Do you Tweet? When was the last time your business was Liked? If you have no idea what I am talking about… don’t worry! Learning a little lingo will help you expand your marketing campaigns and options!
Take a few moments to read this article and see how using popular social networking sites, like Facebook, can introduce new clients to your business, help with your search engine rankings and develop a community of raving fans.
– all which lead to MORE SALES!
Some Vocab…
- Facebook: a popular social networking website that 1 in 13 people (worldwide) are part of!
- Facebook Profile: a space on Facebook that is all yours. You add your photos, hobbies, educational background, your thoughts (also called “status updates”or “wall posts”), etc. Generally profiles are used for a person. When people want to see your profile information they will request to be your friend. When you accept them as your friend, they can see your wall and your information – hobbies, educational background, etc. You can also see theirs.
- Facebook Page: this is the same thing as a profile, but used mostly by small businesses. When someone wants to see your page, they have to “Like” the page first. Once they do this, they can see your wall (where your thoughts or status updates are posted). Your page can now also view their profile.
- The Wall: every profile or page has a wall. This is where you add a status update (what you’re doing, what you ate for breakfast, what you think of the war, etc). You can also view all the posts from your friends and from business pages that you’ve Liked. So when viewing your wall, you see your updates, your friends updates and any updates from pages that you’ve Liked.
What Is Web 2.0?
Lets start with the basics. Web 2.0 is a term that you may or may not have heard by now. Web 2.0 is kind of like the second coming if the Internet. The traditional Internet works like this:
Website owners create content and web surfers search for content. The content is read only – meaning the web surfer can only consume the information as is.
Web 2.0 still has website owners creating content and web surfers searching for content. The big difference is that with Web 2.0, the web surfer can now contribute to the content. Think of it as a dialogue or a conversation.
What Is Social Networking?
Social networking takes advantage of Web 2.0. It allows like-minded people to find one another and develop a relationship – friendships, romantic relationships, business-to-business partnerships, business-to-consumer bonds, etc. It allows everyone to create their own space where they can let the world know what they’re up to, what they like and dislike and what’s important to them.
So How Does This Help Your Fitness Business?
Having Social Profiles Is One More Pole in the Water!
Each time you create a social networking profile or page, you are creating 1 more place that people can find out about your business. If you do not have a page on Facebook, then Facebook users will never find you or see your business name on their friends wall.
People use these social network websites just like any other search engine. They search and research for something of interest to them.
They are seeking a specific community (ex. fitness freaks in Orlando) or specific information (ex. personal training in Orlando). People that search on social networking websites tend to be web-savvy. So if they find your business’ social profile, it’s because they were searching for information that your business provides – that’s a targeted lead!
Another way people can find out about your page is through their friends. When one person “Likes” your Facebook page, it shows up on that person’s wall. Now all their friends can see that a friend of theirs just Liked your business page.
Because friends tend to have similar interests and well quite frankly… because humans are curious… they will click on the link and also view your page. One new person has just been exposed to your business!
Your cost: ZERO.
Type of referral: FROM A FRIEND – THE BEST KIND!
Awesomeness Factor: OFF THE CHARTS.
On average, each Facebook user has 130 friends. So if you can get your current clients, and even those not yet clients but on your house list, to Like your page… it will show on their walls and on average 130 other people with similar interests will also see it.
Um, you do the math 🙂
Setting Up Pages Can Help Increase Your Website Rankings
Every time you create a social networking profile, you should link to your website and blog. One of the main factors in ranking at the search engines is how many other websites link to yours. These are called “incoming links”.
Incoming links are pure gold. The search engines count how many incoming links you have as votes of confidence. If your website has 300 incoming links and your competitor only has 3… the search engines consider your site “better” than your competition’s site. So you’ll most likely out-rank your competition.
What a powerful added benefit! Exposure to new prospects for ZERO money and an incoming link!
Social Networks Keep Clients and Prospects Automatically Updated on Your Business
Your Facebook page will allow interested visitors (read: potential clients) to “Like” you using a medium they already know, love and feel comfortable with. And on average they spend 55 minutes per day on Facebook!
If someone finds your page on Facebook and they “Like” it, it means they want to see what your fitness business has going on. They want to stay updated on your business.
Lets use another example. You have a “12-Week Weight Loss Challenge” starting in a few weeks. You would want to start promoting this challenge on your wall a few weeks ahead of the start of the challenge.
This means that every single “friend” will see your latest update on THEIR wall. They do not need to visit your page to see what’s new. It’s automatically shows up on their wall.
This is powerful stuff. Think of this in a full circle. You create social profiles and by doing so you:
- Generate New Targeted Leads
- Increase Your Website’s Chance of Ranking With the New Incoming Links
- Allow Targeted Leads and Current Clients to Automatically Stay Updated On Your Latest Events, Promotions and More.
And you do this all using a medium your prospects already know, love and check daily.
Immediate Take Home Point to Understand: Remember that if they found you using Facebook, it means they check their Facebook and use their Facebook profile often. So seeing your updated business information on their Facebook page is powerful stuff.
Social Profiles Create Community
Social networks are all about Web 2.0. Your potential clients and clients will want to join your conversation. People like adding their voice to the Internet. And user-generated content can really, really make a difference to potential leads.
Lets build off our last example. Your 12-Week Challenge has ended. You make a post about it on your Facebook wall and ask your “friends” to leave a comment about their experience in the challenge.
Lets say 5 people leave really great feedback about the challenge, how they lost 15 pounds of fat, and how Bob ‘the trainer’ was just fantastic with keeping them motivated.
Now lets assume a few weeks later, a potential client is looking for personal training services. She finds your Facebook page and starts reading all of your user-generated content. She’s has no choice but to be impressed by the great feedback from current clients.
Immediate Take Home Point to Understand: User-generated content is like a testimonial for your business. It’s objective feedback on your product or service. Prospects look for this type of feedback as it helps them trust you more and that lowers their barrier to buying. Think of review websites like Amazon, Google Places and Yelp. They’re popular because consumers feel they get objective reviews and it weighs in their buying decision!
I can’t emphasize the importance of social networking. Using popular websites like Facebook is a tremendous way to increase targeted leads, increase incoming links and search rankings, increase business exposure through automatic updates to THEIR profile and increases community amongst current clients.
It then goes further to increase your position as an expert in the community. Remember a potential lead is looking for a great personal trainer. If she sees your page and all the great customer comments… that’s a huge plus for your fitness business.
You May Have Noticed a Problem…
You may have noticed a problem. There are tons of companies out there that will create a professional Facebook page for you. The problem is they all take forever to create the graphics, they charge out-the-wazoo for the service, and at best it’s a single graphic with no marketing angle.
You may have also noticed that to update your page on a regular and consistent basis is kind of annoying. It’s hard to remember to do it each day and taking the time to find quality stuff to post can be difficult after a few weeks.
We understand and we get it. We’re small business owners too. So we recommend you strongly consider automating as much of the work as possible.
Here’s a Solution…
If you’re looking for some help in this area, we recommend checking out InControl Websites. Our VIP retainer plan comes with a fully loaded website AND a Facebook page set up plus daily postings!
We’ll create your business page and also add daily posts to your wall so that the relationship starts to develop between your business and potential clients. There’s no need for you to waste time developing 365 health and fitness tips… you have better things to do!
So you gain a new online presence with your Facebook page (yet another pole in the water) and we’ll add daily wall posts to strengthen the bond between your business and prospects.
Whatever You Decide…
Whether you use our services or do this on your own… we want you to get started with social networking and Web 2.0 sooner than later. The power of Facebook in particular is just too awesome to ignore.
It is the next “big thing” for businesses. And getting started now is better than waiting until your competition does!
