There’s been a lot of heat on Facebook recently, like A LOT! I bet Mark Zuckerberg never anticipated his prize creation becoming the centre of Russian political scandals and a key witness in legal issues surrounding manipulating presidential elections.
Safe to say he didn’t see that ever coming.
Perhaps these are all just conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations but one thing that is very real right now is the #deletefacebook movement.
To predict the demise of Facebook is a pretty big call. Personally I find it doubtful this will actually happen, but let’s just pretend for a second that it’s a possibility. SO……..
When Facebook goes down, will you be ready?
It sounds dramatic, but don’t worry we aren’t suggesting you start stock piling canned goods and building underground bunkers (not yet anyway). But for some businesses, it would be a significant hit. So just in case lets explore some ways to ensure the longevity of your business online and strategies you should really be implementing reagrdless.
List building
Building your database has always been instrumental in the success of any business. It’s not new! Long before business even existed online it was encouraged to record as much info about your customers as possible.
By building a customer database you have potential customers to directly market to and build long term relationships. There is evidence to suggest that email marketing converts to 40 times more sales than Facebook.
I speak to so many businesses that tell me they have thousands of email addresses belonging to their customers that they aren’t doing anything with. These lists are GOLD!
SEO
Personally if I had to choose which one to be friends with, Google or Facebook, Google would win hands down. Aside from being less judgey and you avoid being subjected to likes, dislikes and trolls, Google is still the leader in digital advertising (just).
For me personally, my business has welcomed far more new customers driven by Google as opposed to Facebook. Sure every business is different but I often wonder if we get so caught up in Facebook we overlook some golden opportunities elsewhere that are more cost effective, with greater rewards.
By tweaking certain things on your website and correctly utilising SEO strategies ensures when people google terms related to your business or industry, you show higher in the search results. Showing higher in the search results = new customers.
Email marketing
There’s no better customer than the one you have already established a relationship with. If they’ve handed over their beloved email address to you willingly (and you haven’t sneakily attained it) then they have already expressed some trust in you. As we all know, it’s all about trust.
Email marketing is an excellent tool to grow and nurture those relationships. It also costs next to nothing and when done right, can lead to a massive increase in sales.
Why put all your eggs in one basket? I mean, no one has time to be across all social media channels but it certainly helps to mix it up a little. For business owners we think Linkedin is a fabulous tool to show case your professional skills without all the crap that you see on Facebook (aka names of people getting drunk this weekend memes).
It’s also highly under rated by small business owners as a business growth tool so there is a lot of opportunity to be found in this space. LinkedIn is preferred by most industries and businesses with reputable brand names to communicate with other industry leaders and influencers. Keeping in touch with other brands and companies in your niche is important, as is your business being discussed by other brands within your niche.
With blogging for business being one of our favourite strategies, LinkedIn is a fantastic way to have these articles published to a broader, more professional audience, on a more serious platform.
So I’m not sure if I’m going prey for the end of FB or not, it truly is love / hate and if I’m fair. At the beginning, in simpler times (you know, 5 years ago) FB was very kind to my business. It still is super valuable, but a lot more work in current time.
We’re pretty passionate about the importance of these strategies to the growth of small biz at B Directory. If you need a helping hand, come pay us a visit.
Elsa Mitchell
Elsa Mitchell is the co-founder of B Directory, providing outside of the box solutions for small business, to help supercharge their growth. One of the ways they do this is by connecting business, bloggers and influencers to create the right online partnerships. B Directory also provides training and management of marketing services to help ease the overwhelm facing small business today.
Elsa’s ability to provide guidance to B Directory clients is underpinned by her extensive business background. Over ten years ago she established her own salon in the beauty industry, which is now a popular and successful operation. Further to this, Elsa is also the Marketing Director of her family business in the building and construction industry.
Elsa’s success in the customer service industry has allowed her to identify solutions and strategies surrounding bricks and mortar sales and building a positive team culture. A skill set she now is able to utilise to educate her B Directory customers.
