I’ve had a hunch for the past two years that social media could be a cheaper alternative to search in the awareness/discovery funnel phase for small to medium sized businesses (which are most businesses in the world). My hunch was so strong, in fact, that I started devoting more budget toward discovery strategies and funnels on social media for my clients and teaching my students to do the same.
It turns out, my hunch was correct. Forbes Advisor and Talker Research just partnered up to determine what extent social media is replacing search as a discovery tool. For all the results, check out this article from Marketing Dive.
This latest information seems to confirm that especially among younger generations, social media replaces search half the time or more for things like fashion, beauty, food, crafts, and D.I.Y. products. It appears that search still dominates when a consumer is looking for local services, like car repair or a gardener, for example.
This shift from discovery on search to discovery on social media is great news because ads on social apps have more niche targeting abilities and the buy-in is much lower. What’s more, if you can create a pull effect for your brand by providing value on social media, searches on Google become “direct” or “branded” searches, meaning the consumer either types in your brand name or website URL directly. This is a place all companies should strive to be with their marketing.
So how do you become discovered on social media? And what’s the local service business that still has to rely on search to do?
There are many tactics to help get your brand more visibility on social media, but today I will share one of my favorites. Start with a “how-to” video or post. Those get the most attention because they provide value to the consumer.
Start by asking yourself what you can demonstrate that solves pain points for your consumer (remember, often what you think your customers want to know versus what they feel they need to know are different, so be sure to think about this strategically from their perspective). For example, if you’re a gardener in California, maybe you have consumers who are worried about using too much water in their yard. As such, you could make a video about how to find drought tolerant plants.
Speaking of a gardener, that’s a great example of a local service, search-dependent business, so make sure you add your location to your titles, tags, and text as much as possible. For example, “How to find drought tolerant plants in San Francisco” is a great title for a video.
By using this tactic, even local service businesses who still remain dependent on search can start benefiting from social media pull marketing. The problem is not that consumers don’t want to discover local service businesses on social media, it’s that consumers don’t know they need a local service until they have a problem (in the case of the gardener, maybe their grass has gotten overgrown or maybe they’ve moved into a new house and all of a sudden need help when they didn’t before). Overcome this by forming the relationship BEFORE the consumer needs help. That’s how the best marketers do it, and you can too.
What how-to video will you make for your business?
P.S. I am pausing my blog in July for both a trip and an exciting new project that I am getting off the ground. In August, I will be back with value packed blog content for you. In the meantime, happy summer!
