Social Networking for small businesses

Everyone is aware that most, if not all major business now have one or more social media account/s on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google + etc. If you haven't liked a business page it's likely you have seen your friends newsfeed posts sharing numerous competitions or giveaways run by companies thus expanding that business's reach to you.

Unfortunately for a lot of small businesses or WAHM's, (work at home mums) you might discover that your little page does not have such a massive preexisting following or brand awareness that businesses such as McDonalds, Holden, Woolworths, Jay Jays, etc has so you can't rely on customers navigating to your page organically. Yet you may not also have the revenue or income to rely on expensive giveaways to promote followers to your page (or even afford the cost of the third party apps built to support these giveaways legally as per the FB t's & c's.)

So how DO you built brand recognition or awareness of your small business?

REMEMBER that your medium is a social networking tool, designed to connect friends, but also consider that you can and should connect to other businesses, for example other local businesses you frequent or have a customer relationship with. (The local tradie, your fave coffee shop, your accountant etc)
Building this network can help build a support network between businesses, with cross promotion of pages to 'share' in customer fan base. If a liker is dedicated to a business, for example a computer repair business they may follow their advice on the best coffee shop to visit whilst waiting on a repair or car service and that coffee shop could be yours!

Another major success that has been seen recently is smaller business each contributing a small amount towards a major prize. This is particularly evident in the handmade or work at home mum businesses. Typically these pages are for a hobby purposes or to supplement their income whilst at home however they do not have the financial capabilities to outlay funds to giveaway iPads or coffee machines or holidays from their own pocket. So instead, these businesses are teaming together, generating interest through raffle applications such as rafflecopter to register entries. By doing this, they are networking their customer base and sharing them with other businesses, and the trick at this point is to capture the fan base through your own page content and updates in order to convert them into purchasing customers.
Through my own personal experience as a WAHM, I participated in such an activity very shortly after opening a new page brand. In a few short weeks I increased my fan base and number of likers by around 500%. My page of 350 likers became 1400 likers after a few weeks- incentivised by an iPad prize that only cost me an outlay cost of $23. During this promotion I featured a new product to my new likers that was unique and innovative and I managed to maintain almost all of my fans following the promotions completion. (An inevitable loss as there will always be those following the comps)

Building a brand that is not handmade can be difficult and the likers will come a lot slower, however through paid advertisement and affiliation and networking with other businesses you will be much more successful in giving your brand greater reach than just hoping people will find you organically. Make and connect with friends. That's what Facebook and social media is about.
Being social.

Exposing your business. In a good way.

In a report today, I was looking at the pre and post success of Facebook advertising for a business. At first we were dubious about utilising this option, whether the cost was right, whether we would actually reach our targeted niche market, or whether it would be lost among the billions of other advertisements flying around in cyber-space.

However, with a little nudge from Facebook in the form of advertising credits, we decided to give it a shot.
Within 2 weeks of running the results seemed to speak in volumes, showing an increase in reach of over 260%.
The business was originally reaching an audience of around 140 people a month. The new report, since creating our Facebook ad campaign, now has a reach of over 3600 people. That's 26 times the original reach figure.

This has given greater awareness and exposure of the business, which is evident and supported by the Google Analytics statistics, where, in a report showing the keywords entered in Google Search to drive traffic to the webpage, the business name as a search term is now the third most entered search term. Prior to advertising it was the 6^th most entered search term. Not only does this support the success of the advertisement,  but it also shows that customers have to have a specific awareness of the brand in order to enter the exact business name into the search bar to generate hits, rather than using meta-tags directed to products sold or services provided.

We are moving to a digital age, and with a majority of Gen X and Y dependent on technology and social media sites, it is important to reach customers using methods relevant to them. If you want to increase your business' exposure, contact me today to discuss how Facebook advertising can work for you, and receive methods and techniques to help you on the road to achieving greater success.

Understanding the rules of Facebook and promotion

With thousands of businesses utilising Facebook to promote their brand, it is important to remember there are rules for which we must abide.
Quite often it is easy to get lost within the internet and forget that the laws established for businesses also apply online. One major area of concern is the running of 'promotions' via social media sites such as Facebook.

This recent News Article has recognised a crackdown on promotions held by businesses on Facebook. This crackdown is not just directed towards the Facebook rules, but also Australian State Government rules regarding promotion.

The article discusses the need to register for appropriate promotion licences according to your state, as well as identifying the correct methods for promoting on Facebook.
This may have many business owners nervous by the possibility of losing their page after working so hard to grow their 'likers' and build a rapport with their customers, but with the right guidance and a proper understanding of the rules, this can be avoided.

For many this would seem all too confusing and not worth the effort, however, if implemented correctly and if you abide by the rules, you can continue using Facebook with successful methods to promote your brand. If you are concerned and unsure of where to start, I am here to assist you with the operation of your page, and can provide advice on the best ways to utilise your page without breaking the rules.
Alternatively, if it all seems like too much effort on top of an already busy workload, KLM Media is available to manage your page efficiently and professionally, leaving you time to concentrate on your business.

Welcome!

Welcome to KLM Media!

Please bear with me as I get used to blogging, I have decided to get a feel for it with an introduction to myself and my vision for KLM Media.

I am 25 years of age and have a Bachelor of Arts/Business Degree majoring in Marketing and English from the University of New England.

After some unexpected life changes, including the arrival of my son, I ended up dabbling in setting up a small work at home mum based business selling nappies whilst on maternity leave. I focused my attention to selling my wares via facebook and from this I learnt many key social networking skills. I discovered methods for growing customer awareness with 'likes', networking via social groups and pages and many other tricks such as promotion to generating awareness of my page.

After fruitless searching for work in my small hometown of Port Macquarie, I secured work as a marketing officer. Finally I had a chance to put my marketing degree to use! In this position I was dedicated to generating online awareness for the business, and once again I found myself lost in the realms of social media.

At that moment I instantly knew that I wanted to help other businesses build awareness of their brand and help to establish a personalised relationship with their customers, and from this realisation sparked the idea for KLM Media.

From a business perspective, and from my own personal experience, Facebook and Twitter and the myriad of social media sites available online provides a wealth of opportunity for growth and interaction with customers. No longer is Facebook just for status updates and sharing pics of your new puppy and family holiday! Businesses are utilising these social media sites to provide a dedicated service and purchase opportunities for customers, from special offers to exclusive releases and building a relationship with customers.

For many this may be a daunting concept, or perhaps you find you are too busy to manage your online profiles. The purpose of KLM Media is to assist you in managing your pages by establishing regular status updates to interact with your customers, identifying target markets and methods to generate greater awareness of your business and to liaise between customers and your business to provide a greater customer service experience.

With thousands of users online, gain the exposure your business deserves with KLM Media, connecting you online, socially.