as divisive as social media, especially as it relates to Facebook. It can be both frustrating and revolutionary depending on how you use it.
The fact is, as the medium has grown and evolved, it has become infinitely more complex and powerful. So the trick for dealerships has consistently been how to utilize the medium in a way that makes sense for the dealer and for the customer. I’ll break down some myths and give you some insight into how you can harness the power of Facebook without being swallowed by it.
Facebook Advertising
In the early days of Facebook, you could reasonably expect to see almost every post that was made by a friend or a brand you followed. It provided a user-centric experience and an easy way for brands to reach their customers for free. But free isn’t exactly a great business model. So Facebook started forcing users to “boost” their posts so the content you could been by more people. Boosting essentially means you are paying to get more eyeballs on your content. But there are more effective ways to advertise your brand than by simply “boosting” your post.
Most marketing agencies, mine included, manage advertising campaigns from with the Facebook Business Manager. If you haven’t set up a Business Manager account for your dealership, we highly suggest you use this as it will become your hub for managing ads and provides more in-depth tools for your campaigns. You can create your Business Manager account here: https://business.facebook.com/
By creating this account, you can assign your assets to marketing partners without giving them admin access to your Facebook page. This is not only prudent so those outside of your organization can’t hijack your page, but also technically required by Facebook’s terms of service.
Now that you have a proper business manager account, there are two major things you need to do to properly use your enhanced ad manager.
Create and configure your Facebook Pixel. This pixel is to be placed on your website and will allow you to see what actions are taking place on your website. You’ll be able to track page views, phone calls and many other actions, but it’s most important so that Facebook can automatically optimize your ad campaigns. For example, when you set up a new ad, you can specify which goals you want to optimize your ad for. If the goal of your campaign is to create new leads, Facebook will auto-optimize your campaign to generate more leads using the data the pixel provides. Your Facebook pixel will also auto-create audiences that will allow you to target visitors to your website, among other things. Speaking of audiences…
Create audiences. In my experience, custom audiences and saved audiences are the single biggest factor in increasing the effectiveness of your Facebook ad campaigns. You can set up your ideal audience to target by choosing demographic data, occupational info and what other pages they like. For example, if you are a Cub Cadet dealer and you wanted to run an ad about a sale on your XT2 Enduro Garden Tractors, you might set up a target like this:
Gender: Male & Female
Age: 25-64+
Location: 25 mile radius around dealership (or if you want to get fancy you can target by county or DMA)
Interests: People who like Cub Cadet on Facebook or have shown an interest in Cub Cadet, mowers or lawnmowers.
You can create saved audiences for each of the lines you carry and you know that you will be speaking directly to people who have shown an interest or affinity for that particular manufacturer and are the most likely to purchase. The next step is to then create a Look-alike audience that will allow you to expand the reach of your ad to people who act like the folks in your new saved audience. Once these audiences are set up, you can use them over and over again and maximize your reach while minimizing budget waste.
Organic Posts – Engagement Matters
As I mentioned earlier, organic posts (free posts) only get seen by a fraction of the people who like your Facebook page. There is magic in creating content that gets seen by more people. Some of the factors are:
Recency of the post
How frequently you post
Post engagement – How many people are interacting with your post by liking, commenting or sharing.
Past user interaction – Has the viewer interacted with your posts before?
There are tons of ranking signals so this isn’t an exhaustive list, but they’re a few of the most important. So think about which content most users want to interact with. Are they really interacting with the generic content that every dealer gets from the manufacturer? Or are users interacting more with your post about how you donated to the local little league team?
At the end of the day all of the content matters, but I typically urge dealers to focus on content that’s personal to them and ultimately it will be personal for your customers as well. Use 4:1 as a general ratio of personal to promotional and you’ll find that is a good mix.
At the end of the day, dealers need to remember that social media is supposed to be, well, social. The more you treat it as an extension of your personal brand, the more it will flourish.
Which type of Facebook ad is best for local businesses?
On the surface boosting content on Facebook for local ads seems like a pretty straight forward transaction. The more dollars you spend, the more eyes see your message. While that’s certainly true, to get the most value out of your dollar it’s worth knowing the basic nuances of how boosting on Facebook works. Truth be told, Facebook’s Advertiser Help Center rarely provides the answers you’re after on Facebook paid advertising, and true to form, it doesn’t provide a lot of guidance on the differences between boosting posts vs. ads either.
So in this article we’ll cover the differences between the types of sponsored ads on Facebook — a Facebook boost and a Facebook news feed ad—and which we recommend as the best option for your business depending on your needs. Which is the type of Facebook ad best for local businesses?
What are Facebook sponsored posts?
Facebook sponsored posts are promoted posts that receive additional paid reach. Simply put, your business has the option of boosting a post or creating an ad: boosting increases the chances your post will be seen by followers (increasing loyalty), while news feed ads target users based on select criteria, external from followers (potential new customers).
Wait, why sponsor ads on Facebook when you can post for free?
The reality is, organic posts don’t go very far in today’s Facebook world. Unless you have a huge network of fans (50K+), achieving favorable outcomes through organic content in a 1.6B user world is futile. Based on Facebook’s current algorithms, organic reach has plummeted over recent years to the point where 50 million businesses are posting 1.5 times per day, reaching an average of 2% of their audience. That is what we call “rough sledding”.
Should we be surprised though? As the world’s largest social network, it was simply clockwork until Facebook turned to a Pay-to-Play model resulting in paid advertising on the social network giant. But before you start shouting big corporate obscenities, it’s still our opinion that Facebook provides the best advertising platform on the web or anywhere else in the business world. It’s just takes a little practice to get a feel for the landscape to make Facebook ads best for your local audience.
Advertising on Facebook requires a solid strategy
Like anything, you will need a strategy when tackling Facebook paid advertising. Depending on what your goals are, our quick advice is to put money on posts that have measurable ROI, like lead capture, promotions, contests and content meant to capture new customers.
Another fundamental rule is to always promote your own content. Always link back to YOUR site and YOUR page. Even if it’s great material and related to your business, never pay to send traffic to someone else’s website.
Now, with all that said, let’s figure out which Facebook paid advertising delivery method works best…Facebook boosts or Facebook ads.
What are Facebook boosted posts?
Facebook boosted posts are promoted posts that appear higher on news feeds, giving a post a higher chance that friends and followers will see it. While boosted posts can be targeted by location, interest, age and gender, more advanced targeting options is reserved for ads on Facebook. And that’s really the rub with sponsored posts for your business. While it’s easier to create them, you are limited in refining the post to get the most out of your “boost juice” dollars.
What are Facebook news feed ads?
Facebook news feed ads are sponsored ads that appear right on the news feed of readers. Newsfeed ads denoted “sponsored” directly underneath the company’s name on the post you users know that the content could be coming from a source they haven’t “liked” yet.
News feed ads are created in Facebook Ads Manager (or Power Editor). Creating a news feed ad on Facebook is more involved than boosting posts, but, as with most things, more work often leads to more reward.
With news feed ads, you can set a specific objective for your ad that directly aligns to your business goals. You can choose from 12 objectives from three different categories: Awareness, Consideration and Conversion. Notice how these three categories represent different areas of the sales and marketing funnel:
Awareness: for boosting posts, promoting a Facebook page, targeting people near the business’s location and increasing brand awareness
Consideration: to send people to a website, getting app installs, increase event attendance or get views on videos and collect business leads
Conversion: for increasing website conversions, engagement to an app, or to have an offer claimed
Paid advertising showdown: Which is the best Facebook ad for local advertising?
So you’ve probably come to the conclusion that Facebook news feed ads have a lot more power behind them and are geared toward ROI—especially seeing how there’s no price difference between the two formats.
Boosted posts do have a place—if your business is looking for a quick and convenient way to create awareness and drive profile traffic, then we say go for it, especially if you want to hit existing fans/customers. It takes all of five minutes to start raking in thousands of impressions for as little as $5.00.
If you are looking to achieve tangible marketing results, like capturing leads and driving revenue, my money is on news feed ads. If you want to really capture leads through Facebook paid advertising however, you want news feed ads.
So, you want to blog for profit? Where do you start?
Lay the foundation
A great blog starts with a great plan, and the planning stage is where you first answer the big questions that will determine what you write about, who you write for, and why you’re writing in the first place. Before you fire up your typewriter on your grand plan to blog for profit, be sure to nail down answers to the following questions:
Who is going to be interested in what your business has to say?
What are their pain points, and how do your products or services address and resolve them? Targeting your content to a specific readership makes it more likely to be seen (and shared).
Develop a list of keywords relevant to your buyer personas. What kinds of search terms will they use when they’re looking for solutions? Knowing your keywords and putting them into use can optimize your blog to be found. It also helps to guide your writing process and keep your copy consistent.
How often will you write? The fresher and more frequent your content, the more you’ll have to offer to your readership, and the more Google’s page rankings will look favorably on your website. When you’re blogging for profit, you want to be identifiable by both readers and search engines.
Set measurable goals in both the short and the long term. Are you looking to grow your email list and cultivate new leads, or are you focused on making your brand’s voice trusted and authoritative in your field? Whatever your goals, ensure that you have reliable metrics for measuring your progress.
Pick your topics
Are you drawing a blank every time you sit down to write? It may be easy to simply write a product feature or fluff up a sales pitch, but it’s important to remember that even when you’re blogging for profit, the point of your blogs is to provide value to your audience, not to sell to them.
Take a look at your buyer personas and their pain points or problems, and assemble them into categories. These categories and their relevant personas will focus your writing and guide your use of keywords to optimize the SEO boost that the post provides. From here, you can begin to address some general topics.
Another great source of blogging inspiration is your existing customer base. Think about the kinds of questions from customers that you answer on a regular basis. Many of these represent common pain points, and can easily turn into full blog posts. For every one customer who comes in or sends and email with a common question, just imagine how many there are tapping their query into Google in search of an answer!
For example, a furniture store might write a blog on the difference in durability between leather, vinyl, and fabric upholsteries, or the different types of mattresses and their levels of support. An informative post that answers common questions and gives your readers information that they can act on is going to rank higher on search engines and position your business as a source of information that readers can trust.
A food blog may create recipes, but they can also explain how to use certain tools. They can make informative posts about how to chop specific veggies, the differences between knives, and how to tell when it’s time to sharpen them. They can even explain social rituals about food, or how our language relates to food!
There’s no end to the possible creativity you can use when blogging!
Content (not copy) is king
Getting the copy down is one thing, but your blog will be as dry as a bone without engaging content to supplement that copy. The content that your copy supports, more than anything, is what sets your blog apart from your competitors and drives the solution to your readership’s problem.
It’s best to make your own, but there are plenty of resources out there for those who don’t collect data or employ a design team.
Visuals in the form of Statistics
Provide relevant and substantiated statistics in the form of graphs and infographics—these add credibility to your posts, and can provide shock value when used properly.
Header and Sub-header Images
Use visuals to break up the text. The text of headers and sub-headers can often be incorporated into a relevant image that draws the reader’s attention and invites them to read further. A well-chosen graphic or photograph can serve to break up the monotony of plain text as well as add a visual frame to the information the audience receives.
Screenshots/photos
Finally, use screenshots or photos to demonstrate your solution in action. Remember that you’re here to provide value, not to sell. Getting to the end of a blog and feeling like you just read a really long ad means that you’re not going to come back for anything informative or authoritative. The more your readers can learn from your post, the more likely they are to return to your blog when they have another question that needs an answer.
What’s your Story?
Tell compelling stories (and write snappy titles). Narrative is a powerful tool, and we’ve known how to use it in sales and marketing for a long time. The same goes for your blogs. Framing the movement from conflict to resolution as a journey makes your audience more receptive to the information you have to share and puts it within a familiar and memorable framework.
Start with choosing a narrative voice. Anecdotes and stories about your business can use a first-person voice to draw readers in and demonstrate your unique way of overcoming challenges in ways that others can learn from and put into practice. A second-person voice (like the one used in this blog) allows readers to visualize themselves acting out your solutions as your offer them, while a third-person voice is suited to communicating stories about how your business has been part of another customer’s success.
Leverage your buyer personas and their challenges to tell stories that will engage your audience and show how your business fits into their lives. Your posts don’t have to read like a novel, but putting your info in action will help transform your blog from a lecture into a success story.
Sharing is Caring
You’ve written something you’re proud of, so be sure to put it out there! Share your new blog on your business’ other marketing channels, and put the work in to gain readers other than Googlers and regular visitors to your site. Leveraging your business’ social media following to widen your blog’s audience has the added benefit that a new post that a follower finds useful or interesting is always easy to share with their own network.
The more readers that come to see your business as a trusted source of information, the better!
Your blogs can (and should) also link to one another. Where there’s an overlap in information or your blog posts address similar issues, have them link to each other! An engaged reader will always be ready to find out more, and demonstrating that you have more information to offer is never a bad thing.
Finish Strong
Finally, and importantly, bring things home with a with a call to action. Have you ever gotten to the end of an interesting article, how-to or blog post and been filled with the inspiration to immediately test what you’ve learned? While the point of your blog isn’t to sell, it’s important to give your readers something to engage with that allows them to take action and apply their new knowledge. Whether it’s more content, a link to a product or promotion or a contact form, your readers will have a way to act on their inspiration, and you will have a way to track engagement and turn readers into leads.
Here’s hoping this blog has inspired you to start writing your own! By following these tips, you should be well on your way to inspiring your own readers with engaging stories, compelling content, and valuable information that will position your business as a reliable source of information. Write well, help others and have fun!
