March 18, 2024 • 38 mins
You can Watch or Listen to this episode: https://the6ways.com/27
There’s a common belief that local businesses are wasting their time on social media because they can’t limit their reach to just local people without paying for ads. But in this episode my guest Michelle Tayler and I show you exactly why that’s not true and share 6 ways local businesses can get way more visibility online.
Occasionally a helpful announcement for listeners gets added to the show so the timestamps below may be off by 30-60 seconds, but they should be pretty close.
00:00 6 Ways Local Businesses Can Get More Visibility On Social Media
03:27 #1: The place your potential clients/customers are already gathering
07:49 #2: An easy post idea that doubles your local reach every time
11:59 #3: A psychological principle that will get other businesses posting about you
16:04 #4: The words that need to go in all your posts
19:56 #5: Brilliant way to be perceived as more local than you may actually be
23:44 #6: An important mindset shift all business owners need about social media
25:51 Does YouTube make sense for local businesses?
Some REALLY awesome tips were shared in this episode – please think about who you know that would benefit from these, and then make sure to share it with them. Because WE ALL DO BETTER WHEN WE ALL DO BETTER. 😁
Connect with Michelle Tayler:
https://www.marketingpractices.com.au/
If you enjoyed this episode you may also enjoy these:
6 Ways Anyone Can Increase Their Camera Confidence https://the6ways.com/9
6 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Become A Thought Leader https://the6ways.com/7
Check out our new podcast, Done By Lunch Entrepreneurs:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (00:00):
On today's show we're sharing six
(00:01):
ways local businesses can getmore visibility on social media
Uh way number two is an easytactic that can at least double
The reach of your posts andnumber six may be a mindset
shift for some local businessesBut it's one every entrepreneur
needs to hear.
All right, let's get into it Ontoday's show we're sharing six
ways local businesses can getmore visibility on social media
(00:25):
Uh way number two is an easytactic that can at least double
The reach of your posts andnumber six may be a mindset
shift for some local businessesBut it's one every entrepreneur
needs to hear.
All right, let's get into it Andwelcome to episode number 27 of
(00:57):
the six ways where every week webring on a smart innovative
guest that is thriving in theirarea of expertise so they can
share some of their best tipswith us so that we can all reach
our entrepreneurial goalsbecause I truly believe we all
do better when we all do better.
Now, this is both an audio and avideo podcast.
So if you want to switch fromone to the other, you can find
the link in the description orthe show notes.
(01:18):
And I know your time isvaluable.
So we've also got timestamps forwhat we'll talk about.
So if you're looking for acertain part, or if you want to
revisit.
something later, you can jumpahead to that part.
My name is Jerry Potter founderof five minutes, social media,
and the social media leads lab.
My guest today is MichelleTayler.
She demystifies marketing formedical and dental practices
throughout Australia.
And she has had some hugesuccesses for local businesses
(01:41):
in many different cities thatcould be applied to pretty much
any industry.
All right, Michelle, welcome tothe show.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (01:49):
Thank you so much for having me today.
Yeah, I'm excited for this
conversation.
And I think, you know, sometimeswhen I worked at an agency, we'd
get local businesses that wouldsay, well, stuff on Facebook
reaches all over the world.
And Instagram reaches all overthe world.
And am I wasting time?
It feels like there's a, almosta.
A built in bias and a hesitationwith local businesses to use
(02:10):
social media in order to youknow Almost to the point when
they do sometimes it's out ofdesperation like well, I guess I
better get on facebook Um, haveyou run into that mindset with
any of your clients where theyyou know They they're they're
adamant about how I only want toreach people in this county.
Why would I post on socialmedia?
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess it's a similarargument to having a website.
(02:30):
I mean, your website can beaccessed by everybody as well.
So, and so can social media, butin all honesty, social media is
one of the most.
Powerful ways to reach peoplewithin the local community, and
you can really establishyourself as an expert at
whatever you do, um, very easilywhen you use social media.
(02:51):
So it is a huge advantage to beusing it and using it.
Well,
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (02:55):
I'm excited because some of the
stuff we're going to talk abouttoday.
Um, one thing is basically howto use Local or sorry how to use
people that are not local to youto reach more local people And
then also we're going to talkabout something Where you can do
certain things in your post tomake sure that they do reach
more local people So that is allcoming up as we share these six
(03:16):
ways local businesses can getsome more visibility on social
media michelle brought three andthen I brought three and we'll
answer our question of the weekfrom kyle who Blatantly says
does youtube make sense forlocal businesses because we
certainly think about seeingyoutube content from all over
the world So we'll get to thatas well.
Make sure you're listening untilwe get to that part All right.
(03:36):
So here we go six ways localbusinesses can get more
visibility on social mediamichelle You're the guest you're
up first number one.
What do you got?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (03:46):
my first tip is to research local
Facebook groups.
So go into Facebook and.
Search those local groups.
So perhaps write the suburb orcounty name that you are, um,
living in or your business islocated within research.
Those groups have a look whenyou're, when you're researching
(04:08):
them, you can have a look and.
See whether they're, they areactive groups, how many posts
they're posting each day, howmany members they have.
And that'll give you a reallygood indication in terms of
whether that group is an area tobe putting your time in and then
join and engage within thatgroup with conversations.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (04:29):
And so you work primarily with
doctors and dentists who arevery, very busy.
Um, and so do they do thisthemselves or do they have like
people on their team do it orhow do you have them approach
that?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (04:42):
Yeah, it all depends on, it all
depends on the client.
It depends on the business.
Sometimes it is the, thepractice owner, they, they
simply enjoy social media.
So they're, they're quite socialand they want to be a part of
that.
And sometimes it may be thepractice manager that, um, or
essentially the business managerof the clinic that, that does
all of that.
But also I do encourage otherteam members within the practice
(05:07):
to You know, engage on socialmedia as well, because
essentially they are brandambassadors for that business.
And the reality is that theyusually reside within that local
area as well.
And usually have a network of,you know, friends and family and
contacts, et cetera, on socialmedia too.
So when they engage in socialmedia as well, um, it, it just
(05:30):
amplifies the message.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (05:32):
Do you do a little jump for joy
when you get a client that says,Oh, I love engaging on social
media.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesse (05:37):
Doesn't happen very regularly.
I have to say, but.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses (05:41):
That's what I mean, that's gotta be a
gift.
Like you do.
Oh, we're going to have funtogether.
This is going to be great.
_6_Ways_Local_Busin (05:47):
Absolutely.
But when you join these localFacebook groups, I had a
business who, um, we were, weresearched them together.
We had a look.
There was one local group thatI, that had a hundred thousand
members within that group.
So the reality is, if you couldconvert, you know, two, three,
(06:07):
four percent of that 100, 000people within that group, that's
where they're your customers.
That's where your audience is.
So, you know, that is a reallygood indication that that is
somewhere where you should bespending some time being social,
engaging, contributing toconversations within those
groups and really just makingyourself known.
(06:30):
And because.
Let's face it, you know, nobodywants to come to social media to
be bombarded with your latestoffer or ad or things like that.
And, you know, I work withdentists and doctors, nobody
really comes to social mediabecause they want to see, um, an
advertisement for.
For their dentist, for example,however, on the flip side, if
(06:51):
you're in a local Facebookgroup, uh, and perhaps it's a,
it's a local mothers group, forexample, there's a lot of, um,
very powerful mothers groupsaround and they're talking
about.
Something like, um, you know,when's the first time you should
take your infant to the dentistor, um, people are looking for
recommendations, those types ofthings, that's where you can
(07:13):
really start to add value withinthose groups and, um, and start
to be a part of thatconversation.
So it really is about.
Being social on those groups andnot necessarily, um, using the
social media for the media part,you want to use it for the
social part and to be, um,essentially a peer or a group
(07:35):
member within those groups.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (07:36):
Yeah, and and groups are So great
because you don't have to relythere is an algorithm But it's
already gathered people that fita certain criteria in this case
local people And in some casesyou can get even more narrow
than that.
Like you said a local mother'sgroup So it's just an incredible
opportunity to reach peopleorganically, which I love so all
(07:57):
right Next up number two Of sixways local businesses can get
more visibility on social media.
And that is to run a veryspecific contest.
And when I worked at an agency,we would do this for our local
clients all the time, and itwould work so well that I would
be thinking, why isn't anybodyelse taking this?
Why isn't anybody else stealingthis?
But as you're putting upcontent, it, let's take a
(08:19):
Facebook business page.
The people most likely to seeyour posts obviously are going
to be people who have.
Followed or liked the page andthey've engaged with some of
your previous content But one ofthe best ways to get more local
people to also see that post Isto ask people to tag a friend in
a very specific way now i'mgonna get Really specific here
(08:40):
because there's an easy way toscrew this up.
So what we would do Is we woulduh, my fair thing to do This
would be like with a restaurantclient They would give us these
gift certificates to give awayand so rather than giving away a
30 gift certificate We wouldhave them give us two 15 gift
certificates And the contestwould be you know, we love being
a place where our friends needto catch up over lunch Who do
(09:01):
you have, you know, who's yourfriend that you need to catch up
with?
Let us know.
And you'll both be entered towin a gift certificate or a gift
card.
And so people would comment justlike, you know, first it would
be 12 and then 40 and then 200comments.
And then of course the otherperson who got tagged comes back
and goes, Oh my gosh, yes,Erica, we do need to have lunch.
Thank you so much for taggingme.
(09:21):
Let's make this happen.
And then you go through and youpick.
One of them and their friend towin, which helps because it
stands out more because youhave, um, multiple people on,
uh, the same, you know, likewhen you have multiple winners,
people are more likely to entera contest.
And so you'd get this incrediblereach where not only are your
local people seeing it, but thentheir local friends are also
seeing it.
(09:42):
And then you give, we give us agift certificate to each of them
and they could either come intogether or maybe you get.
Two, you know, tables at therestaurant out of that.
So a couple of things to knowthough.
One, Facebook does not let youask people to tag a friend.
They consider that engagementbait.
And so what you do is you justsay, tell us who your friend is.
And if you've been on Facebook,you know, when somebody starts
(10:02):
typing a name, it usually makessuggestions.
And so people wouldautomatically tag their friend,
whether they intended to or not.
So we weren't violating anyrules.
And then the second thing isit's, you know, sounds easy for
a restaurant, but I trulybelieve that.
There are, you know, manydifferent types of businesses
where you could easily include afriend.
(10:23):
So maybe it's not what yourbusiness does.
Maybe you're a plumber or anelectrician, but you happen to
give away.
Lunch at a local restaurantanyway, um, or something like
that.
Even a dentist could do that.
Maybe at a healthy, uh, youknow, restaurant or something
like that.
So, but that's been, uh, it wasalways hugely successful without
violating any of Facebook rules,and it's just a great way to get
(10:43):
more people, uh, who alreadyknow the people that are
following you to come into yourworld.
So.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (10:49):
I love that idea, Gerry, because
it is also, it feels verynatural.
It doesn't feel, um, like youare trying to kind of
deliberately get people to kindof, you know, engage with the
post.
It just feels like a, you know,a natural competition and hey,
tell us who your friend is.
I think that is a really niceway of doing it.
(11:12):
And of course, as, as you know,and, and you teach, once you
start getting people commentingand engaging with that post, the
algorithms are then just goingto keep showing it to more and
more people.
So it's almost a bit of a, um, asnowball effect once you start
to get those people engaging.
So that's a great idea.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (11:32):
Yeah, we'd have pages that that that
type of post would end up withmore comments than the pages had
followers, you know It might bea page with 120 followers and
there'd be 200 comments On theregoing back and forth and
facebook is really strict aboutasking You know like tagging
other people because it'sessentially spam Right if a
friend tags you in a post it'sessentially they're saying I
(11:52):
want you to see this and if itfeels spammy Then they hate it.
We won't go into the at everyonetag that facebook introduced Um
more recently, but yeah, it'sjust a great way to increase
your reach which works reallywell.
So, all right Um, next up isnumber, uh, three of six ways
local businesses can get morevisibility on social media What
do you got michelle?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (12:14):
So the great tip is to tag in local
businesses to your post or postabout those local business.
So this is kind of a bit of asneaky way of borrowing your
audience.
So if you've got, for example, Imean, I'm working with dentists
and doctors, you know, we, wedon't have huge followings, but
(12:36):
perhaps the local cafe down theroad does.
And it is a, you know, a bit ofa local institution where
everybody loves to go to gettheir coffee.
Um, what I often do is encouragemy clients to then, you know,
grab their coffees from, fromtheir local place and, you know,
(12:56):
post about it and tag thatbusiness in, because you're
essentially.
You know, kind of borrowingtheir audience or getting your
message a little bit further outto other audiences.
And once you start doing that,there's almost this kind of rule
of reciprocity in that, um, ifyou start tagging them in and,
(13:17):
you know, they'll tag you infor, for some things and it just
kind of all nicely workstogether.
It's almost a little bit of akind of unwritten rule where
it's kind of polite to do thosekinds of things.
So.
Definitely use that tag whereyou can tag in those local
businesses or post about localbusinesses.
And it could simply be, youknow, a quick photo of you and
(13:41):
your team, for example, having acoffee from that local cafe
where you're tagging them in andjust making a nice comment.
You know, this is the best.
Best coffee in town or whateveryou want to make that comment
about.
Um, but you know, give them,give them some praise, give them
some credit.
And, you know, it starts to justbuild up, um, interest in your
(14:03):
page and it starts to just getthat reach a little bit further,
um, whilst essentially borrowinglocal audiences from other
businesses.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (14:12):
You know, the thing I love that you
brought that up because I don'thave this on my list.
But earlier today I was invitedto be a guest on a panel about
what are the big changes thathave happened in social media in
the last year.
What can we take it?
What can we do to take advantageof them?
And one of them is theopportunity to have
Collaborative content.
And so Facebook and Instagram, Ithink YouTube might be testing
something like this, but onFacebook and Instagram, you can
(14:35):
basically create a post thatcomes from two different
accounts.
And so I know with, um, it's foryears now with Facebook.
Business page videos.
You could have it come from twopages, but now you can do this
with this other content andreels is the best opportunity
for this.
So if you teamed up with anotherlocal business, like you were
saying, and you made a videotogether, um, somehow that tied
(14:56):
into both of them and youbasically.
Get it released as collaboratorsSo instead of saying here's
jerry's video, by the way, hetagged michelle It would say
here's jerry and michelle'svideo and it would go out to my
audience and it would go out tomichelle's audience And because
it's a real which tends to reachnon followers Anyway, it can go
far beyond that and so settingup that initial collaboration I
(15:17):
know sometimes can take work andit's like well, are they going
to do it for me?
Um, first of all, I encourageeverybody to go in with an
abundance mindset.
I mean, you know, one of my mainthings is we all do better when
we all do better, but, uh, youcould find a local business like
you, maybe somebody on the sameblock or the same neighborhood
or somebody that, you know,targets the same people for
something else and just everymonth or every other month.
(15:38):
Do that with them and once youhave that relationship set up, I
think it would become a loteasier and a lot faster But
yeah, I think that's one of thegreatest tools that's come out
of the last year that we can usehere going forward So, all right
next up number four of six wayslocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media Bythe way, this episode is brought
to you by daily social mediatips.
(15:58):
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All right.
Number four of six ways localbusinesses can get more
visibility on social media.
(16:18):
And that is to use localkeywords.
So one of the things that'shappened in the last couple of
years is the algorithms havegotten way better at showing
content to the people who aregoing to like it the most.
Now, I got to give a shout outto tick tock because they were
the first one to create analgorithm like this, where
people literally couldn't puttheir phone down in an almost
addictive manner.
But Once upon a time, they wouldsee who liked your post, who you
(16:42):
who engaged with your post.
Maybe a little bit about whatyour caption or what you wrote
in your post was to determinewho should see that post.
But now they listen to everyword said in a video.
They listen, they look at closedcaption tracks.
They look and see what the imagesays or what might be back in
the background.
There's all these things thatthey scan, and so when you work
in local phrases, you are likemore likely to get.
(17:03):
Your content seen by other localpeople.
And this is primarily going tobe on, um, uh, content types
that reach non followers,specifically Facebook reels,
Instagram reels, Tik TOK videos,and YouTube shorts.
And so if you are based inSydney, where, uh, Michelle is
just by saying Sydney in some ofyour content in a way that, um.
(17:24):
It's not going to feel naturalto you, but it'll feel okay to
the person that's seeing it orconsuming it.
They're not going to be like,why'd they say Sydney, you know,
in there all of a sudden.
Um, but the city, theneighborhood, just like you
described when you were lookingfor local Facebook groups.
Um, the more you can weave thatstuff in, the more likely
someone local is to see it.
Then if more local people startengaging with it.
(17:46):
Then it'll show it to more localpeople because they go.
Oh, wow these people that liveUm in this part of sydney are
really liking this content Let'sshow it to some more of them and
see what happens And so have youdone that with your um with your
clients where you make sure towork in some of the local
keywords and things like that
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (18:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's super important todo that.
And.
It's, it almost becomes thiskind of, um, I kind of almost
think it's like a bit of aspider's web where you're,
you're kind of sending thismessage in all these different
directions and the algorithms,they want to work with you.
They want to, you know, get goodcontent out to more people.
(18:27):
Um, that's really what theirwhole purpose is.
And.
I think there was a, in fact,you might've told me this
statistic that, um, or this,this piece of information that
the algorithms are recordingabout 58, 000 attributes of
every single person.
Now I consider myself to be afairly, you know, simple
character, but you know, theyare watching every time you.
(18:49):
Slow down, um, past when you'rescrolling, or if you're watching
just a few seconds of a certainvideo.
So they're recording all thisdata.
They know more about you thanwhat we really know about
ourselves.
And.
What I find is that often whenyou're using those local terms,
what the algorithm will do is itwill actually find people that
(19:14):
kind of look like you becausethey've got all of this data and
they will show that post to thatparticular person because at the
end of the day.
The algorithms are designed to,um, to keep people on the
platform for longer.
As long as your content is goodcontent, it is going to show it
to more people.
So when you're using thoseterms, it's going to find those
(19:36):
people who are local to you.
They know where we are, um, interms of the algorithm and they
will send that information viathe feed to, um, to those people
that look like you.
So, you know, work with thatalgorithm.
It's one of the most powerfulthings that we can, uh, that we
can use.
Definitely.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (19:54):
Now I feel like we need to do an
episode six ways to be creepedout by social media algorithms
and their what'd you say?
You didn't get that stat from me58 000 data points or something
like that.
That's crazy All right next upnumber five six ways local
businesses can get morevisibility on social media.
What do you got michelle?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (20:13):
So my fifth one is to share content
that shows you engaging andbeing present in your local
community.
So whether it's local landmarks,whether you are participating in
local community events, Um,there might be local charity
events, those types of things,because that gives a really good
(20:35):
indication to anybody who is,um, seeing your post that you
are located locally.
And one of the, one of theissues that a lot of my clients
have is that.
People don't know where to findtheir physical location.
So often, for example, um, youmight be located with your, your
(20:57):
physical, um, shop front, or in,in a lot of my clients cases,
their, their practices, theymight be a little bit obscure.
They might not be on the streetfront.
They might not, they might be inmore of an office building, for
example, where You can't seethem very visually from from the
street, so there's not a lot ofpassing traffic and often what
(21:20):
we do as a way to kind of getaround that is I always suggest
to them find the nearest local.
Um, landmark that a lot ofpeople within that local
community are going to know, getyour camera out, put it on quick
time and just record how to findyour location because people
(21:42):
will say, Oh, I go there all thetime, but I didn't realize you
were there.
So that really helps draw peopleinto.
Your physical location whenyou're showing them exactly
where you are physicallylocated, particularly if you are
in a little bit of an obscurelocation.
And, you know, some, some of thepractices that I work with, they
(22:02):
might be on the second floor ofa building.
You might have to catch a liftup to that floor.
So we will find a locallandmark.
Literally do some filming andsay, Oh, you know, here's the,
here's a big set of trafficlights that everybody in the
local community knows.
And we basically show how toaccess that location from there.
(22:24):
So that's a really good way ofdoing that.
But just generally.
You know, if you're, if you're,um, helping people and inviting
people into your world andshowing that it is a nice sunny
day and you're at a local parkor a local beach or things like
that, you know, the communitythen starts to realize that you
(22:44):
are there locally and that youare part of that community.
So have those conversations.
You know, people want to dobusiness with other people that
are.
Um, within the community thatare immersed within that, yeah,
the people want to support localoften.
And so, so make sure that you'rejust really visible when doing
(23:05):
that.
And it might be, you know, itwas a fantastic day at the park
today, the weather was beautifuland sunny and you know, you're,
you're taking a nice photo of,um, of the landscape there.
So it just helps to make thatconnection and make sure people
know that you are local.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (23:22):
I love I love all of that But I
especially love tying into thelocal landmarks because for a
local business people willassume you're not near them
Until they realize you are nearthem and especially for a lot,
you know A lot of businesseswhere they are they're tucked
into a building or a businesspark.
Not everybody's got a you knowgiant sign on the side of the
road and so Yeah, that'sbeautiful because it's like oh I
(23:43):
drive by there all the time,right?
Like that's that connection thatsomebody can make and meanwhile,
they're thinking The normalplace I go to is 20 minutes
away.
So yeah, brilliant.
Love that.
All right.
Next up, number six of six wayslocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media.
And this is a bit of a mindsetshift, but it's.
It's really effective to createcontent that appeals to non
(24:06):
local people, because it willincrease the reach to your local
people as well as the socialproof.
And so I know a lot of times, aswe talked about at the top of
this episode, a business ownerwill come in and they'll go,
well, I don't want to reachpeople there.
They don't mean anything to meand I don't want them
commenting.
I remember actually working withone local client and they're
like, this person's not, they'llnever come in.
Let's delete their comment.
(24:26):
And I was like, what?
There's nothing wrong with that.
That comment.
I have a friend who runs a ticktock agency, and, uh, he has a
client who's a therapistlicensed in the state of
California.
I believe can't.
You know can't literally can'twork with anyone who's not
physically in california Um, andeven that he doesn't do anything
online.
It's all in his local office Sowhy would he want to blow up on
(24:49):
tiktok?
Well, he has uh, essentiallymade a series of videos that
people find very interesting andintriguing around what he does
On tiktok.
I think he's got over a hundredthousand followers His videos
get thousands and thousands ofviews and obviously they're not
all local people, but that'sokay within that Once a month,
he'll put up a video and say, bythe way, if you like my, like
(25:10):
this content and you actuallywant to work with us, go here to
join our wait list.
And just that one call to actionamid all of the other content is
driving people to this wait listto where, you know, it's a six
month wait, at least to get anappointment with him.
So he's got his client pipelinefull for, you know, months, if
not years, assuming that thiskeeps up.
(25:32):
And keeps working.
And so, you know, I justencourage all local business
owners to not worry about otherpeople seeing their content.
You can do some of the stuffthat we've talked about in this
episode to get more people into,you know, more local people to
see your content, but don't bemad if you get great comments
and likes and views from theseother people.
Because now this guy who's inCalifornia, people are like, Oh
(25:52):
my God, he must be the greatesttherapist in the world and he's
right down the street from me.
Next to that traffic light likeyou were talking about michelle.
Yeah, I gotta go see this guy Sohis waitlist is just always
always jam packed.
So, all right We're gonna recapall six of these here in a
moment But I do want to get toour question of the week from
kyle, which is does youtube makesense for local businesses?
(26:14):
And, uh, I'll go first sinceYouTube is my primary platform,
but I definitely want to getyour thoughts on this too,
Michelle.
Um, there are lots of localbusinesses that are very
successful on YouTube.
And the key is to not to notworry too much about only
reaching local people.
If you consistently post goodcontent, then you will reach
other people, but the localpeople will still be the ones
(26:35):
that can work with you.
So I work with people all overthe world, thanks to modern
technology.
But with my five minute socialmedia YouTube channel.
I could just as easily only workwith local people and run an
agency.
And I think the only thing thatreally changes in your approach
is instead of talking to thewhole world, when you have give
a call to action, youspecifically say, by the way, if
(26:55):
you're in the area, if you're inthe state of Arizona, where I
live, um, and you're looking fora marketing agency to, you know,
take things to the next level,you know, fill out the form and
in the description.
And that's all there is to it.
Um.
Um, within that, if you weregoing to go all in on YouTube as
a local business, I thinkdepending on what you do, uh, if
(27:16):
you can come up with topics thatpeople are searching for, like a
lot of real estate agents willdo videos on YouTube about, um,
five things to know beforemoving to San Diego, for
example, and they get tons ofclients from that.
But if you're just looking formore visibility, then you might
start with YouTube shorts,especially if those are easier,
um, to make.
So, um, what would you say toKyle or add on to that,
(27:36):
Michelle?
Hmm.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (27:40):
the bigger you're following on any
social media platform, the moresocial proof you have.
So when people are kind of goingthrough that journey of
considering whether they want todo business with you, that is
really going to be.
(28:00):
Um, one of the factors that isgoing to provide some influence
to them.
So I would, you know, get, getthe message out far and wide.
It's okay if you are onlylooking to help people locally.
And you know, the interestingthing is, Jerry, that if you are
really good at what you do.
(28:21):
A lot of the time people willtravel to see you.
So in that case, for example,you've got the therapist who's
in the state of California.
It's not a small place thatthere's a lot of people there.
And, and, and geographically,you know, people would need to
travel and there would be manyother therapists.
Um, locally to them, but, youknow, often I see it a lot with,
(28:45):
with dentists and doctors andspecialists, people will travel
for good people.
So that is the thing that youreally want to try and think
about is that.
Even though, you know, youtechnically are just targeting
people locally, there are peoplethat will travel for good
(29:06):
service and if they really likeyou.
So I guess my advice would be touse every single platform that
you have available to you.
Um, and to become known as thatgo to person within your
industry or whatever you do,whatever your craft is.
Um, and once that happens, itwill absolutely start flowing
(29:29):
and, you know, that's not to saythat.
Later on down the track that youmay not want.
You may want to open up, youknow, another location in
another place.
And if that's the case, youknow, if you want your business
to grow and you want to do that,then you need to build those
audiences up within those localcommunities.
Before you do that.
(29:50):
I work with a lot of, um, a lotof health practitioners who do
want additional sites and theywant to grow.
So, We are using social mediaprior to, you know, it might be,
it might be 12 months prior to anew clinic opening, but we're
already starting to see thatwithin social media to bring
(30:14):
that local community along thejourney with them until they
open and that way you have gotpeople.
Waiting on a wait list, ready tocome to you and to do business
with you prior to you opening,which for any new business owner
who is opening up a new site,you know, that is, that is music
to their ears to have payingcustomers on day one of when
(30:36):
they're opening.
So.
You know, use social media inthat powerful way.
And there's a whole bunch ofdifferent ways that we can look
at this.
So don't be concerned that youmight be attracting people from
outside of your immediatephysical location because people
will travel for good service orfor the experts that they're
(30:57):
looking for.
And, um, you may very well wantto open up further locations in
the future as your businessgrows.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_C (31:04):
Yes, I love that Kyle.
I mean, if you take one thingaway from this or anybody, you
know, especially on YouTube,investing in content on YouTube,
that's going to bring you leadsis an investment in your future
because it will live on longer,but also because as Michelle
said, it might just be theinvestment in your future
growth, whether that is toexpand your business to be
online.
(31:24):
I know people that have donethat.
Or to expand your business tonew locations.
And, you know, you talked aboutmaybe targeting an area 12
months before a local businessmight open, which is by all
means the best way to do it.
But I don't know, maybe aproperty pops up and you jumped
on it and you're opening in 60days or whatever it might be.
Think about opening a newbusiness in an area and somebody
looks it up and you've alreadygot this content that builds
(31:46):
trust and authority and socialproof and all of that.
So yeah, really, really love.
That last point that you madethere.
So, all right.
Thank you for the question,Kyle.
Quick recap of all six ways thatlocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media.
Uh, number one, research, localFacebook groups, get in there
and engage in conversations.
Facebook has already gatheredyour local people in one place.
(32:08):
You might as well go talk tothem.
Number two, run contests whereyou can't ask.
People to tag a friend but youcan verbally ask a question or
run a contest Where they arelikely to tag a friend which
will dramatically increase thereach of your posts Um,
especially if it's about doingsomething in a physical location
because people will only taglocal friends Uh number three
tag in local businesses or postabout local businesses say
(32:30):
something nice about somebodyelse Because of the psychology
of reciprocity they'll oftenwant to return the favor number
four Use local keywords, forcenames of cities, counties,
towns, neighborhoods, whateverit might be that you would, you
know, where, wherever you areinto your content, because that
will help the algorithm show itto more people in that area.
Uh, number five, share contentthat shows you engaging and
(32:53):
being present in the localcommunity, tying yourself to
local landmarks, really givingyour potential clients, uh, the
strong feeling that you areindeed local.
And this is not something whereyou just.
Pop in occasionally and numbersix, use non local people to
boost your reach.
Kind of what we talked aboutwith the question of the week
here.
Don't worry about only targetinglocal people, the engagement and
(33:13):
the social proof from the peoplethat are not local will benefit
you in a big way.
So, uh, Michelle, I'm going toask you to pick your favorite.
You don't have to pick one ofmine.
You can pick one of your own.
That's perfectly acceptable onthis show.
So which of those do you think,um, it could make the biggest
impact for a local business?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (33:30):
I think definitely getting into
those local Facebook groups,being present there because, you
know, when people look forrecommendations where they're
asking for, for advice about,you know, a local business, um,
when you're present within thosegroups, people often tag you
(33:51):
into those recommendations.
And it's not only the personthat's seeking that
recommendation, that maypotentially be a future.
Client of yours or customer ofyours is actually all of those
other people that are readingthrough those comments that
think, yeah, I need a newdentist, or, you know, I'm
looking for someone that canhelp me with this as well.
(34:13):
So use those local Facebookgroups to your full advantage.
There will likely be rules forthose local groups.
You just need to read throughthose rules.
Um, when you're joining, just tomake sure that you understand
what those rules are, um, but bepresent in them, um, be social
in those groups.
(34:34):
That is, um, where I've seen somany business owners really
thrive on social media by doingthat.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (34:41):
Yeah, I mean, and it is one of the
fastest opportunities, right?
You could find a group and be inthere today, which is great.
Um, my favorite I'm going toshare was number six, and I'm
also sharing it because it's soquick and easily to implement.
Start working in local names andplaces into all of your content,
especially if you're using oneof the short form video, uh,
formats, like Reels on Facebookor Instagram or TikTok videos or
(35:02):
YouTube shorts.
That.
Will almost instantlypotentially get you in front of
more people I have one member inour social media leads lab
program who's a real estateagent And she started posting on
tiktok doing this and looked ather Analytics a few days later
and saw you can see you can seewhere people are and they're
almost all local people who isWhich is exactly what she wants
and especially if you're youknow, you're small and you're
(35:23):
following You want as many ofthem as possible, you know to be
local if you're a local businessSo, all right If you want to
take a deeper dive on thisepisode, you can go to the six
ways.
com Slash two seven that's forepisode 27 the six ways.
com slash 27 And by the way,word of mouth is the number one
way that new people discover andgrow their businesses from this
show So if you found thisvaluable, uh, please take a
(35:46):
second tell someone else aboutit, too Um so that they can
benefit and remember we all dobetter When we all do better
next week on the show, six waysentrepreneurs got over their
fear of being on camera.
If you want to find out moreabout Michelle and her business
marketing practices, we'll linkto that in the show notes.
And we love hearing about howpeople binge our episodes after
(36:06):
discovering one.
So if you enjoyed this episode,check out six ways anyone can
increase their cameraconfidence.
That was episode nine.
Or six ways to use LinkedIn tobecome a thought leader.
Episode number seven.
All right.
Links in the show notes, uh,wherever you happen to be
watching or listening to this,remember we all do better when
we all do better.
So keep helping each other out.
And Michelle, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
_6_Ways_Local_Business (36:27):
Absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me,Jerry.
It was a great episode.
On today's show we're sharing six
(00:01):
ways local businesses can getmore visibility on social media
Uh way number two is an easytactic that can at least double
The reach of your posts andnumber six may be a mindset
shift for some local businessesBut it's one every entrepreneur
needs to hear.
All right, let's get into it Ontoday's show we're sharing six
ways local businesses can getmore visibility on social media
(00:25):
Uh way number two is an easytactic that can at least double
The reach of your posts andnumber six may be a mindset
shift for some local businessesBut it's one every entrepreneur
needs to hear.
All right, let's get into it Andwelcome to episode number 27 of
(00:57):
the six ways where every week webring on a smart innovative
guest that is thriving in theirarea of expertise so they can
share some of their best tipswith us so that we can all reach
our entrepreneurial goalsbecause I truly believe we all
do better when we all do better.
Now, this is both an audio and avideo podcast.
So if you want to switch fromone to the other, you can find
the link in the description orthe show notes.
(01:18):
And I know your time isvaluable.
So we've also got timestamps forwhat we'll talk about.
So if you're looking for acertain part, or if you want to
revisit.
something later, you can jumpahead to that part.
My name is Jerry Potter founderof five minutes, social media,
and the social media leads lab.
My guest today is MichelleTayler.
She demystifies marketing formedical and dental practices
throughout Australia.
And she has had some hugesuccesses for local businesses
(01:41):
in many different cities thatcould be applied to pretty much
any industry.
All right, Michelle, welcome tothe show.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (01:49):
Thank you so much for having me today.
Yeah, I'm excited for this
conversation.
And I think, you know, sometimeswhen I worked at an agency, we'd
get local businesses that wouldsay, well, stuff on Facebook
reaches all over the world.
And Instagram reaches all overthe world.
And am I wasting time?
It feels like there's a, almosta.
A built in bias and a hesitationwith local businesses to use
(02:10):
social media in order to youknow Almost to the point when
they do sometimes it's out ofdesperation like well, I guess I
better get on facebook Um, haveyou run into that mindset with
any of your clients where theyyou know They they're they're
adamant about how I only want toreach people in this county.
Why would I post on socialmedia?
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess it's a similarargument to having a website.
(02:30):
I mean, your website can beaccessed by everybody as well.
So, and so can social media, butin all honesty, social media is
one of the most.
Powerful ways to reach peoplewithin the local community, and
you can really establishyourself as an expert at
whatever you do, um, very easilywhen you use social media.
(02:51):
So it is a huge advantage to beusing it and using it.
Well,
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (02:55):
I'm excited because some of the
stuff we're going to talk abouttoday.
Um, one thing is basically howto use Local or sorry how to use
people that are not local to youto reach more local people And
then also we're going to talkabout something Where you can do
certain things in your post tomake sure that they do reach
more local people So that is allcoming up as we share these six
(03:16):
ways local businesses can getsome more visibility on social
media michelle brought three andthen I brought three and we'll
answer our question of the weekfrom kyle who Blatantly says
does youtube make sense forlocal businesses because we
certainly think about seeingyoutube content from all over
the world So we'll get to thatas well.
Make sure you're listening untilwe get to that part All right.
(03:36):
So here we go six ways localbusinesses can get more
visibility on social mediamichelle You're the guest you're
up first number one.
What do you got?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (03:46):
my first tip is to research local
Facebook groups.
So go into Facebook and.
Search those local groups.
So perhaps write the suburb orcounty name that you are, um,
living in or your business islocated within research.
Those groups have a look whenyou're, when you're researching
(04:08):
them, you can have a look and.
See whether they're, they areactive groups, how many posts
they're posting each day, howmany members they have.
And that'll give you a reallygood indication in terms of
whether that group is an area tobe putting your time in and then
join and engage within thatgroup with conversations.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (04:29):
And so you work primarily with
doctors and dentists who arevery, very busy.
Um, and so do they do thisthemselves or do they have like
people on their team do it orhow do you have them approach
that?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (04:42):
Yeah, it all depends on, it all
depends on the client.
It depends on the business.
Sometimes it is the, thepractice owner, they, they
simply enjoy social media.
So they're, they're quite socialand they want to be a part of
that.
And sometimes it may be thepractice manager that, um, or
essentially the business managerof the clinic that, that does
all of that.
But also I do encourage otherteam members within the practice
(05:07):
to You know, engage on socialmedia as well, because
essentially they are brandambassadors for that business.
And the reality is that theyusually reside within that local
area as well.
And usually have a network of,you know, friends and family and
contacts, et cetera, on socialmedia too.
So when they engage in socialmedia as well, um, it, it just
(05:30):
amplifies the message.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (05:32):
Do you do a little jump for joy
when you get a client that says,Oh, I love engaging on social
media.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesse (05:37):
Doesn't happen very regularly.
I have to say, but.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses (05:41):
That's what I mean, that's gotta be a
gift.
Like you do.
Oh, we're going to have funtogether.
This is going to be great.
_6_Ways_Local_Busin (05:47):
Absolutely.
But when you join these localFacebook groups, I had a
business who, um, we were, weresearched them together.
We had a look.
There was one local group thatI, that had a hundred thousand
members within that group.
So the reality is, if you couldconvert, you know, two, three,
(06:07):
four percent of that 100, 000people within that group, that's
where they're your customers.
That's where your audience is.
So, you know, that is a reallygood indication that that is
somewhere where you should bespending some time being social,
engaging, contributing toconversations within those
groups and really just makingyourself known.
(06:30):
And because.
Let's face it, you know, nobodywants to come to social media to
be bombarded with your latestoffer or ad or things like that.
And, you know, I work withdentists and doctors, nobody
really comes to social mediabecause they want to see, um, an
advertisement for.
For their dentist, for example,however, on the flip side, if
(06:51):
you're in a local Facebookgroup, uh, and perhaps it's a,
it's a local mothers group, forexample, there's a lot of, um,
very powerful mothers groupsaround and they're talking
about.
Something like, um, you know,when's the first time you should
take your infant to the dentistor, um, people are looking for
recommendations, those types ofthings, that's where you can
(07:13):
really start to add value withinthose groups and, um, and start
to be a part of thatconversation.
So it really is about.
Being social on those groups andnot necessarily, um, using the
social media for the media part,you want to use it for the
social part and to be, um,essentially a peer or a group
(07:35):
member within those groups.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (07:36):
Yeah, and and groups are So great
because you don't have to relythere is an algorithm But it's
already gathered people that fita certain criteria in this case
local people And in some casesyou can get even more narrow
than that.
Like you said a local mother'sgroup So it's just an incredible
opportunity to reach peopleorganically, which I love so all
(07:57):
right Next up number two Of sixways local businesses can get
more visibility on social media.
And that is to run a veryspecific contest.
And when I worked at an agency,we would do this for our local
clients all the time, and itwould work so well that I would
be thinking, why isn't anybodyelse taking this?
Why isn't anybody else stealingthis?
But as you're putting upcontent, it, let's take a
(08:19):
Facebook business page.
The people most likely to seeyour posts obviously are going
to be people who have.
Followed or liked the page andthey've engaged with some of
your previous content But one ofthe best ways to get more local
people to also see that post Isto ask people to tag a friend in
a very specific way now i'mgonna get Really specific here
(08:40):
because there's an easy way toscrew this up.
So what we would do Is we woulduh, my fair thing to do This
would be like with a restaurantclient They would give us these
gift certificates to give awayand so rather than giving away a
30 gift certificate We wouldhave them give us two 15 gift
certificates And the contestwould be you know, we love being
a place where our friends needto catch up over lunch Who do
(09:01):
you have, you know, who's yourfriend that you need to catch up
with?
Let us know.
And you'll both be entered towin a gift certificate or a gift
card.
And so people would comment justlike, you know, first it would
be 12 and then 40 and then 200comments.
And then of course the otherperson who got tagged comes back
and goes, Oh my gosh, yes,Erica, we do need to have lunch.
Thank you so much for taggingme.
(09:21):
Let's make this happen.
And then you go through and youpick.
One of them and their friend towin, which helps because it
stands out more because youhave, um, multiple people on,
uh, the same, you know, likewhen you have multiple winners,
people are more likely to entera contest.
And so you'd get this incrediblereach where not only are your
local people seeing it, but thentheir local friends are also
seeing it.
(09:42):
And then you give, we give us agift certificate to each of them
and they could either come intogether or maybe you get.
Two, you know, tables at therestaurant out of that.
So a couple of things to knowthough.
One, Facebook does not let youask people to tag a friend.
They consider that engagementbait.
And so what you do is you justsay, tell us who your friend is.
And if you've been on Facebook,you know, when somebody starts
(10:02):
typing a name, it usually makessuggestions.
And so people wouldautomatically tag their friend,
whether they intended to or not.
So we weren't violating anyrules.
And then the second thing isit's, you know, sounds easy for
a restaurant, but I trulybelieve that.
There are, you know, manydifferent types of businesses
where you could easily include afriend.
(10:23):
So maybe it's not what yourbusiness does.
Maybe you're a plumber or anelectrician, but you happen to
give away.
Lunch at a local restaurantanyway, um, or something like
that.
Even a dentist could do that.
Maybe at a healthy, uh, youknow, restaurant or something
like that.
So, but that's been, uh, it wasalways hugely successful without
violating any of Facebook rules,and it's just a great way to get
(10:43):
more people, uh, who alreadyknow the people that are
following you to come into yourworld.
So.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (10:49):
I love that idea, Gerry, because
it is also, it feels verynatural.
It doesn't feel, um, like youare trying to kind of
deliberately get people to kindof, you know, engage with the
post.
It just feels like a, you know,a natural competition and hey,
tell us who your friend is.
I think that is a really niceway of doing it.
(11:12):
And of course, as, as you know,and, and you teach, once you
start getting people commentingand engaging with that post, the
algorithms are then just goingto keep showing it to more and
more people.
So it's almost a bit of a, um, asnowball effect once you start
to get those people engaging.
So that's a great idea.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (11:32):
Yeah, we'd have pages that that that
type of post would end up withmore comments than the pages had
followers, you know It might bea page with 120 followers and
there'd be 200 comments On theregoing back and forth and
facebook is really strict aboutasking You know like tagging
other people because it'sessentially spam Right if a
friend tags you in a post it'sessentially they're saying I
(11:52):
want you to see this and if itfeels spammy Then they hate it.
We won't go into the at everyonetag that facebook introduced Um
more recently, but yeah, it'sjust a great way to increase
your reach which works reallywell.
So, all right Um, next up isnumber, uh, three of six ways
local businesses can get morevisibility on social media What
do you got michelle?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (12:14):
So the great tip is to tag in local
businesses to your post or postabout those local business.
So this is kind of a bit of asneaky way of borrowing your
audience.
So if you've got, for example, Imean, I'm working with dentists
and doctors, you know, we, wedon't have huge followings, but
(12:36):
perhaps the local cafe down theroad does.
And it is a, you know, a bit ofa local institution where
everybody loves to go to gettheir coffee.
Um, what I often do is encouragemy clients to then, you know,
grab their coffees from, fromtheir local place and, you know,
(12:56):
post about it and tag thatbusiness in, because you're
essentially.
You know, kind of borrowingtheir audience or getting your
message a little bit further outto other audiences.
And once you start doing that,there's almost this kind of rule
of reciprocity in that, um, ifyou start tagging them in and,
(13:17):
you know, they'll tag you infor, for some things and it just
kind of all nicely workstogether.
It's almost a little bit of akind of unwritten rule where
it's kind of polite to do thosekinds of things.
So.
Definitely use that tag whereyou can tag in those local
businesses or post about localbusinesses.
And it could simply be, youknow, a quick photo of you and
(13:41):
your team, for example, having acoffee from that local cafe
where you're tagging them in andjust making a nice comment.
You know, this is the best.
Best coffee in town or whateveryou want to make that comment
about.
Um, but you know, give them,give them some praise, give them
some credit.
And, you know, it starts to justbuild up, um, interest in your
(14:03):
page and it starts to just getthat reach a little bit further,
um, whilst essentially borrowinglocal audiences from other
businesses.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (14:12):
You know, the thing I love that you
brought that up because I don'thave this on my list.
But earlier today I was invitedto be a guest on a panel about
what are the big changes thathave happened in social media in
the last year.
What can we take it?
What can we do to take advantageof them?
And one of them is theopportunity to have
Collaborative content.
And so Facebook and Instagram, Ithink YouTube might be testing
something like this, but onFacebook and Instagram, you can
(14:35):
basically create a post thatcomes from two different
accounts.
And so I know with, um, it's foryears now with Facebook.
Business page videos.
You could have it come from twopages, but now you can do this
with this other content andreels is the best opportunity
for this.
So if you teamed up with anotherlocal business, like you were
saying, and you made a videotogether, um, somehow that tied
(14:56):
into both of them and youbasically.
Get it released as collaboratorsSo instead of saying here's
jerry's video, by the way, hetagged michelle It would say
here's jerry and michelle'svideo and it would go out to my
audience and it would go out tomichelle's audience And because
it's a real which tends to reachnon followers Anyway, it can go
far beyond that and so settingup that initial collaboration I
(15:17):
know sometimes can take work andit's like well, are they going
to do it for me?
Um, first of all, I encourageeverybody to go in with an
abundance mindset.
I mean, you know, one of my mainthings is we all do better when
we all do better, but, uh, youcould find a local business like
you, maybe somebody on the sameblock or the same neighborhood
or somebody that, you know,targets the same people for
something else and just everymonth or every other month.
(15:38):
Do that with them and once youhave that relationship set up, I
think it would become a loteasier and a lot faster But
yeah, I think that's one of thegreatest tools that's come out
of the last year that we can usehere going forward So, all right
next up number four of six wayslocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media Bythe way, this episode is brought
to you by daily social mediatips.
(15:58):
com You can join thousands ofentrepreneurs who get my daily
social media marketing tipsdirect to their email inbox for
free And of course, you canquickly unsubscribe if they ever
stop being helpful It only takesa few seconds to sign up.
Just go to daily social mediatips Dot com.
All right.
Number four of six ways localbusinesses can get more
visibility on social media.
(16:18):
And that is to use localkeywords.
So one of the things that'shappened in the last couple of
years is the algorithms havegotten way better at showing
content to the people who aregoing to like it the most.
Now, I got to give a shout outto tick tock because they were
the first one to create analgorithm like this, where
people literally couldn't puttheir phone down in an almost
addictive manner.
But Once upon a time, they wouldsee who liked your post, who you
(16:42):
who engaged with your post.
Maybe a little bit about whatyour caption or what you wrote
in your post was to determinewho should see that post.
But now they listen to everyword said in a video.
They listen, they look at closedcaption tracks.
They look and see what the imagesays or what might be back in
the background.
There's all these things thatthey scan, and so when you work
in local phrases, you are likemore likely to get.
(17:03):
Your content seen by other localpeople.
And this is primarily going tobe on, um, uh, content types
that reach non followers,specifically Facebook reels,
Instagram reels, Tik TOK videos,and YouTube shorts.
And so if you are based inSydney, where, uh, Michelle is
just by saying Sydney in some ofyour content in a way that, um.
(17:24):
It's not going to feel naturalto you, but it'll feel okay to
the person that's seeing it orconsuming it.
They're not going to be like,why'd they say Sydney, you know,
in there all of a sudden.
Um, but the city, theneighborhood, just like you
described when you were lookingfor local Facebook groups.
Um, the more you can weave thatstuff in, the more likely
someone local is to see it.
Then if more local people startengaging with it.
(17:46):
Then it'll show it to more localpeople because they go.
Oh, wow these people that liveUm in this part of sydney are
really liking this content Let'sshow it to some more of them and
see what happens And so have youdone that with your um with your
clients where you make sure towork in some of the local
keywords and things like that
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (18:03):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think it's super important todo that.
And.
It's, it almost becomes thiskind of, um, I kind of almost
think it's like a bit of aspider's web where you're,
you're kind of sending thismessage in all these different
directions and the algorithms,they want to work with you.
They want to, you know, get goodcontent out to more people.
(18:27):
Um, that's really what theirwhole purpose is.
And.
I think there was a, in fact,you might've told me this
statistic that, um, or this,this piece of information that
the algorithms are recordingabout 58, 000 attributes of
every single person.
Now I consider myself to be afairly, you know, simple
character, but you know, theyare watching every time you.
(18:49):
Slow down, um, past when you'rescrolling, or if you're watching
just a few seconds of a certainvideo.
So they're recording all thisdata.
They know more about you thanwhat we really know about
ourselves.
And.
What I find is that often whenyou're using those local terms,
what the algorithm will do is itwill actually find people that
(19:14):
kind of look like you becausethey've got all of this data and
they will show that post to thatparticular person because at the
end of the day.
The algorithms are designed to,um, to keep people on the
platform for longer.
As long as your content is goodcontent, it is going to show it
to more people.
So when you're using thoseterms, it's going to find those
(19:36):
people who are local to you.
They know where we are, um, interms of the algorithm and they
will send that information viathe feed to, um, to those people
that look like you.
So, you know, work with thatalgorithm.
It's one of the most powerfulthings that we can, uh, that we
can use.
Definitely.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (19:54):
Now I feel like we need to do an
episode six ways to be creepedout by social media algorithms
and their what'd you say?
You didn't get that stat from me58 000 data points or something
like that.
That's crazy All right next upnumber five six ways local
businesses can get morevisibility on social media.
What do you got michelle?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can (20:13):
So my fifth one is to share content
that shows you engaging andbeing present in your local
community.
So whether it's local landmarks,whether you are participating in
local community events, Um,there might be local charity
events, those types of things,because that gives a really good
(20:35):
indication to anybody who is,um, seeing your post that you
are located locally.
And one of the, one of theissues that a lot of my clients
have is that.
People don't know where to findtheir physical location.
So often, for example, um, youmight be located with your, your
(20:57):
physical, um, shop front, or in,in a lot of my clients cases,
their, their practices, theymight be a little bit obscure.
They might not be on the streetfront.
They might not, they might be inmore of an office building, for
example, where You can't seethem very visually from from the
street, so there's not a lot ofpassing traffic and often what
(21:20):
we do as a way to kind of getaround that is I always suggest
to them find the nearest local.
Um, landmark that a lot ofpeople within that local
community are going to know, getyour camera out, put it on quick
time and just record how to findyour location because people
(21:42):
will say, Oh, I go there all thetime, but I didn't realize you
were there.
So that really helps draw peopleinto.
Your physical location whenyou're showing them exactly
where you are physicallylocated, particularly if you are
in a little bit of an obscurelocation.
And, you know, some, some of thepractices that I work with, they
(22:02):
might be on the second floor ofa building.
You might have to catch a liftup to that floor.
So we will find a locallandmark.
Literally do some filming andsay, Oh, you know, here's the,
here's a big set of trafficlights that everybody in the
local community knows.
And we basically show how toaccess that location from there.
(22:24):
So that's a really good way ofdoing that.
But just generally.
You know, if you're, if you're,um, helping people and inviting
people into your world andshowing that it is a nice sunny
day and you're at a local parkor a local beach or things like
that, you know, the communitythen starts to realize that you
(22:44):
are there locally and that youare part of that community.
So have those conversations.
You know, people want to dobusiness with other people that
are.
Um, within the community thatare immersed within that, yeah,
the people want to support localoften.
And so, so make sure that you'rejust really visible when doing
(23:05):
that.
And it might be, you know, itwas a fantastic day at the park
today, the weather was beautifuland sunny and you know, you're,
you're taking a nice photo of,um, of the landscape there.
So it just helps to make thatconnection and make sure people
know that you are local.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (23:22):
I love I love all of that But I
especially love tying into thelocal landmarks because for a
local business people willassume you're not near them
Until they realize you are nearthem and especially for a lot,
you know A lot of businesseswhere they are they're tucked
into a building or a businesspark.
Not everybody's got a you knowgiant sign on the side of the
road and so Yeah, that'sbeautiful because it's like oh I
(23:43):
drive by there all the time,right?
Like that's that connection thatsomebody can make and meanwhile,
they're thinking The normalplace I go to is 20 minutes
away.
So yeah, brilliant.
Love that.
All right.
Next up, number six of six wayslocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media.
And this is a bit of a mindsetshift, but it's.
It's really effective to createcontent that appeals to non
(24:06):
local people, because it willincrease the reach to your local
people as well as the socialproof.
And so I know a lot of times, aswe talked about at the top of
this episode, a business ownerwill come in and they'll go,
well, I don't want to reachpeople there.
They don't mean anything to meand I don't want them
commenting.
I remember actually working withone local client and they're
like, this person's not, they'llnever come in.
Let's delete their comment.
(24:26):
And I was like, what?
There's nothing wrong with that.
That comment.
I have a friend who runs a ticktock agency, and, uh, he has a
client who's a therapistlicensed in the state of
California.
I believe can't.
You know can't literally can'twork with anyone who's not
physically in california Um, andeven that he doesn't do anything
online.
It's all in his local office Sowhy would he want to blow up on
(24:49):
tiktok?
Well, he has uh, essentiallymade a series of videos that
people find very interesting andintriguing around what he does
On tiktok.
I think he's got over a hundredthousand followers His videos
get thousands and thousands ofviews and obviously they're not
all local people, but that'sokay within that Once a month,
he'll put up a video and say, bythe way, if you like my, like
(25:10):
this content and you actuallywant to work with us, go here to
join our wait list.
And just that one call to actionamid all of the other content is
driving people to this wait listto where, you know, it's a six
month wait, at least to get anappointment with him.
So he's got his client pipelinefull for, you know, months, if
not years, assuming that thiskeeps up.
(25:32):
And keeps working.
And so, you know, I justencourage all local business
owners to not worry about otherpeople seeing their content.
You can do some of the stuffthat we've talked about in this
episode to get more people into,you know, more local people to
see your content, but don't bemad if you get great comments
and likes and views from theseother people.
Because now this guy who's inCalifornia, people are like, Oh
(25:52):
my God, he must be the greatesttherapist in the world and he's
right down the street from me.
Next to that traffic light likeyou were talking about michelle.
Yeah, I gotta go see this guy Sohis waitlist is just always
always jam packed.
So, all right We're gonna recapall six of these here in a
moment But I do want to get toour question of the week from
kyle, which is does youtube makesense for local businesses?
(26:14):
And, uh, I'll go first sinceYouTube is my primary platform,
but I definitely want to getyour thoughts on this too,
Michelle.
Um, there are lots of localbusinesses that are very
successful on YouTube.
And the key is to not to notworry too much about only
reaching local people.
If you consistently post goodcontent, then you will reach
other people, but the localpeople will still be the ones
(26:35):
that can work with you.
So I work with people all overthe world, thanks to modern
technology.
But with my five minute socialmedia YouTube channel.
I could just as easily only workwith local people and run an
agency.
And I think the only thing thatreally changes in your approach
is instead of talking to thewhole world, when you have give
a call to action, youspecifically say, by the way, if
(26:55):
you're in the area, if you're inthe state of Arizona, where I
live, um, and you're looking fora marketing agency to, you know,
take things to the next level,you know, fill out the form and
in the description.
And that's all there is to it.
Um.
Um, within that, if you weregoing to go all in on YouTube as
a local business, I thinkdepending on what you do, uh, if
(27:16):
you can come up with topics thatpeople are searching for, like a
lot of real estate agents willdo videos on YouTube about, um,
five things to know beforemoving to San Diego, for
example, and they get tons ofclients from that.
But if you're just looking formore visibility, then you might
start with YouTube shorts,especially if those are easier,
um, to make.
So, um, what would you say toKyle or add on to that,
(27:36):
Michelle?
Hmm.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Ca (27:40):
the bigger you're following on any
social media platform, the moresocial proof you have.
So when people are kind of goingthrough that journey of
considering whether they want todo business with you, that is
really going to be.
(28:00):
Um, one of the factors that isgoing to provide some influence
to them.
So I would, you know, get, getthe message out far and wide.
It's okay if you are onlylooking to help people locally.
And you know, the interestingthing is, Jerry, that if you are
really good at what you do.
(28:21):
A lot of the time people willtravel to see you.
So in that case, for example,you've got the therapist who's
in the state of California.
It's not a small place thatthere's a lot of people there.
And, and, and geographically,you know, people would need to
travel and there would be manyother therapists.
Um, locally to them, but, youknow, often I see it a lot with,
(28:45):
with dentists and doctors andspecialists, people will travel
for good people.
So that is the thing that youreally want to try and think
about is that.
Even though, you know, youtechnically are just targeting
people locally, there are peoplethat will travel for good
(29:06):
service and if they really likeyou.
So I guess my advice would be touse every single platform that
you have available to you.
Um, and to become known as thatgo to person within your
industry or whatever you do,whatever your craft is.
Um, and once that happens, itwill absolutely start flowing
(29:29):
and, you know, that's not to saythat.
Later on down the track that youmay not want.
You may want to open up, youknow, another location in
another place.
And if that's the case, youknow, if you want your business
to grow and you want to do that,then you need to build those
audiences up within those localcommunities.
Before you do that.
(29:50):
I work with a lot of, um, a lotof health practitioners who do
want additional sites and theywant to grow.
So, We are using social mediaprior to, you know, it might be,
it might be 12 months prior to anew clinic opening, but we're
already starting to see thatwithin social media to bring
(30:14):
that local community along thejourney with them until they
open and that way you have gotpeople.
Waiting on a wait list, ready tocome to you and to do business
with you prior to you opening,which for any new business owner
who is opening up a new site,you know, that is, that is music
to their ears to have payingcustomers on day one of when
(30:36):
they're opening.
So.
You know, use social media inthat powerful way.
And there's a whole bunch ofdifferent ways that we can look
at this.
So don't be concerned that youmight be attracting people from
outside of your immediatephysical location because people
will travel for good service orfor the experts that they're
(30:57):
looking for.
And, um, you may very well wantto open up further locations in
the future as your businessgrows.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_C (31:04):
Yes, I love that Kyle.
I mean, if you take one thingaway from this or anybody, you
know, especially on YouTube,investing in content on YouTube,
that's going to bring you leadsis an investment in your future
because it will live on longer,but also because as Michelle
said, it might just be theinvestment in your future
growth, whether that is toexpand your business to be
online.
(31:24):
I know people that have donethat.
Or to expand your business tonew locations.
And, you know, you talked aboutmaybe targeting an area 12
months before a local businessmight open, which is by all
means the best way to do it.
But I don't know, maybe aproperty pops up and you jumped
on it and you're opening in 60days or whatever it might be.
Think about opening a newbusiness in an area and somebody
looks it up and you've alreadygot this content that builds
(31:46):
trust and authority and socialproof and all of that.
So yeah, really, really love.
That last point that you madethere.
So, all right.
Thank you for the question,Kyle.
Quick recap of all six ways thatlocal businesses can get more
visibility on social media.
Uh, number one, research, localFacebook groups, get in there
and engage in conversations.
Facebook has already gatheredyour local people in one place.
(32:08):
You might as well go talk tothem.
Number two, run contests whereyou can't ask.
People to tag a friend but youcan verbally ask a question or
run a contest Where they arelikely to tag a friend which
will dramatically increase thereach of your posts Um,
especially if it's about doingsomething in a physical location
because people will only taglocal friends Uh number three
tag in local businesses or postabout local businesses say
(32:30):
something nice about somebodyelse Because of the psychology
of reciprocity they'll oftenwant to return the favor number
four Use local keywords, forcenames of cities, counties,
towns, neighborhoods, whateverit might be that you would, you
know, where, wherever you areinto your content, because that
will help the algorithm show itto more people in that area.
Uh, number five, share contentthat shows you engaging and
(32:53):
being present in the localcommunity, tying yourself to
local landmarks, really givingyour potential clients, uh, the
strong feeling that you areindeed local.
And this is not something whereyou just.
Pop in occasionally and numbersix, use non local people to
boost your reach.
Kind of what we talked aboutwith the question of the week
here.
Don't worry about only targetinglocal people, the engagement and
(33:13):
the social proof from the peoplethat are not local will benefit
you in a big way.
So, uh, Michelle, I'm going toask you to pick your favorite.
You don't have to pick one ofmine.
You can pick one of your own.
That's perfectly acceptable onthis show.
So which of those do you think,um, it could make the biggest
impact for a local business?
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_Can_ (33:30):
I think definitely getting into
those local Facebook groups,being present there because, you
know, when people look forrecommendations where they're
asking for, for advice about,you know, a local business, um,
when you're present within thosegroups, people often tag you
(33:51):
into those recommendations.
And it's not only the personthat's seeking that
recommendation, that maypotentially be a future.
Client of yours or customer ofyours is actually all of those
other people that are readingthrough those comments that
think, yeah, I need a newdentist, or, you know, I'm
looking for someone that canhelp me with this as well.
(34:13):
So use those local Facebookgroups to your full advantage.
There will likely be rules forthose local groups.
You just need to read throughthose rules.
Um, when you're joining, just tomake sure that you understand
what those rules are, um, but bepresent in them, um, be social
in those groups.
(34:34):
That is, um, where I've seen somany business owners really
thrive on social media by doingthat.
_6_Ways_Local_Businesses_ (34:41):
Yeah, I mean, and it is one of the
fastest opportunities, right?
You could find a group and be inthere today, which is great.
Um, my favorite I'm going toshare was number six, and I'm
also sharing it because it's soquick and easily to implement.
Start working in local names andplaces into all of your content,
especially if you're using oneof the short form video, uh,
formats, like Reels on Facebookor Instagram or TikTok videos or
(35:02):
YouTube shorts.
That.
Will almost instantlypotentially get you in front of
more people I have one member inour social media leads lab
program who's a real estateagent And she started posting on
tiktok doing this and looked ather Analytics a few days later
and saw you can see you can seewhere people are and they're
almost all local people who isWhich is exactly what she wants
and especially if you're youknow, you're small and you're
(35:23):
following You want as many ofthem as possible, you know to be
local if you're a local businessSo, all right If you want to
take a deeper dive on thisepisode, you can go to the six
ways.
com Slash two seven that's forepisode 27 the six ways.
com slash 27 And by the way,word of mouth is the number one
way that new people discover andgrow their businesses from this
show So if you found thisvaluable, uh, please take a
(35:46):
second tell someone else aboutit, too Um so that they can
benefit and remember we all dobetter When we all do better
next week on the show, six waysentrepreneurs got over their
fear of being on camera.
If you want to find out moreabout Michelle and her business
marketing practices, we'll linkto that in the show notes.
And we love hearing about howpeople binge our episodes after
(36:06):
discovering one.
So if you enjoyed this episode,check out six ways anyone can
increase their cameraconfidence.
That was episode nine.
Or six ways to use LinkedIn tobecome a thought leader.
Episode number seven.
All right.
Links in the show notes, uh,wherever you happen to be
watching or listening to this,remember we all do better when
we all do better.
So keep helping each other out.
And Michelle, thank you so muchfor being on the show.
_6_Ways_Local_Business (36:27):
Absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much for having me,Jerry.
It was a great episode.
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