A Guide to Building a Local Social Media Presence from Scratch

To make this guide as useful as possible we start with a couple ground rules and assumptions.

First, within this guide we'll briefly address both social media platforms and directory listings. Directory listings on sites like Yelp, Houzz, ZocDoc and others are not technically social media sites however they are part of the broader online presence equation and, as such, we reference them.

Second, a social media account that is inactive is effectively worthless - in some cases worse than worthless because it makes it appear as though a live business may have folded and closed it's doors. Obviously, not ideal.

Next, this guide is meant as a starting point for businesses new to social media or those renewing their interest in social media. This is not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive in any way.

Finally, and most importantly, if you don't have a website or your website isn't an effective anchor to your overall marketing efforts then you should probably spend more time getting that corrected before investing much effort in just about anything else. More on this below.