Manage your online reputation to build your brand and boost your referral network.
Referrals are critical to just about every small business out there, particularly service-oriented businesses. Each personal referral that your business receives is worth a handful of prospects developed through advertising or traditional marketing. That’s because they are personal connections, warm leads delivered to you by fans of your business. Studies show that people trust recommendations from their friends more than any advertising or, in many cases, objective review sources. In fact, according to our friends over at Hubspot, 70% of consumers trust brand recommendations from their friends as the number one reason buying a purchasing decision.
Building a strong referral network takes time and hard work. It requires networking, branding and marketing, all backed by of excellent customer service. There are no short cuts, but today’s Internet-driven business environment does offer opportunities to accelerate the referral-building process.
Personal branding online
Personal branding is the essential first step in enhancing your referral network. In the online space, this process starts with the creation of professionally branded social media accounts. Most of the major social networks allow you to maintain a business presence that is separate from your personal presence. No need to mix personal and business. Instead, set up company pages that you can connect to your personal profiles for easy management.
You don’t need to hit every social network. Instead, focus on the networks where you get the most traction. At SMO Pros, we start most clients with the big four: Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Twitter. We might mix in a dash of Pinterest, a spritz of Instagram or a taste YouTube here and there, depending on the business. They key, though, is to pick one or two networks where your customers are most active and zero in on them. Here are some links to setting up your company pages:
Google+ Brands
When setting up these pages, it’s important to create a well-branded presence across all channels. This means that the images, graphics and descriptive language should be consistent, and should sync well with your main website. Think of each social media page as an extension of your website. It should look similar, include consistent info about your practice and promote the same overall brand. If you don’t have a professionally created logo or good imagery that you can use on each social network, consider working with a graphic designer or marketing company to develop what you need.
Google+, in particular, allows you to build out a more complete online profile for your business, called Google My Business. This profile is critical because it ties in directly with Google’s search results. Take your time when putting together this profile, or hire a social media expert to help, because the info in this profile will form the front lines of your online presence in search results.
Create content to establish expert status
Once you’ve created well-branded social media profiles, then it’s time to start posting content and building that online reputation. This process can begin with simple posts to your social media profiles, but ultimately you should extend your content contributions to a company blog (on your website) and possibly to other online venues—such as industry forums, online publications and other by guest blogging on other sites.
What should you write about? Think of topics within your area of expertise, and share insights in well-composed pieces. You don’t need to explain all the ins and outs of every issue—just share a few key points, enough to encourage prospects to call you for more information. An ideal blog post length is only 300-500 words, so break up those heavier topics into smaller pieces that are more focused. Think educational, not promotional. This process is all about an open sharing of ideas, and the building of your reputation as an expert on certain topics. If you have a locally focused business, consider posting some blog articles about local events and local interest topics.
Extend your word-of-mouth referral network
Now that you’ve built up your online presence and started contributing content on key topics, it’s time to start reaching out to your network. Begin with your existing contacts. Find your customers and business contacts on social media and invite them to connect to your company pages. Even if you are already personally connected, ask them to “like” or “follow” your business pages. You want them connected to these business pages, because they will serve as the mouthpiece of your company.
As you post articles to your blog, share them on your company’s social media accounts to let people know. Think of these updates as little touch points, subtle reminders to your network that you’re out there contributing to the field and advancing important discussions on key issues. Don’t promote; share. As your contacts see these updates, their natural inclination will be to share relevant posts with members of their network that might find them useful. If you’re creating good content and sharing it freely with an engaged social network, your communication efforts will expand exponentially. It doesn’t happen overnight, but once you build some momentum, you’ll have a good system in place.
The more interaction you have with your followers on social media, the better for your referral process. On many of the networks, users can search within that media for recommendations from their friends. For example, instead of asking all their friends on Facebook for a recommendation for a good dentist, a user can use Facebook’s internal search feature to search for “dentists my friends like.” Viola! A pre-screened list of dentists appears, all “liked” or recommended by that user’s friends.
Prospective customers that find your business through this type of search, or from a direct recommendation, are more likely to connect with you via social media. And once they connect, the chances of them doing business with you goes up dramatically. For example, a recent study showed that 50% of LinkedIn members are more likely to purchase from companies when they engage with them on LinkedIn.
All of these online efforts shouldn’t replace all the traditional networking and personal relationship building that form the cornerstone of a good referral network. However, once you’ve made those connections, maximize them through the enormous potential network waiting for you online. In today’s ultra-competitive business environment, the difference between success and struggle may be what you do with your network once you’ve built it.
Want more info on personal branding and other marketing tips for your small business? Download our free ebook: Internet Marketing for Small Business.