Small Biz Survival

The small town and rural business resource

Small town shops

Bonus way to get more locals to follow you online

By

Tourism groups and small businesses both struggle with a common question: once we get online, how do we get local people to follow, like or friend us?

Working on regional economic development at Northwest Oklahoma Alliance.
OK, now that you’re in the room with your
locals, how do you get them to follow, like
and friend you?

Last week, I shared three ways to get locals to follow you online. I deleted two comments off that post (because they came in a flood of spam) that suggested the fourth, bonus method to get more locals to follow you:

  • Hold local events. This gives you a chance to talk about your online efforts in an offline setting. You can create events of your own, or participate in other local events and activities. 
The challenge is that most of us already attend and take part in local events. We just don’t know how to convert our participation in local events into more local followers. 
What if you brought along a conversation piece? You could make photo books from your Flickr or Facebook photos, booklets from blog posts, or video dvds from your YouTube videos. When you hand those out, you have the perfect excuse to talk about your social networking and what your followers gain by participating.

(Disclosure: I took this idea from Jon Swanson, in a post we wrote here in 2008: Promoting your media to the offline world.) 

New to SmallBizSurvival.com? Take the Guided Tour. Like what you see? Get our updates.

About Becky McCray

Becky started Small Biz Survival in 2006 to share rural business and community building stories and ideas with other small town business people. She and her husband own a retail liquor store in Alva, Oklahoma, and a small cattle ranch nearby. Becky is an international speaker on small business.

Wondering what is and is not allowed in the comments?
Or how to get a nifty photo beside your name?
Check our commenting policy.
Use your real name, not a business name.


Don't see the comment form?
Comments are automatically closed on older posts, but you can send me your comment via this contact form and I'll add it manually for you. Thanks!

Howdy!

Glad you dropped in to the rural and small town business blog, established in 2006.

AuthorsMeet our authors Becky McCray, Glenn Muske, Glenna Mae Hendricks and Jon Swanson.

We want you to feel at home, so please take our guided tour.

Have something to say? You can give us a holler on the contact form.

If you would like permission to re-use an article you've read here, please make a Reprint Request.

Want to search our past articles? Catch up with the latest stories? Browse through the categories? All the good stuff is on the Front Page.

Shop Local

Buy local buttonReady to set up a shop local campaign in your small town? You'll need a guide who understands how we're different and what really works: Shop Local Campaigns for Small Towns.

Best of Small Biz Survival

More of the best of Small Biz Survival