Free Tools and Local SEO Tactics for Brick-and-Mortar Success

Endeavoring to market local brick-and-mortar businesses organically (non-paid) is actually fairly simple when you take advantage of these free tools: Instagram, Google Business Profile, and Facebook.

Case Study: How one local business managed to increase Facebook reach when others were losing theirs…

Due to the many algorithm changes that social networks constantly make, it is harder for business pages to get the reach they used to enjoy. Even if you had thousands of likes, your reach was significantly lower than it used to be when you posted something. Consequently, when you post organically on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and LinkedIn, you aren’t getting the reach and exposure you need.

Imagine my surprise when a former client of mine re-hired me to help increase his SEO, and I reviewed his website analytics and Facebook insights. Interestingly, I saw that the likes on his page had increased substantially, as well as the reach. Why? Because he followed my advice since he first opened.

The business is Simply Smashing Rage Room — yes, it’s a place where you go to break stuff and release your anxieties, anger, stress, and frustrations. When someone comes in, he asks them to check in on Facebook, then gives them extra breakables like bottles, plates, etc.

Before you start implementing any marketing efforts, you want to make sure your Facebook business page is set up properly, 100% complete, and well-branded. Recently, I visited a local restaurant, and I wanted to check in and take a picture of my meal, but a Facebook business page did not come up in the location tracker. When I searched for the name of the business, they came up, but as a personal page. That’s a MAJOR mistake. No one can check in, no one can recommend them, no one can tag their location.

What Does Checking In on Facebook Accomplish?

1. Users are posting on their personal timelines, tagging the business. Facebook’s algorithm change gives more visibility to people’s posts rather than direct posts from business pages. If my client just took pictures and posted them on his page, he wouldn’t get the same reach. However, by encouraging customers to check in or tag the business, all of the person’s friends and followers have a better chance of seeing the post. Usually, they post a video or picture with the check-in, which makes it more eye-catching.
2. On the business page, it shows that the person checked in. The more check-ins you have, the better. This increases “social proof”.
3. The person’s friends comment on the post. Then the person usually replies with, “You’ve got to try it!” or “It’s awesome!” Now who can resist that? The more comments you get, the more people see it, because the friends of friends see the comments.

How Other Brick-and-Mortars Can Use Facebook Check-ins:

This would require some sort of flyer or promotion when a customer walks in, and your staff knowing how to promote it and what to look for once the person checks in. They need to show a staff member the check-in before they get their incentive. AND please make sure your wifi is working and customers know how to log on!

• Restaurants: Offer a free cookie, drink, appetizer, side, dessert, etc.
• Clothing stores: A discount or some freebie promotional product.
• Spas: A discount, an add-on, extra time, product, etc.
• Fitness: Free drink, energy bar, etc.
• Events: Free drink, a discount, free parking, etc.

You get the idea. Give the customer an incentive, and they’ll happily check in. If you need help thinking about how your business can incorporate this, book a free 15-minute phone consult right here.

Google Business Profile (GBP) & Google Maps

If you haven’t already, you need to set up a Google Business Profile (GBP) account. Fill out all the pertinent information. If you’re new, your location will have to be verified. There are various ways to get verified.

Above all, make sure that your GBP is 100% complete with current address, pictures, website link, accurate description, proper main category, hours, etc. Furthermore, everything should match what’s on your website. Besides that, your website is a major cornerstone of your business.

What else can you do on your Google Business Profile to Boost Local SEO?

Connect your social media profiles. Google is rolling out (that means that not everybody gets the feature at once) a feature that pulls in your social media posts! MORE EXPOSURE!

Google is also rolling out the ability to connect your GBP to your Google Analytics.

They are also adding GBP features to the Gemini app.

Posting regularly to your GBP will help with your SEO. What you post will show up next to the Google search engine results page (SERP) when someone googles the name of your business. This is a very underused, yet highly effective tactic!

Have you got your Google Business Profile act together? I’ll be happy to check it for you! Book a free virtual consult.

Instagram Business

Instagram has a business account option for local businesses, which gives you the ability to add your location. This makes it very easy to market your local business.

If you already have a regular Instagram account or are setting one up, make sure you set it up as a “Business account” and connect it to your Facebook Page. Add your physical address, hours, phone, etc. When someone takes a picture or video at your place of business, they can tag the location. Moreover, it tags your profile at the same time.

When it’s connected to your Facebook Business Page, you can post to both at the same time.

But remember, links Do Not work on Instagram posts! Adding a link to the post actually hinders your reach. The only link should be the one in your profile. Users know to look there. On the other hand, you can add links to STORIES as a sticker. Remember, stories only stay up for 24 hours.

This article gives more tips on Local Instagram Marketing.

Tracking your Marketing Success

What’s nice is that you can see the results of your efforts. In the first week of the month, review the analytics and insights for the prior month.

1. Website Stats:
   • How many visitors went to your site? How many page views and how long did they stay on your site? Conversions?
   • Where are they coming from? Google should be the top. If not, then you’re not blogging enough. Then come the social networks and other referral sources.
   • What are they clicking on?
2. Facebook Insights:
   • Has your reach increased? Have you gained new likes and followers?
   • What type of posts are getting the most reactions, and what time of day are your fans on the network?
   • Who are you reaching? Who are your fans? Are they your target market?
3. Google Business Profile (GBP):
   • GBP will send you the analytics via email.
   • How many people used GBP?
   • What did they do — ask for a phone number or directions? Did they click through to the website?
4. Instagram:
   • Actions on your account — likes, tags, comments, etc.
   • What did they do? — Did they click through to the website?
   • Insights about your followers, such as age, gender, and location. These are very important! Do they reflect your target market?

Here’s more on Analytics and Insights.

YouTube Tips

Here’s an in-depth article with a video on what you can do to boost Local SEO on your YouTube Channel. YouTube is owned by Google, and videos come up regularly in AI Overviews.

• Put your city in your channel name and description.
• Your branding should clearly tell someone in seconds what you have to offer and how you can help them.
• Your titles should explain what is in the video in 100 characters
• Fill out the description fully with hashtags and keywords about what’s in the video
• Create an eye-catching thumbnail
• Tag your location
• Add relevant tags and keywords.

I can show you how to set up default descriptions to help you save time and optimize your YouTube Channel. Book a 1-hour session! For example, I optimized this client’s channel name by adding their city.

One More FREE Tip!

Make sure ALL your images on your website have the ALT-TEXT filled out with a short description of the image, as well as your business name AND city/state location. On WordPress, you have 2 places — the Alternative Text AND the Description. People don’t usually see this unless they have their images turned off in their browsers — which is rare these days. Nevertheless, Google sees it, and it makes a big difference in Local SEO.

Simple, right? OK, you may find this a bit overwhelming, but if you take one at a time and put together both strategic and tactical plans, you’ll start to see the results fairly quickly.

Let’s start with a Free 15-minute Zoom call so I can review your marketing efforts and give you some ideas.

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Giselle Aguiar

Giselle Aguiar is a social media, inbound and content marketing strategist and trainer helping business owners learn how to leverage the power of social media marketing, increase traffic to their websites, generate leads, increase brand awareness and establish themselves as experts in their fields.

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