Social Media Marketing for Local Businesses

TL;DR

Social media marketing for local businesses should be a conversion campaign, not an awareness campaign. When a competitor name-drops big national brands, a web designer who specializes in local marketing has something better to offer: a funnel that turns social media posts into phone calls.

• Big brands run awareness campaigns. Local businesses need conversions. More calls and more people in the store.
• Ignore the vanity metrics. Likes, shares, views, and audience size don’t matter if the phone isn’t ringing.
• Use a four-step funnel. Traffic, a landing page, an opt-in with an email nurture sequence, then the call.
• Lead with a specific problem. The narrower the problem in the post, the higher the conversion rate.
• Sell the result, not the service. Pivot from web design and social media management to helping clients get more customers.

Have you ever been on a call with a prospect who’s also talking to someone else, and the other person seems to have better credentials than you? They’re name-dropping all these big brands. That happened to me this morning, and here’s how I handled it. The prospect is now my client.

When a Competitor Name-Drops Big Brands

I’ve run my own web agency since 2002, and I specialize in local marketing. I help local businesses get more customers through online marketing. There’s a huge benefit to specializing in that, and this call showed exactly why.

The prospect wanted help with social media. She asked if I’d ever managed social media for people. I said, “Yeah, all the time.” Then she told me about another guy she’d been talking to. He wanted to use the same strategies he used for Lockheed Martin, FanDuel, and Bank of America.

I haven’t worked with FanDuel. I don’t have big brands in my portfolio, because I don’t focus on big brands. I focus on local businesses. On the surface, it might look like the other guy is more qualified than I am.

Local Businesses Aren’t National Brands

So I said, “You can choose what you want to do. Let me just tell you the difference between working with me and working with them, and you can decide what’s going to work for you.”

She runs a local kitchen and bath remodeling business. That’s not the same thing as FanDuel. It’s not a national brand. It’s a local business, and that changes how social media should work for her.

Awareness Campaigns vs. Conversion Campaigns

Here’s what I told her. When you work with somebody who does social media for giant national brands, they’re not thinking about it the way you and I are. They’re running an awareness campaign. I’m running a conversion campaign.

I don’t care about the vanity metrics. Clicks, views, shares, and audience size. It’s not that I’m trying to avoid them. I just don’t care about them. What I care about is whether people are calling my client. Are you getting more calls and more people in your store because of the work we’re doing? If you’re not seeing a bazillion likes and shares, I don’t care, as long as more people are coming into your business.

Social Media Is Only the First Step

That’s the top-level difference, but it goes deeper. When you specialize in local marketing, you know that most people who see social media content are not calling the business because of the social media. Social media is just the first step.

So we implement a four-step funnel:

• Traffic. Something drives people in. Sometimes it’s social media, and sometimes it’s something else.
• A landing page. A page on the client’s website about the specific thing the social media post talked about.
• An opt-in with a nurture sequence. The landing page leads to a lead magnet, like a video, a download, a quiz, or a calculator. The visitor submits their email address, and the client starts building their email list. An automated email sequence nurtures those leads into customers over the next week or so.
• The call. The actual engagement. A phone call, or someone coming into the showroom.

The people doing the Lockheed Martin stuff only do one step. They post content so people look at it. That doesn’t convert, and it doesn’t bring people in. That’s the major difference between working with me and working with them.

No Funnel, Just Fun

I learned this one the hard way. DoubleStack is going into its ninth year, and around year two or three, things were going crazy. I hired a social media manager with that big-brand, national-brand vibe and said, “Can you just handle the social media?”

There was no funnel. It was just fun. She’d post things like, “It’s Taco Tuesday. Are you planning on having tacos today?” We had a couple of talks about it, and I told her, “This is not working for me.” She was only my social media manager for a short while.

Social Media Posts That Name a Real Problem

So put the funnel together, and start by mentioning a problem. Say you’re working with someone who does bathroom remodels, like the client I just onboarded. Instead of just showing kitchens, bathrooms, and tile, talk about solving life-changing problems:

• Are you worried you might slip when you step into your tub to take a shower?
• Are you sick of negotiating counter space on your single vanity?
• Your bathroom shouldn’t feel like a pit stop when it could feel like a spa.
• You shouldn’t have to move out of your house just because it’s hard to step into the tub.

That first one is a big deal if you’re working in a community with older homes and older people.

Narrow Landing Pages Convert Better

Take that last example. Someone clicks the social media post and lands on a page that talks specifically about not moving out of your house because the tub is too tall. That exact thing. The narrower the problem you mention, the higher the conversion rate.

From there, the landing page offers something in exchange for an email address. Watch how we remodel this bathroom. Or download a checklist of all the things we can change to help you stay in your home longer. Now you’re building the email list.

Nurture the Leads by Email

Then send an email a day for five to ten days. Tell people why it’s great to work with you, in the context of staying in their home longer because the bathroom is friendlier for people with mobility issues. It’s an incredibly specific message.

By the end of that, if somebody calls, they’re probably going to hire you. You don’t have to repeat yourself. They’re educated, qualified, and nurtured, and they’re ready to go.

What Happens Without a Funnel

What if you didn’t do that, and all you had was the website? People will hit the website, and they’ll probably like what they see. “Hey, this looks pretty cool.” Then they leave, and you have no way to hold onto them.

Now you’re stuck holding your breath, crossing your fingers, and hoping they come back. Or, God forbid, you have to pay for the ad click again if you’re running ads. So why not capture some of those leads?

Specializing in Local Marketing Gives You Confidence

If you specialize in driving more customers into local businesses, this is a system you’ll have. In DoubleStack, I show web designers how to implement stuff like this. We’ve been building a tried and tested system to drive customers into local businesses for about a decade now.

So why not walk into the meeting with that kind of confidence? Then you don’t have to worry about people name-dropping big brands. If you’re talking to local businesses, you have something much better to offer. All you need to do is make the case.

Sell More Customers, Not Social Media Management

Try to pivot away from offering generic services like web design, social media management, and ad management. Instead of offering the services, put the focus on the result. Put the focus on helping clients get more customers.

I’m still giving clients websites. But I’m not really selling the production of websites. I’m selling more customers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you do social media marketing for local businesses?

Run it as a conversion campaign, not an awareness campaign. Use social media as the traffic driver in a four-step funnel. Each post leads to a landing page about one specific problem, then an opt-in with an email nurture sequence, then a phone call or a visit to the showroom.

How do I compete with a social media manager who has big brand clients?

Explain the difference instead of competing on logos. Agencies that work with national brands run awareness campaigns built on likes, shares, and audience size. A local business needs more calls and more people in the store. A web designer who specializes in local marketing brings a funnel built to do exactly that.

What’s the difference between an awareness campaign and a conversion campaign?

An awareness campaign aims at vanity metrics like clicks, views, shares, and audience size. A conversion campaign measures whether people are calling the business or coming into the store. For local businesses, the conversion campaign is the one that matters, even if the posts never get a bazillion likes.

Why doesn’t social media alone bring in customers for local businesses?

Most people who see a local business’s social media content don’t call because of the post. Social media is only the first step. Without a landing page, an opt-in, and an email nurture sequence, people look, maybe visit the website, then leave with no way for the business to hold onto them.

What should a local business post on social media to get leads?

Name a specific, real problem instead of just showing finished work. For a bathroom remodeler, that could be the fear of slipping when stepping into the tub, or not wanting to move out of the house because the tub is too hard to step into. The narrower the problem, the higher the conversion rate.

How long should an email nurture sequence be for a local business?

Send an email a day for five to ten days, about a week or so. Keep each one tied to the specific problem from the landing page and explain why it’s great to work with the business. By the end, the people who call are educated, qualified, and ready to hire.