The Offline SEO Approach: Step 3, Engagement

One of the primary reasons that social media exists in the first place is to engage.  Social media gives people a platform to reach out to each other, whether that purpose is fundamentally business or pleasure.  People wish to engage with each other constantly, and social media gives people the ability to do so in real time, around the world.

This is why social media is such a popular way for people to touch base, since it can be done anywhere, at any time.  While a physical storefront will have hours of operation, the social networking sites never close.

Essentially, the final step in the three part process regarding the offline business’ approach to social media should be getting people to engage with you and your business.  You want people to subscribe to you Twitter feeds and Facebook profiles in order so you can communicate with them in a regular manner, and keep them interested in your content and wares.

There are several ways you can use social media to engage your potential customers other than simply leaving messages on a Twitter feed.  Many people these days are turning to video blogging, or “videologging,” which is an excellent way to reach out to customers in a way that best simulates the face-to-face interaction that you have with them at your store.  If you can post videos of yourself talking about your product, it goes a long way toward creating that kind of proof of expertise that you have when you speak about your product in the store.

A great way to augment the engagement factor you’ll get through working with social media is to have a blog or website to center everything on.  This means that you’ll have a place to reference your potential customers to visit.  It’s even better if you can offer an online shopping center as well with your website, as this allows you to take even better advantage of the engagement of social networking.  It’s important to be able to engage customers local to you so that they’ll visit the store, of course, but don’t forget about the rest of the world, as well!  Offering an online store allows you to make the entire world your selling market, not limited to the locality of your physical store.

Essentially, as a business owner who owns a physical store, you are in a unique position to use social media as a weapon both online and offline.  You can use it to think both globally and locally at the same time, and end up with incredible increases to your revenue.  Don’t let the social media revolution pass you by – even though it might sound like a daunting arena to enter, it’s an entirely free way to up your engagement level with customers both locally and around the world.

The Offline SEO Approach: Step 2, Content

Social media isn’t just a way to get together and talk with friends.  While it would be entirely possible for you to set up a Twitter feed and tweet all day about the weather and food and television, this isn’t the most effective way to get people thinking about your offline business.  The more effective way to get them to sit up and take notice is by your content.  It’s one of the most oft-repeated mantras of our time – content is king.  And so it is.

One of the cornerstone tenants of SEO is the importance of having solid, informative content.  While it’s possible to stuff your website or your social media page full of keywords, this won’t necessarily improve the status of your site and definitely wont’ charm the customer.  The reason why people subscribe to Twitter feeds and friend businesses is because the content those social network pages are offering is informative and interesting.  Very few people are going to follow a business’ blog or Twitter feed very long if the content isn’t there.

So, how do offline businesses insure that their online content is interesting and informative?  Well, the first thing that you can do is take advantage of the serious one-up you have on online business – that is, your ability to directly interface with the customer.  In other words: ask.  Ask your customers, “If this business started a Twitter feed or a Facebook page, what kind of content would you like to see?  What would keep you interested?”  Obviously, it’s more useful if you can ask repeat customers who have shown an open interest in the wares of your store.  These are the people who will let you know what they want to see, and if your veteran customers are interested in something regarding your store or product, it’s likely that there’s a treasure trove of other people who would like access to that same content.

Another important thing to keep in minds insofar as content is concerned is keeping your “updates” useful and short.  Nobody wants to have their inbox spammed constantly with daily updates from your store.  It’s unlikely that many people are that interested, and if you overdo social media networking, it will turn off potential customers.  The best way to go about it is to think hard about every update you make.  Ask yourself, “Is this informative, or useful?  If I were going to receive information from a company using this format, would I want to read this or would I trash it?”  If you’d trash it, don’t send it.

A good rule of thumb is to keep your social media contacts updated once a week.  This shows constant activity and that the account is a “live” one without being totally overbearing.  Keep your content coming, but don’t bury your followers!

The Offline SEO Approach: Step 1, Discovery

One of the most important things that any offline business can do when it wants to enter the online realm of social medial marketing is research.  Doubtless, no matter how obscure your store is or what kind of niche that you sell to, there is an online store doing exactly the same thing.  With thousands (if not millions) of people doing their shopping online every day, it’s absolutely guaranteed that your offline store will have an online competitor.  And it’s likely that the online competitor is doing quite well.

While this may be exasperating to a certain degree, you can use this information to help propel your offline business into the fray and even put your offline business into a more favorable position.  Be sure to look at your online competitors and see how they market their product and whom they are marketing to.  Are they on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace?  Do they have an RSS feed?  Are they working with online directories?  Do they have profiles on forums relating to the product being sold?  What’s the tone of their website like, and how do they appear to interact with customers?

One of the most important things to do for an offline business looking to work with the online world is creating an aura of discovery around their store.  Since one of the major points for offline businesses when it comes to advertising is to entice the customer to visit the store, you need to foster a sense of discovery on the part of the potential customer.  After all, you have to get them off of the computer and into the store.

During the discovery part of your foray into the crazy world of social media marketing, you explore the groundwork that’s already been laid online for you.  You look and see what your competitors are doing in terms of social media and figure out how you can do it better.  Do they have out of date Twitter feeds?  Does their Facebook profile look unprofessional?  These are all things you can use to bolster the status of your own personal social media adventure and make yourself look better than your online competition.

In addition, if you own a physical store you have the advantage of asking your customers what they would be interested in, regarding terms of social media advertising.  Would they be interested in a Twitter feed, or a LinkedIn profile?  Try asking some of your younger customers, should you have them.  Most will probably be happy to talk your ear off in regards to social media platforms.  After all, the younger group is the one most likely to be on Facebook constantly with their smartphones.  Anybody older than thirty is likely to have a less informed opinion on it. At any rate, be sure to exploit the biggest advantage you have over online businesses  - that is, the direct conversation with the customer!