Short primer on how small businesses can use social media and social profiles in their marketing mixes. Prepared by Stephanie Nelson, Social Media Maven/Owner at SBN Marketing, a boutique social media marketing consultancy in the Charlotte, NC area.

1. Social Media for
Small Businesses
Small Businesses
A Primer for Small Business Owners
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

2. Who is SBN Marketing?
❖ Founded December 2011
❖ Focus on Social Profile Management and Social Media Consulting
❖ Strategies Based Around Hyper-Local Solutions
❖ SEO-Optimized Directory & Profile Listings
❖ Social Media Outlet Bios
❖ Social Media Posts/Updates
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

3. Why Social Profiles Are Important
❖ All are indexable points for the
search engines.
❖ Each profile feeds in to or out of
other profile databases and search
engines.
❖ More and more people are
abandoning traditional media (like
phone book) for finding vendors
every day.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

4. Why Social Media Is Important
❖ Posts/updates are indexable
points for the search engines.
❖ Keyword-rich posts will help you
get found AND show off your
industry expertise.
❖ The more items you have indexed,
the more likely you are to show
up in search engine results.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

5. How Can This Work for You?
❖ Goal: Take up as much space on the SERPs as possible.
❖ Tactics:
❖ Less Competitive Industries - Take up as many 1st page results as we can
get - Push the competition out.
❖ More Competitive Industries - Use multiple profiles as a way to have a
variety of indexable material - More entry to points to SERPs.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

6. Strategies/Methods - Profiles
❖ Claim Major Online Listings - Profiles
& Directories.
❖ Google Places/Google+ Local,
Yahoo Local, Bing Local, Merchant
Circle, Insider Pages, Superpages,
Manta, Yelp, etc
❖ Fill out listings completely with
keyword-rich content.
❖ Make them appealing to the search
engines.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

7. Strategies/Methods - Overview
❖ Analyze which social media outlets contain your business’ audience.
❖ Compose keyword-rich posts that engage your audience AND read well to
the search engines.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

8. Strategies/Methods - Facebook
❖ Best for B2C businesses.
❖ Be sure to set up a company page,
not a personal profile with your
business information.
❖ Posts and company information can be indexed.
❖ Allows for another point of entry to SERPs.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

9. Strategies/Methods - LinkedIn
❖ Best for B2B businesses, but works for all.
❖ Use a company LinkedIn page, as well as
optimized personal profiles.
❖ Personal profiles of employees can be indexed for
company name and specialties, as well.
❖ Allows for two more points of entry to SERPs.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

10. Strategies/Methods - YouTube
❖ Take advantage of a YouTube channel - it’s the
2nd largest search engine, only behind Google.
❖ Another entry point into SERPs.
❖ Google putting emphasis on their own
properties & video.
❖ Ideas: facility tours, staff member bios,
how tos, etc.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

11. Strategies/Methods - Pinterest
❖ Best for highly visual businesses.
❖ Another entry point into SERPs.
❖ Be sure to use keyword-rich comments.
❖ Also make use of hashtags in comments.
❖ Don’t just promote your own products.
Use the opportunity to set yourself up as
an expert in your area by sharing related info.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

12. Important Pieces of the Puzzle
❖ Make sure information is the same across channels.
❖ Address, Phone Number, Web Address, Offers, etc.
❖ Make sure all marketing pieces send the
same message.
❖ Print, online, e-mail, direct mail -
EVERYTHING
❖ Mixed messages just confuse the end
customer.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

13. Difficulties of Doing It Yourself
❖ Thinking search results will happen overnight.
❖ Search engine algorithms - hard to stay on top of all changes going on.
❖ New directories and outlets - which are worth
your time?
❖ Time management and doing what you do best.
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043

14. So...
❖ Questions?
❖ Comments?
sbnmktg.com ~ stephanie@sbnmktg.com ~ 704.218.9043