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In the Know: Digital marketing for propane retailers

January 27, 2016 By    

In the Know is a monthly partnership between LP Gas magazine and Propane Resources. Our focus this month is on digital technology, addressed by marketing and communications specialist Tammy Day.

Q: How much effort should propane retailers put into promoting their businesses online, using websites, social media and other digital tools? What advice would you give retailers interested in this type of promotion?

A: Considering today’s social climate, there is a definite need to have an online, social and digital presence. Never before have there been so many options for (relatively) free promotion of your business. I say relatively free considering there are some man-hours required in order for your online presence to be successful.

Investing the time to create and maintain your online and social media presence pays off by improving your company’s online visibility. It increases calls to your office, improves your company’s standings in online searches and drives traffic to your website. Online, social and digital involvement makes your company easily accessible to the general public, who, in this day and age, owns at least one (and many times more than one) computer and/or handheld device.

As with anything new, you may question whether your efforts are worth the time invested. Start slow. Pick one or two platforms for building your company’s online social presence, increasing the number as you become comfortable with the process. Be diligent in providing content. And, build from there.

In some cases, as with business listings, it is just a matter of creating your profile and staying on top of any notices you receive when the public posts comments.

Most businesses rely heavily on Facebook as their online and social media presence. It’s a great place to begin, but be sure to include other outlets, as well. If potential customers are on Facebook, you can bet they’re also spending their online time visiting a variety of other places such as YouTube, Yelp!, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, White Pages, Google+, Google Places, Yahoo Local and blog or vlog (video blog) sites.

It is said, “You don’t get a second chance to make a good impression.” But with the ever-growing number of options for online advertising, you definitely get a multitude of chances to reinforce your company’s services, offerings and willingness to provide customer satisfaction.

 

Tammy Day is a specialist in marketing and communications at Propane Resources. She can be reached at tammy@propaneresources.com or 888-739-6732.

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