Engage Customers with Local Search: Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals' Association (NEOUPA) Presents Fathom Online Marketing

Pictured: Kurt Krejny and Joe Fox

On Tuesday May 24, 2011, the Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals' Association (NEOUPA), featured Kurt Krejny and Joe Fox of Fathom Online Marketing.

Their presentation was entitled, Local Search Marketing Success.

Krejny is the Director of SEM Best Practices at Fathom; and Fox is the Local Product Manager, and Senior Account Executive.

Currently:

• 20% of Google's billions of monthly searches are local. 
• 72.5% million smartphones are in use (and growing rapidly), with 12.5% using local check-in services like, Foursquare).
• Local search is a two-way, value-add:

1. Customers can find appropriate nearby companies (for those businesses willing to invest in search engine optimization (SEO)).
2. Customers can become evangelists for local businesses, helping to increase website rankings, and ultimately, sales. 

Following are highlights of Krejny and Fox's presentation:

Create Content to Attract Local Traffic

• Help national business rank locally with customized link.
• Feature customer photos, videos of events.
• Use Livestream webcam.
• Post Foursquare leaders and winners.
• Highlight nearby attractions, things to do, businesses.
• Feature testimonials, reviews (on-site and off-site).
• Use microformats/Rich Snippets.

Google Places - The Basics

• Claim your business.
• Write naturally-sounding business description, using keywords.
• List business in Yellow Pages, Super Pages, Yelp, for maximum exposure.

Google Places-Analytics

• Research keywords people are using to find your business.

Bing Local.

• User-friendly search engine optimization (similar to Google Places).

Twitter-Local Search

• Tweet about local events, companies.
• Connect with key influencers at companies and in the community.
• Great platform for branding, contests, promotions and data mining.

Facebook Company Profile Page

• Post photos, videos about your company's products and services.
• Post relevant information on company's Facebook Wall.

LinkedIn-Local Search.

Local Search-Check-in Services

• Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt, Facebook Places.
• Write locally-focused descriptions with keywords.
• Offer deals and check-in bonuses for customers if you can accept walk-ins.

Local Printing of Coupon Offers

• Groupon.
• LivingSocial.
• MerchantCircle.

Build Relationships/Loyalty

• Don't ignore customer feedback.
• People like to be acknowledged online.
• People appreciate transparency.
• Incentivize people to leave reviews.
• Respond with a personalized video.
• Technology is not enough, "humanize" your customer's experience.

What's Next?

• Image recognition (Google Goggles, Bing Vision).
• Ecommerce.
• Mobile payment solutions.
• Search results display.
• In-car systems.
• Social, local and mobile are converging.

If you have an interest in Web design, software applications, or any interface where usability is the key to success, consider joining the Northeast Ohio Usability Professionals' Association. You'll be educated and motivated. To learn more about the organization, visit NEOUPA.