Social Media For Local Businesses

There are nine types of social media content that we like to create for local business clients. There’s also a different mindset behind the entire process. Here’s how it works.

Proven Strategies vs. Time Wasters

If you ask most local business owners – or really most people in general – what the purpose of their social media presence is, they’ll probably say to reach new customers or to grow an audience. The reality is that there are very few local business owners who are prepared to invest the time and resources into creating enough content that is high-enough quality to grow an audience.

In my experience, trying to grow an audience on one post per week is a waste of time. They probably need to get to at least daily posts before they have enough good content for the platform to start trying to use their content to reach and grow a new audience.

Social Post Velocities For Organic Growth

If organic audience growth is the goal, the business will need to target the following post velocities:

• Facebook: 1 or 2 posts per day
• Instagram: 1 feed post + 2 to 5 stories per day
• Twitter: At least 5 and up to 30 posts per day
• Pinterest: Up to 30 posts per day
• TikTok: 3 or 4 posts per day

That’s a bunch of content! Most local businesses aren’t going to have anywhere near the budget to invest in a social media growth strategy at this level.

Social Nurturing

While growing a social media audience may be unrealistic for many local businesses, nurturing an audience is much less work and can create excellent results without requiring a massive budget. Instead of multiple posts per day, a local business can nurture the audience they already have with just one or two posts per week.

Nine Categories of Content For Social Nurturing

When managing social media for local businesses, our goal is to nurture their followers into paying customers. If the followers are already paying customers, then the goal is to encourage repeat purchases and increase their purchase velocity. To that end, we use the following nine content categories.

Long-Form Excerpts

If the client has YouTube videos, webinars, a podcast, slide presentations, or any other form of long-form content, we’ll pull nuggets of great content to share on their social media channels.

Shared Content

Curating other people’s content is a great source for social media posts for local businesses because not only do you not have to create the content, but you’re also helping other businesses by sharing their content. Share information about market/industry trends, creative ideas, local events, new businesses opening, etc. Make your clients look like they are connected with the entire local community and in the know.

Testimonials

It’s always a good idea to share the success stories of your client’s customers. It’s fun and encourages people. It’s also a very good idea to get your client in the habit of staying in touch with their customers and collecting feedback.

Educational Content

Educational content is one of the main categories of posts that convert followers into customers. Teach people what they need to know about why working with you is different and why you’re able to help them get results that are better than the mainstream approach. Take a look at The Easy Niches video for examples of this.

To create educational content, look at website FAQs, common questions answered over the phone, and topics covered when onboarding new clients. Not only does this draw people in, but it also shortens the sales process because the clients are better qualified and more educated about your business.

Inspirational Content

Everybody can use a boost sometimes. Share content that is motivational and helps people get more success in the area that your business focuses on. This content is to show people that the results they want are possible, and you’re there to support them every step of the way. Testimonials can be inspirational, but the main goal of this content is about encouragement and support.

Promotional Posts

Of course, we want to promote the products and services local businesses offer. These posts include things like new products, sales, workshops, new services, seasonal promotions, and coupons exclusively for our social media followers. In combination with the other content designed to build a relationship with our followers, promotional posts provide an opportunity for people to take that next step toward becoming a client.

News

It’s important that people understand that you know what’s going on and that you’re always staying on the front lines of your industry. News posts can be about new things happening in your business or in your industry.

Business news would include things like hiring new employees, launching a new location, events you’re either hosting or sponsoring, awards you have won, and achievements you have accomplished.

Industry news would include new trends, the impact of new technology, new laws, changes in rules or regulations, and other topics that impact your industry either locally or nationally.

Created Content

Usually, if we’re helping a client with social media management, we’ll also help them with SEO. This includes writing blog posts and creating lead magnets to use for content marketing. We’ll harvest nuggets from this content to share on social media, usually for the purpose of email list building. For example, after creating a lead magnet, we’ll share a helpful point from that content and invite people to download the rest on the client’s website.

Finding The Best Clients