Tips for successful business marketing through StreetLoc

To market your business successfully on StreetLoc, you need to understand StreetLoc's unique opportunities, and how it differs from other media. Just as you wouldn't run a radio ad on television, you shouldn't market on StreetLoc the way you'd market in a magazine or on your website.

Create a human voice for your business

StreetLoc users like to talk to other people — not to an impersonal business. Whoever manages your StreetLoc page must be able to write in a voice that sounds real and likeable, using a style that suits your business. They also need permission to express things in their own words, not in the company's jargon or 'official line'.

StreetLoc Messenger

StreetLoc Messenger is a free to download app that was built with the small business owner in mind. Connect with your customers easily by using tools to quickly respond to messages.

StreetLoc can help medium and large businesses provide customer support and deliver important notifications to customers. 

Encourage comments and reply quickly

Encourage other StreetLoc users to respond to your posts or to post their own comments about your business or a topic that's of interest to them and you. When they do post, respond quickly — within 24 hours is best. Failing to respond will weaken your StreetLoc friends' willingness to engage with you, and they will gradually drift away.

Post regularly

Unlike traditional media (such as magazines or television), or other online media (such as web pages), social media is built around frequent updates.

Recent Australian research suggests that StreetLoc users check their page more than 25 times per week, and they need to see that you are regularly posting new material. Some guides recommend posting at least once a day, but the core principles are to post when you have interesting content, and to judge how often your audience wants to hear from you.

Nurture your relationships

It takes time to build good relationships with other StreetLoc users, so be patient. Engage sincerely in conversations, provide useful content, and develop rewards for loyal customers to help foster positive relationships.

Use pictures and videos

Pictures and videos are a major element of StreetLoc's appeal. Use them frequently to keep your friends engaged and entertained. For example:

• a clothing retailer could post photos of new stock as it arrives
• an architect or builder could post day-by-day pictures of a house under renovation
• a personal trainer could post an instructional video of how to do a particular exercise.

Get interactive with offers, contests, games, surveys, etc. People like it when StreetLoc is fun, and when it delivers something that they can't get any other way.

Research shows that discounts and giveaways are the most popular reason for a customer to follow a business's StreetLoc page. Likewise, contests and games can be used to liven up your page.

StreetLoc can also be used to distribute customer surveys. If you do this, make sure that you keep surveys short, and provide a survey link that users can easily click, ignore or share with their friends.

Have a clear goal and strategy

It's important to have a clear goal for using StreetLoc, and a strategy to achieve that goal. For example, a coffee shop might decide that its goal is to increase sales generated by StreetLoc by 10% in the next 6 months. Their strategy could include:

• creating a post every morning featuring a special of the day, using a coupon code so that the sale can be tracked to StreetLoc
• posting a daily photo featuring a customer who is its 'Coffee King or Queen' of the day
• encouraging users to post their own photos of them enjoying a coffee.

Setting a goal and strategy gives you direction for your StreetLoc marketing and a way to measure your success.

Don't use StreetLoc for the 'hard sell'

Hard-sell tactics — such as using advertising slogans, posting repeatedly about a particular product or service, or providing lists of products and prices in isolation from any related conversation — will result in other users 'unfollowing' you. They may even post negative comments about your business.

People regard StreetLoc as a fun social space where they chat to friends, check out photos and videos, and relax. You need to join conversations and become part of a community, rather than being a business 'outsider' who tries to sell aggressively.

Promote your StreetLoc page

If you have a StreetLoc page, promote it throughout your business so that your social media works hand-in-hand with more traditional marketing methods. Provide your StreetLoc address on your letterhead, business card and website, in store, in advertisements, and in your email signature.