Instant gratification is the universally shared value of most searchers and deservedly so. With a wealth of resources readily available at your fingertips why should you have to browse for hours to find exactly what you’re looking for? We want what we want, we want it now, and cheap (or free in some cases). Even despite recent economic conditions, “The Cult of Consumption” is still alive and well in America so to compete in a rapidly expanding marketplace is not always easy, especially for small businesses with low advertising and marketing budgets.

Here are a few methods to effectively drive more traffic to your site using some basic geo-targeted search engine optimization and social media tools in real-time. I will focus primarily on Google Insights for SEO and Twitter for social media.

Using Google Insights To Gage Recent Keyword Density Locally

Let’s say you are a Social Media Coordinator in Manhattan or Westchester County New York (I figure a personal example goes further). It’s important to first have a very clear idea of what your potential site visitors would be searching for when looking for your company.

Here is an example. I started off by simply doing a broad search through Google Insights for “Social Media” within a defined location “New York” over a one year period. You want to think of search queries as being similar to trading stocks. Like the Eliott wave principle a trader uses when performing technical analysis, keyword values ebb and flow based on the tendency of searches. Based on the chart to the right, it is likely that there will be a growing number of searches for Social Media by New Yorkers in the coming weeks.

The question then becomes: what should I tweet, how often, and how can I measure the metrics?

The Neighborhood Twitter Bird

I have talked to quite a few people who are hesitant about getting involved with Twitter to promote their business because they don’t want to compete with larger companies. This is what I like to refer to as “The Mom and Pop Dilemma” many small businesses are confronted by on a fairly regular basis. This has usually led to the “Oh Well Syndrome”, a concession and settlement for continuous mediocrity by smaller companies because the competition is too great. Marketing and advertising through social media and social networking, especially Twitter, bridges that gap in many ways, especially at a local level. A local TV repairman will always have a tough time going head-to-head with the Geek Squad at Best Buy. However, he can make a name for himself in his neighborhood with the right approach.

If you consistently tweet keywords that are rising in popularity and have something interesting, funny, and relevant to provide that makes your company possess professional as well as human qualities to it, I’m sure you will gain more followers and more conversions. The local TV repairman who repairs TVs at the customer’s home wants to include the town/village/city he’s working in and be real about the project without full disclosure (i.e – unexpected problems that surface, etc).

Some Important Considerations When Tweeting About Your Business

Sound Like An Authority Because You Are One – You are always walking a fine line on Twitter. Be yourself, but remain confident. Make sure that if you are consistently tweeting keywords relative to search queries a customer or client would conduct to find your product(s) and/or service(s) that common sense would suggest you know something about said product(s) and/or service(s).

Sculpt Your Tweets – You want to be personable while having something halfway intelligent to say in less than 120-130 characters (link included will put you at the 140 max). Obviously you want to include highly relevant links in your tweets along with keywords that are being commonly used. Utilize hashtags to have your tweets focused to people tweeting about a similar subject. This increases the likelihood of your tweets being retweeted, hence more exposure. Stay away from snake oil tactics or hard sells. State the facts, sound excited, but most importantly, be yourself.

Be Flexible, Dynamic, and Engage – People want to interact on Twitter. They want to communicate, not just be force fed links to your site. Ask questions, get your followers involved in your business, allow access to what goes on behind the scenes. Include miscellaneous tweets and personal tweets as well as those focused on your business. I believe many people are searching for something more than business as usual.

Understanding The Metrics

By using a url shortener like bit.ly to measure the click-throughs on the links you provide to your followers, you will invariably have a better idea of what keywords and tone are the most effective in generating user engagement.

Another option is to syndicate your website or blog’s RSS feed through Feedburner and allow auto-tweeting through the Socialize option after you burn your feed. Feedburner has some excellent analytics that can accurately gage the effectiveness of your social media campaign on Twitter.

If you have additional tips to better geo-target Google in real-time search queries using Twitter please let us know!

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