I’m a social media consultant and expert based out of Guelph, Ontario and serving North America – and loving every second of my career.
I love working with small (and I mean small) to medium sized businesses, social enterprises and impact driven small business. I do this because digital marketing can be extremely expensive, and means smaller organizations are left behind because they can’t afford an expert.
My specialty is holistic care. Whereas many others JUST focus on social, or a part of social, I see social media as a series of opportunities in the whole portfolio that is your business.
This is a guest post by Tim Campbell, one of our Social Media Pro community members.
I started my business in Guelph, Ontario and focused on finding clients locally at first. I’m lucky because Guelph is such a small business minded city and so it wasn't hard to get started. I will continue to honor my local roots.
Once I got a foothold locally, I looked to the online world to grow. One of the places I connected with was the Social Media Pro community. With knowledge gained, my business expanded.
How do these two worlds collide?
First and foremost, the online growth strategies I’ve learned along the way, can be applied in a specific, small way to help continue growing my business locally. I like having a local foundation because I’ll always have a launch pad to spring from.
Next, it’s important to have a local foundation as local search continues to rise. This with a decreasing trust in businesses around the world means any community that vouches for us is a good thing.
Lastly, when you know your ideal client and where they are both geographically and online, using tools and their language with common sense engagement strategies is a surefire way to grow your business locally.
Let's look at how you too can find clients In your neighborhood!
One of the first lessons I learned in business that was this: do your homework. And by homework, I mean creating a business plan.
The business plan need not be long or complex, and can even be done in jot form.
When done to completion, it should both inspire and terrify you, while clarifying every aspect of your business and the environment it exists it. Each part of your business plan will answer key questions related to how to grow your business either online or in person:
Never skip your homework: Complete a business plan.
Events are a fantastic way to promote your business (though I’m biased because I’m a potent extrovert). B2B (business to business) events happen all the time: check local chambers of commerce, trade shows and conferences and you’ll find a gold mine of potential clients.
I personally start this process by finding my centers of influence.
First, a Google search with a combination of your city + business events usually yields some great results. Then I look to businesses working with other businesses: Chambers, business development centers, economic development organizations, accelerators and incubators and more. Finally, I check event websites like Eventbrite or MeetUp.
My secret weapon to using local events to grow my business: make it loud and clear on social media. I dedicate time before or after the event to follow people I met, take selfies, get pictures, tag people and make sure everyone and their grandmother knew I was at the event.
Let me start by admitting my bias: personally, Instagram has been the easiest social media platform to use to find local clients. LinkedIn was a close second, but Instagram is such a powerful social media platform and has some specific functionality that made finding local clients easy. The beautiful thing is that once you read and learn these tactics, you can apply them to any city where you want to find clients:
Once you’re on these platforms, start exploring! In some regions, small business owners who offer a niche product or service may also use a custom hashtag, which may be relevant to your audience. You’ll find and refine these efforts only by exploring and seeing who’s connected to who, and what people are posting.
I think Twitter lists is one of the most under used social media marketing strategies that can work wonders. Instead of following people on Twitter and seeing everyone’s posts, you can curate groups of people and only see their actions!
With Twitter lists you can:
A quick note: if you do create a Twitter list of leads, set it to private. Otherwise everyone can see your leads and prospects, and this may turn off those who are on the list.
While influential people may not be your ideal client, they will make you one person removed from your target audience. This is also crucial as your influencer will close the know/like/trust gap, creating a sense of familiarity and building trust in you with a stronger momentum towards conversion.
Influential people may include:
How you interact with them is your choice: you can have an in person meeting, chat via social media or meet with them at an event.
Social media is a direct reflection of real life, and serves a real purpose. People want connection, community and to come together. This is why groups work so well, and something we’ve definitely seen is the rise of local Facebook groups. How can you leverage them to grow your business:
Be careful here. Many people often join groups just to promote themselves, but what’s the point of trying to sell in a group where nobody’s willing to buy?
When I started my business with a local focus, social media was an afterthought to offline efforts. Match your social media efforts to offline activities like
To do this effectively via social media and in a way that lands with your ideal client, make sure to be:
If you want to find clients, you have to know who you’re looking for and who they are as people and businesses.
When you work on your business plan and match your social media efforts to everything you want to achieve in your marketing business, you’re far more likely to achieve it.
People love local businesses because there’s something relatable – so engage online, locally. Follow the hashtags. Attend events (online or in person). Be open to potential clients from anywhere and everywhere: because while we’ve talked about you going out and hunting locally via social media, you never know when someone is watching your social media and what they’re gleaning from it.
So get social. Get local. Get to know your neighbors, hashtags and opportunities. Your backyard is a goldmine of business.
I'm a social media consultant and expert based out of Guelph, Ontario and serving North America – and loving every second of my career.
I love working with small (and I mean small) to medium sized businesses, social enterprises and impact driven small business. I do this because digital marketing can be extremely expensive, and means smaller organizations are left behind because they can't afford an expert.
My specialty is holistic care. Whereas many others JUST focus on social, or a part of social, I see social media as a series of opportunities in the whole portfolio that is your business.
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I’m a social media consultant and expert based out of Guelph, Ontario and serving North America – and loving every second of my career.
I love working with small (and I mean small) to medium sized businesses, social enterprises and impact driven small business. I do this because digital marketing can be extremely expensive, and means smaller organizations are left behind because they can’t afford an expert.
My specialty is holistic care. Whereas many others JUST focus on social, or a part of social, I see social media as a series of opportunities in the whole portfolio that is your business.