social media marketing

A common question when I talk with businesses — large and small alike — about social media is exactly what the benefits to their business will be.

The short answer is more customers. The long answer is that they will increase their digital footprint by using social media tools to distribute content relevant to their business, and that as a result their web traffic will grow.

As you can imagine, people look skeptical when I give the short answer and confused when I give the long answer.

The best way to answer is to show pictures.

The three best social media marketers that I have seen in the markets my company serves are Tobi Fairley, Theresa Boardman and Eric Brown.

Each of these entrepreneurs follow the three cardinal rules of social media marketing:

1. Create fresh and relevant content regularly;
2. Build a connected network of customers and prospects through social platforms;
3. Be authentic.

The results are easy to measure: Where do they show up on Google and how much traffic do they drive to their web site?

Type in “Little Rock Interior Design” and Tobi Fairley is the third result in natural search (following our At Home in Arkansas, which also uses a social media marketing strategy to distribute its content.) According to Compete.com’s measurement panel, Tobi gets between 1500 to 3000 visits to her web site monthly.  That compares to a few hundred for the average small business website.

The traffic is driven not only by natural search, but by the nearly 3500 connections Tobi has on Facebook and 2300 Twitter followers. Tobi is sharing content with her network on an almost daily basis.

Real estate and rentals are among the most competitive online marketplaces, with multi-million dollar media companies (including mine) spending millions of dollars to aggregate content, build product and drive traffic to benefit their advertisers.

If you go to Google and type in “St. Paul Real Estate”, the first site that returns is Theresa Boardman’s blog. This kind of prominence has driven an average of about 10,000 visits per month over the past year. Theresa also has a broad Twitter following, with 2700 followers, and is active on multiple social networks.

A key characteristic of her blog is its personal voice. She’s not just focused on statistics about the real estate market; she shares her personal passion for photography, social media marketing and myriad other topics. Her blog makes it easy for a consumer to search for a home. But it makes it even easier for a visitor to decide that they like Theresa Boardman and want to work with her.

The same dynamic is at work for Urbane Apartments. Type in “Royal Oak apartments”, and Urbane is the first natural search result. Compete puts Urbane’s monthly traffic at around 4000 visits (I’ve seen internal company data that shows the number is higher). Urbane has a network of 6000+ Twitter followers and 1400 connections on Facebook. The blog is active and personable, creating a distinct picture of the Urbane lifestyle.

These three examples show the remarkable impact a well-executed social media marketing program can have for a business. All three entrepreneurs have an innate talent for creating content, but even more importantly, they have a commitment to being authentic and active. The benefit for their business is tangible: by committing to their social media marketing, they are able to save thousands of dollars every month in advertising and marketing costs to third parties. They have also built a tangible and lasting benefit to their brand: a digital footprint and an engaged community of customers and prospects.

The question about social media isn’t Why or Whether: It is How?

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