YouTube is just one of the many different ways that a small business can reach new customers. The list of social media networks seems like it grows daily with FaceBook, Instagram, Pinterest and SnapChat among the big conversations.
In my earlier post, I pretty much said that SEO for small business is dead. As far as we are concerned it is, and we have stopped our traditional SEO business. Taking money to do something that wouldn’t last and didn’t have any notable effect on the bottom line seemed like a waste of our time and your money. Walmart, HomeDepot, Yelp! and Dr. Hamm win that round.
So where does a small business go to grow? The answer is social media, well sort of. A successful small business online marketing plan starts with a good local SEO plan. This is very different from traditional SEO, and we just call it LBLO, for Local Business Listing Optimization. LBLO makes sure that your listings are accurate and updated monthly on over 50 major listing websites like yp.com, Yelp!, Foursquare and Facebook places.
All of this might sound overwhelming for the small business that doesn’t think they can afford our services. It isn’t. Here is the simple way to get started until you can afford us. We call it the Social Media Marketing Quick Plan.
- Record a Video. The new iPhone or Galaxy camera is good enough, and if you have access to a better camera and microphone get it, and record three to five minutes of video. Record it three times, and use free software like iMovie to edit it into one 4 minute or less video.
- Make a Podcast. Use the sound track from the video you just created and create a podcast.
- Blog it. Transcribe your video into a blog and post it on your website.
- Post all of this on Facebook
If you have a twitter account, set it up to automatically send a tweet for all new Facebook posts. This Mashable Article will help you set that up quick and easy.
Following this method, one video will create a tweet, a Facebook post, a blog post, a podcast and a video. It’s called repurposing content. The key benefit is that the same information is out in 5 different places quickly and easily, so no matter where your current customers and potential new customers are, you have a good chance of finding them, or more importantly of them finding you.
