In the last post regarding local search engine optimisation ‘the was and now’ I concluded with the salient points that any small business owner needs to prioritise – with or without any agency/consultant assistance. I named this section the future but this is only ‘the future’ to masses of small businesses (and indeed big brands) because social media & mobile phone (smartphone) technology have accelerated at such an astonishing rate.
So this post is for the local businesses have a polished online operation but want to be truly innovative. You are trying new things in digital, usable sites in desktop/mobile/tablet, gaining great traction in social media and have good control in your search engine marketing efforts. You know what citations are, have review generation processes in place and have great content within your Google Place.
A small business need to have a real grasp on mobile technology and how it interacts with the physical environment of their target audience. This means more than just ranking well for key search terms. This means bringing social media alive and having it truly integrated into your customer journey – with mobile at the centre of everything. This is unchartered territory to some degree but as with anything the opportunity then is to be truly innovative.
The next bit is quite simple. Be inspired by 3 videos that I have shown below. 1 is from Google’s Global Marketing Director [Mobile] Rikard Steiber and is over 40 mins long – if you are short on time you will still find the first 12 minutes truly fascinating and inspirational. Startling stats, thought provoking research and a real insight into where you need to put your strategic thinking to make the most of the localised search boom that is happening right now.
The next two are from Coca Cola’s content strategy team. I bet all you hear and read from ‘experts’ is ‘content is king’. You understand this but how do you make it a genuine priority? Again, be inspired by a super brand’s approach. Understand the definition of content and why it is a crucial part of your future digital strategy.