On March 5, ChamberCentric featured an article titled “Helping Members with Online Marketing,” which included some information on why social network marketing is important to small businesses. The following post, which is excerpted from the Chamber Executive Magazine article “Kick that Online Strategy up a Notch” by CommunityLink’s Craig Williams and Brad Redfearn, offers advice to chambers about keeping social network communications both appropriate and efficient:

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Keep in mind that your social network is a very transparent place, where it’s easy to see not only your friends’ thoughts, but their friends’ thoughts as well. It’s best to leave heavy-handed ideology at the door; there is simply too much at risk and too many people of widely different political stripes watching you to safely promote personal politics and ideology. If it’s something you would hesitate to say to a live audience, or to anyone in your membership, don’t post it. Limit your interaction to practical, professional, and insightful communication that is palatable to a broad cross-section. There are several cases in the twittersphere of chamber executives running ideologically aground and meeting the terminating wrath of their Boards. The moral here is that this “water cooler chat” has no privacy whatsoever. But that’s also what makes it so powerful. Just proceed with caution, keep it relevant, and have fun.

As your social networking efforts grow and you become involved with many different sites, the time-consuming task of keeping them all updated can start to become unmanageable. Fortunately, aggregation sites like Ping.fm (www.ping.fm) allow you to publish your information in a single place; these sites then duplicate your content automatically across multiple social networking sites. Using an aggregation site generally involves setting up an account and then telling the aggregation site which social networking sites you belong to. You supply your user name and password for each of the other sites, and give the aggregator permission to cross-publish your content. The next time you wish to share a news item or microblog, simply enter it on the aggregator site and… voila! All of your other sites are updated at once.

online marketing, social networks

Everyone knows that the World Wide Web provides a platform where large businesses can market goods and services globally, but its capability as a local marketing tool is often underutilized by small businesses. For many of these business owners, it isn’t a failure to recognize the need for an online presence that holds them back, it’s a lack of knowledge in how to get started. With that in mind, chambers that are looking for “low hanging fruit” to add value for members may want to consider including localized online marketing help to their list of member benefits. Here are some ideas to think about.

Social Networking
The continuing popularity of social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube indicates that they aren’t going away any time soon, and their success hasn’t gone unnoticed by marketers. Both Nielson.com and Advertisespace.com have listed social networking commercialization and advertising as one of the top online advertising trends for 2010. And this isn’t just for the big national brands. A Borrell Associates study released in 2009 found that nearly 20 percent of all ad spending on social networks was by local businesses. Clearly, both social network pages and ads have the potential to help small businesses catch the attention of a local market.

So why aren’t more companies jumping into low-expense social media marketing? According to a Russell Herder and Ethos Business Law report released last year, 51 percent of respondent businesses not utilizing social network marketing indicated that they didn’t know enough about it. Could chamber-sponsored seminars that explain how to take advantage of social networking add value to membership for these companies?

Chamber Online Advertising Co-op
Another part of the online local advertising equation is finding places to be seen by hometown internet users. Typical advertising cooperatives are about sharing the cost of advertising space in third party media, but why not develop a grassroots system in which small-business members can swap or lease web site “shout outs” or widgets amongst each other? One of the great selling points of a chamber is the networking opportunities it creates, and this benefit could be extended into the realm of online marketing through a simple program that connects members who have busy web sites with others who desire more local visibility. A mutually beneficial relationship, with the chamber making the introduction, is always a good scenario.

Local Search Engine Optimization
A complete discussion about the science of search engine optimization could fill volumes, but there are very simple steps local businesses can take that will enhance their chances of being found. Getting listed in the local directories of big-name search engines is not only effective, it’s typically free. Members who are less than tech-savvy may not be aware of how important these listings can be, and a chamber program offering advice on how and where to get listed – or simply creating the listings for members as part of the value proposition – could be an easy way to remind them that you’re there to help them grow.

These are just a few thoughts on how you could help members stay up with the times and get noticed online. Watch for more information on this topic in upcoming ChamberCentric posts. To find out about the growing number of advanced tools that CommunityLink and our partners can provide to enhance the online presence of your chamber, members, and community, call our business development group at 866-455-5600 ext. 1211.

advertising co-op, online marketing, search engines, social networks