Small Business Saturday Success Through Social Media Marketing

Here at Little Egg Solutions, we have made it our mission to help small and medium businesses compete against big names in their niches through social media and content marketing. When it comes to going head-to-head with household brands, there’s no better day than Small Business Saturday, the mom-and-pop shop follow-up to Black Friday. Social media marketing is the key to success on the biggest small business shopping day of the year, and these are our top tips for spreading the word, making more sales, and how to maximize your social media impact.

Via Mike Licht | Flickr

Spreading Awareness

One key obstacle to Small Business Saturday success is simply making people aware (or reminding them) that it exists. Traditional media channels and print advertising are saturated with “Black Friday” ads for big business, making it harder for small and medium businesses to reach audiences through them. That’s where social media comes in. From Facebook scrolling to perusing Twitter, your audience is already on social platforms multiple times per day; why not market to them where their attention already is instead of trying to redirect their attention on another platform? Small businesses can use informative, personal posts to remind buyers to patronize SMBs on Saturday and boost their personal branding connection with their clients.

Boost Your Sales

Many of the everyday social media marketing tactics you use to boost your reach and your engagement can be repurposed to boost your sales on Small Business Saturday. Soft-selling tactics and personal branding are the key to reaching potential customers on social channels and making a personal connection with them. More and more, people want to buy from people, so show them your behind-the-scenes as you prepare, share deals and info, tag your posts with unifying hashtags like #shopsmall or #smallbusinesssaturday2017, and speak directly to your followers with direct messaging, reposts or replies. Engage with them on a personal level, and your audience will be flocking to your doors to help their friends, neighbors, and community leaders to succeed.

Maximum Impact

To get the most out of your social media marketing strategy, it’s important to maximize your reach. This calls for a cross-platform approach that makes use of each platform’s unique features and audience demographics. Customize your copy with best-practices that utilize the strengths of each channel in your marketing arsenal. By making platform-specific posts, you’ll maximize your reach and your marketing impact (and you’ll see more sales on the big day – and every other day).

Via Automotive Social | Flickr

In a market saturated with big-name brands, it’s crucial for small and medium businesses to find whatever edge they can to thrive. Social media marketing, in its nearly-infinite and cost-effective capacity to reach the masses in the Digital Age, can be precisely that edge – especially on the biggest small-business shopping day of the year. If you’re not sure how to channel the power of social media marketing into Small Business Saturday success, the SMM experts at Little Egg Solutions can help! Contact us today to find out how!  

Event Marketing on Social Media 101

Events, workshops, conventions, and webinars: what do they all have in common? They’re social gatherings of like-minded leads. What better way to promote a social gathering than by harnessing the power of social media marketing in your approach – from hashtags to event pages to sneak peeks and exclusive content? At Little Egg Solutions, we understand how integral social media marketing is to a successful event marketing campaign in the modern world. Here are our top three tips for leveraging your social presence to bring more people to your event door.

Via Techndu | Flickr

Twitter

Hashtags are the most direct benefit of promoting an event on Twitter. The hashtag allows for instant unification of your event-related posts, and it gives you a way to track the success of your marketing strategy so far – you can tell who is talking about your event and what they’re saying with a simple search. Start here, and start early; you want to have an idea for your hashtag before your promotion kicks off.

Short, simple tags are best. The fewer characters you need for the tag, the more you can use to promote your event with superb content. If your event is annual, like a convention, include the year in your tag to avoid confusion. Check to make sure the tag is unique (it should produce no results in search) and use it in everything related to your event – even your mailing list content and printed promotion materials. This hashtag can be used on other social media sites to tie the campaign together, and – unless you’re running a contest or promotion for extra engagement – there should only be one tag for your event to avoid confusion.

Facebook

Promoting an event on Facebook is even easier with the native Event feature. Create an event, complete with helpful information, guides for registration (lead-capture, anyone?), and stunning photos. Then invite everyone and their brother to attend. As your followers’ friends notice they’re attending, they’ll be more inclined to take a look for themselves, and your list will grow organically.

Alternately, you can create a separate page dedicated to your event. This approach is more in-depth – with more detailed information and the opportunity to use the built-in lead-capture tab, but the expanded capabilities will allow for more discussion, engagement, and promotion than simply creating an event on your main page. Regular posting to the event page with relevant, engaging content will help build anticipation and get people talking about your workshop, seminar, or convention. Be sure to use your Twitter hashtags on posts to tie everything together, and don’t forget to link back to your business page from the event page.

Instagram

People love sneak peeks and behind-the-scenes exclusives, so use your Instagram to give those attending your event – or even those who are just interested – a look behind the curtain. Use your already-established hashtags to tie all of your photos and videos together, and invite people to share their own. Engage your followers (and call for more) by prompting them to respond, or to follow for more exclusive content.

You can also create a separate hashtag just for follower engagement. For example, encourage followers who are interested in your event to participate with a photo contest or collection. Having a workshop on marketing success? Ask for photos that represent success for your followers and unite them with a hashtag (#mysuccessstory, for example).

Via Flickr

As important as each individual strategy is, they work best when integrated into a comprehensive social media marketing campaign that goes beyond the event and connects with your target audience. If you already have hundreds of followers, word-of-mouth spreads that much faster when an event rolls around that people can get excited about. That’s where content marketing and a strong social media presence becomes your biggest online asset – but it’s tough. Little Egg Solutions is here to help, and our team of expert content creators, marketing specialists, and consultants can put together the right plan for growing and promoting your small or medium business. Contact us today to find out how!

Social Agency: Video Marketing is Your Friend

We mentioned earlier in our Social Agency series that the video medium has unique benefits for Real Estate professionals, namely virtual tours and interactive listings. However, video marketing on social media is much, much more than just those two things. It’s becoming the gold standard for content marketing across all industries, and for good reason. Our social media marketing experts at Little Egg Solutions have looked into the rise of video marketing on social platforms and have come to the conclusion that it is your friend. Here’s why:

Do People Really Respond Better to Video Marketing?

Yes – overwhelmingly so. In terms of engagement (likes, shares, retweets, comments, etc.), video just blows other media out of the water. On average, a video has 135% more organic reach on Facebook than a still photograph. On Twitter, a video is three times as likely to be retweeted as a GIF, and double that for a photo. The overwhelming majority of people surveyed would rather watch a branded live video than read a branded blog. It’s clear that, despite the potential setbacks for time, money, and camera-savvy employees, video marketing is an excellent investment. Television ads are nothing new to the Real Estate industry, but more time is spent watching YouTube during prime time than on any cable network.

Why is Video Marketing Effective?

Video marketing builds on the same psychological phenomenon that social media marketing has uncovered: People respond better to other people than to faceless entities. We empathize; we trust those with whom we have a connection. And now, more than ever, people are looking to make a connection with the people behind the brands they trust. The Digital Age has ushered in an unprecedented ease of connection through electronic media. It’s not just people on a screen, it’s people behind a screen.

How Can I Leverage Video Marketing in Real Estate?

If this sounds familiar to you, it should. It’s the same basic principles that go into the face-to-face marketing and networking that go along with being successful in Real Estate. No one wants to buy something as important as a home from someone they don’t trust. The difference is, you need to be able to make that connection before the first face-to-face meeting ever occurs. Use the power of video to showcase your personality, your professionalism, and your knowledge of your industry. Give potential clients a glimpse into what it would be like to work with you and show them the person behind the screen, not just on it.

We know what you’re probably thinking right now: “How do I do that on top of everything else?” At Little Egg Solutions, we’ve got your back. Much like video marketing, we are also your friend. We can take care of your content marketing needs and help you build the perfect strategy to grow your business, one post, picture, or video at a time. Contact us today to learn how a social media marketing expert in your back pocket can lighten the load!

Lead Generation-XYZ: Top 3 Tips for Generating Leads on Facebook

Little Egg Solutions is, at its core, a marketing agency. One of the fundamentals of effective marketing is lead generation – after all, it’s much easier to market to people you know are interested. But how does this principle extend to social media and content marketing strategies? There are many social-media-specific lead generation techniques, and we want to share some of our top picks with you to help you grow your small or medium business and to ease your marketing worries. So let’s kick off this series with the most recognizable name in social media: Facebook.

Via Alan O’Rourke | Flickr

Technique #1: Build-In Lead-Generating Tabs

You can actually create a dedicated tab on your Facebook page that deals only with email and contact information capture. Make the offer to receive your newsletter enticing by offering incentives upon signup – even exclusives for signing up via Facebook. Everyone loves a good deal, and offering special, “available nowhere else” coupons and discounts for receiving emails is a great way to attract leads. You can even set your “like” button redirect for your page to your email-capture tab.

Technique #2: Contests Make People Want to Win

People like to feel special, and they like to win stuff that they want. Take advantage of this by running contests on your page and making the requirements to win liking the page (to boost your reach), commenting on the contest post (to boost engagement), and signing up for your awesome, super-helpful newsletter (which has incentives for joining anyway, if you’ve implemented Technique #1 already). Who could pass up an offer to get extras just for pressing a few buttons and a chance to win extra extras?

Technique #3: Post a Link to Your Landing Page

You’ve probably already got a killer landing page for an equally enticing lead generation offer on the web. Why not make a post with the link instead of creating a whole new offer on Facebook? Make sure the feature image is high-quality, relevant, and is optimized for Facebook so you get the most power from your post. Long-form copy is a great way to get followers invested in learning more. You can also run the link in an ad, though short-form copy is your friend for that approach.

There are dozens of ways to generate leads on Facebook, but these three techniques (used together or separately) are our favorites. Lead generation is important – and these techniques will help you draw them in – but, overall, it’s only one piece of the puzzle. If you’re having trouble working out a comprehensive social media marketing strategy, we can help you. Our experts at Little Egg Solutions know the ins and outs of social media and content marketing, and we can help you implement a winning combination of posts, blogs, copy, and design tailor-made to take your business to new heights. Contact us today to find out more about what we can do for you!

Social Agency: Google Plus Benefits for Real Estate

In our last Social Agency article, we discussed the benefits of using Facebook for Real Estate agencies and how to make the best use of the platform. This time, we’d like to talk about an often-forgotten social media platform with tons of perks, specifically for businesses: Google Plus. At first glance, it might seem like creating a Google Plus account for your Real Estate business is a waste of time. But Google is the king of search engines, and the benefits of using their platform for promotion outweigh the tediousness of adding yet another account to your social media presence.

Why You Should Use Google Plus

One of the reasons that Google Plus is severely underrated is that it’s an entirely different social media concept from giants like Facebook and Twitter. You can’t compare one to the others, just as you can’t compare Yahoo and Tineye simply because they both have a search bar. The second reason is there’s a misconception that no one is on Google Plus.

Google Plus, as of 2012-2013, had between 135-300 million active users. That is a massive userbase, and the numbers vary by what you define as “active”. Why? Because many people have a Google Plus account simply by having a Gmail account. Their circle is their email contact list. And you can reach their list by harnessing this unique native connection through Google.

Google Plus Business Benefits

With the native Gmail connection, Google Plus influences the search results for anyone logged in to their account. Now imagine you have 500 connections on Google plus (like, say, your email list). Now your content has priority treatment when they search for local realtors or property listings. It’s a built-in white hat SEO advantage, just because you are already on their contact list.

Google Authorship also adds a distinct benefit for real estate agents on Google Plus. When your search results get boosted for your contacts, or when they show up on their own, your Google Plus profile picture and details show up too. Along with a link to more pages authored by you, which, if viewed for a certain amount of time, automatically returns more results when the searcher returns to the SERP. It’s a double-whammy of SEO benefits that need only your use of Google’s proprietary social media platform. It’s almost like a reward for doing what you were already going to do, because you’re flattering Google in the process.

How To Get Started

Joining Google Plus is much like joining any other social media platform. And, with characteristic care for user experience, Google will walk you through the process of creating your page and completing a profile. After that, add authorship to your posts to reap the benefits thereof and begin the work of expanding your circle (your email list is a good starting point for this) and joining communities to reach more people. Reciprocity is the key to any social media dynamic, so be sure to +1 and share content from connections. Finally, add checking in to your schedule (at least once a week). The volume and pace  of Google Plus make it much more manageable to deal with than oversaturated networks like Twitter.

Via SEO Link Building | Flickr

We know what you’re thinking: “But Little Egg, I have a full plate already with just the social media accounts I have.” We get it. Adding another social media platform to your overall content marketing strategy can feel like piling dirt on top of an already-growing mountain of tasks and it may seem like a landslide is imminent. That’s why we’re here: to take the shovel and shoulder that burden so you don’t have to. Contact us today to find out how!

Benefits for Benefit Brokers: Social Media Marketing in the Healthcare Industry

Here at Little Egg Solutions, we’ve discussed the importance of integrating a social media component into the overall marketing strategy for small and medium businesses. Recently, we highlighted the difficulty in implementing a digital marketing strategy in traditionally print-oriented industries like Real Estate. The hesitation to jump into the social media pool extends across many other industries that historically have relied on television, radio, and print advertisement to attract leads, including health benefit brokers and the healthcare industry at large.

At first glance, it seems like a reasonable reservation. Digital communication can sometimes be viewed as impersonal and even cold: certainly not something that consumers want associated with the people in charge of such a personal matter as health care. However, social media has changed the way these digital conversations take place. Facebook is where friends and family converse, Twitter is where news is broken, and YouTube is where they find their entertainment and other useful information. All areas of life have become digitized to some degree, including the process of finding health insurance.

The vast majority of consumers research healthcare options online.

A 2013 study found that 81% of people looking to make a large or important purchase (a category in which health and life insurance definitely falls) research their options online. A similar study in 2015 found that 69% of Americans – and 81% of American Millennials – seek out the opinions of others before they purchase. These may seem like unrelated phenomenon, but when you realize that they seek these opinions on social media platforms, it highlights a major benefit of social media marketing: a captive audience.

Your potential leads are already there. They are on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, and they are looking for help. Healthcare brokerage is about building relationships with people who need help finding their way through a labyrinth of coverage options. It’s about guiding them through the maze to the right coverage and a healthier, happier life. Social media is the entrance to that labyrinth, and they are trying to find someone to help them take the first step.

You can leverage social media to take care of both your clients and your leads.

It’s not just potential leads on there either; it’s your existing clients, as well. They may have questions or concerns, they may be ready to make a change, or they may be looking for someone with authority that they can trust to give them insightful, helpful, and factual information. Social media marketing gives you the opportunity to answer those questions, address those concerns, and share that information, all while drawing in leads as they watch you take care of those who need your help. It’s a win-win proposition.

One common issue that plagues the social media marketing efforts of healthcare brokers is the lack of a hard-and-fast strategy. Often, social media is considered an “add-on” or an “option” when creating a marketing plan. In other words, they dip their toes in the pool when they should be diving in. At Little Egg Solutions, we know that integrating a new marketing strategy can be exhausting, especially one as demanding as social media marketing, but it’s not a choice of sink-or-swim. We can throw you a life jacket and take care of it for you, so you can take care of your clients. Contact us today to find out how!

Social Agency: Three Key Benefits of Twitter for Real Estate

Via Sole Treadmill

A strong social media presence and content marketing strategy is important in this Digital Age, no matter what industry you’re in. For real estate professionals, though, it can be difficult to leverage these online marketing tools to their fullest potential; but, as we mentioned in our first installment of this Social Agency series, it is no less important. Twitter, the widely-recognizable, but often frustrating, microblogging platform, can be especially challenging. But the social media marketing experts at Little Egg Solutions are here to help you navigate this unfamiliar territory; it is our backyard, after all. Below, you’ll find the three biggest benefits of Twitter for real estate professionals and our tips on how to make them work for you!

Local Authority: Establish Yourself as a Guru

Twitter, which is often full of breaking news on both a local and national scale, is an ideal platform for establishing yourself as an authority in your area. As a real estate professional, this gives you an important edge over competitors who are underutilizing the platform. If your followers believe that you know all the ins and outs of your working area, then it follows, naturally, that you would know exactly where their ideal home, meeting their specifications, would be hiding in the maze of for sale signs and online listings that potential home-buyers have to sift through.

Pro-Tip: Tweet about local news, charity events, and even other local businesses. Reliable recommendations for local moving companies, professional cleaners, and even rental trucks can show your followers that you’ve got the lay of the land and can help them find what they need!

Via Flickr

Brand Trust: People Like Putting Faces to Names

One of the primary benefits of any social media marketing strategy is humanization. People prefer to buy things from other people, not giant, faceless corporations. They also do a lot of shopping around online. Real estate is one of the most interactive industries there is, and it requires a huge amount of trust. A professional-yet-personal Twitter can be the bridge between you and the potential client surfing the web for the best realtor in town.

Pro-Tip: People love to feel special, so make that a priority in your approach. This can include behind-the-scenes office photos, celebratory posts, contests, group offers, retweeting your clients’ or industry partners’ posts – anything that adds a personal touch to your Twitter marketing.

Just Like Real Life: Play to Your Strengths

Realtors are often fantastic offline marketers. Of course you are; being personable and persuasive is the name of the game in sales, and sales don’t get much bigger than real estate. But translating those in-person skills to online marketing can be both intimidating and frustrating. Twitter, for all its complexity, can actually make that transition easier, if you know how to leverage it. By tweeting with the same tone, style, and enthusiasm that you would put into a face-to-face interaction, you can bring your personality across in your posts – and personality is your bread and butter.

Pro-Tip: Master the 80/20 rule. Post 80% helpful or interesting information like how-to articles, business recommendations, news, and tips, and 20% sales information like listings and special offers. Think of it like soft-selling versus hard-selling: you’ll always get a better response if your message isn’t just: “Buy from me! Sell with me!”

Studies show a clear benefit to social media marketing in all industries, including real estate. There is always value in going to where your audience already is, rather than trying to draw them out or track them down. At Little Egg Solutions, we help you put down roots on the platforms your potential clients are frequenting, and our expert guidance can become the strong foundation on which the rest of your content marketing strategy can be built. Contact us today to find out more!

Social Agency: How Important is Social Media to Real Estate?

Via Ryan Morse

We know just how important social media marketing can be for various business models, but what about the real estate agency? Traditionally, a Realtor has been a marketing strategy extraordinaire, with the uncanny ability to empathize with potential clients and work together to find them the perfect home. But how does that translate into a time when everyone checks the web before buying so much as a screwdriver; when people can learn everything there is to know about a property at the touch of a button? Social media marketing is the bridge between brick-and-mortar agencies and their internet-savvy leads, and it’s heavily underutilized, or misused, by real estate professionals.  

Many Realtors are simply not used to doing their marketing online.

Real estate has always been a print and personal industry. From classified ads to billboards, it was printed media that drew in leads (with the help of some well-timed television and radio advertisements). But now, many people listen to ad-free Pandora and YouTube Red (or just their personal collection of mp3 files) instead of tuning in to the radio. They have smart TVs, with digital recorders or streaming services that all promise one golden rule: No commercials!

They get their news from Facebook and Buzzfeed and Twitter, and they want to see the people they’re working with and know them before ever meeting them in person; it’s a scary world, after all. These are the people – namely Millennials and some of Generation X – that you are missing by not leveraging digital tools for your business.  The Digital Age is their home; it is what they have always known. If you shy away from it, you will never be able to reach them. Newspaper is for comics and cleaning up, not buying or selling a home.

Quality content is just as important as frequency.

Some of the real estate agents who have bravely made the jump into the digital marketplace aren’t seeing the results they were expecting. They follow all the advice, posting feverishly and with photos, but they just aren’t seeing the engagement they want. In fact, the Real Estate industry led all other industries in both post frequency and multimedia (images and video) posting in 2013, but it also saw the lowest engagement levels. Why?

Because when it comes to social media marketing, there is an important ratio that needs to be followed: the 80/20 rule. Four posts out of five should be interesting and informative. They should establish you as a local guru, build rapport, or just plain catch the eye of those in your feed. Only that last post should be about you, your business, your sales or your listings. Social media marketing is meant to create trust and breed familiarity, as well as to give you a new way to keep in touch with your clients. It loses its power if it’s only used to list properties.

Via Perzon SEO

In this age of technology, online marketing is no longer optional for business success; it’s an absolute necessity. The shift from brick-and-mortar buying to online research and shopping around has left a lot of Realtors behind the times, with their leads drying up and their sales dwindling. If this sounds familiar, social media marketing could be exactly what you’re missing. It can be intimidating, and very difficult to manage it all on your own, especially if your marketing strategy has always been oriented to in-person and in-print techniques that were once the bread and butter of the industry. Little Egg Solutions is here to help you make the all-important shift into the Digital Realm.