16 C for Monday

As stated in a previous blog post, I’ve had some difficulty in successfully setting my business up on Yelp.  This is still a platform I would like to be on so that when expectant mothers Google pre-natal yoga, San Diego, Yelp; I would return as one of the search options.  I have twice attempted to set my business up on Yelp and have received emails each time stating they will verify my business and contact me once that verification is complete.  Four weeks out from my first attempt, there has been no verification received for either attempt.

I feel like I have plateaued with marketing my monthly Cats on Mats Yoga events over FB and Instagram on my own.  I think it would behoove me to write several articles on the topic and mission and share these articles with appropriate partners to expand my audience reach.  I will plan to do this over the next 2-3 months.

Studying the FB analytics let me know that posts that generate discussion, even just a discussion between two people, causes the post have a substantially higher reach.  As a result of this discovery I will try to incorporate more story and informational tidbits into my event promotional posts to pique comments and conversation over the next months to test the strategy.
 

FB analytics also showed me that the largest demographic following my FB posts are women aged 35-44.  I will use this information for planning ads for future events.  I will also use that information to brainstorm methods to increase my appeal to a broader demographic when appropriate.  

Over the next month I will be planning fundraising events to raise awareness and funds to support an ongoing weekly MS Yoga class.  My initial task will be to create detailed event descriptions and confirm the dates with the venues.  Event announcements will be created and released via my FB business page as soon as the venue dates are confirmed.  I will network the event via the social media pages of the venues in addition to my own.  Following the FB event invitations, I will share the event invite to all appropriate local FB groups.  The timeline for the event invite and group shares will occur within one week.  I will use Instagram for posts to promote the event and garner support leading up to the event until registration has reached capacity.  Simultaneous to the social media outreach, I will reach out to potential partners to add value to the events and further network both the ongoing class and the fundraising events.

Social media marketing is time consuming and has variable success.  Since I have no official budget and I am a one person operation, I need to prioritize my time and energy.  It is impractical for me to spend more time on social media than I do on class and event planning, and scheduling but it is also useless to provide services and events that no one knows about.   Social media will be an ongoing, weekly task that needs to stay incorporated into my business plan.  Having a current, easy to find social media presence is important to both find and stay in touch with my clients.  My reluctance to self-promote has put my 17 year old yoga therapy business behind the curve in terms of marketing.

I’ve chosen to rely most heavily on Instagram, FB and newsletter marketing as these tools have been most effective for me.  I also have learned that the more often and higher up my business comes in Google searches helps bring more clientele, especially to specialized offerings such as prenatal yoga classes and destination yoga retreats.  This is why I think it would be helpful to be on both yelp and Google maps.

To sum up, my strategy moving forward will include an awareness of the information provided by FB analytics, increased networking with partners; possibly to include written articles, I will continue in my attempts to try to increase my Google 'searchability', and I will continue with weekly Instagram, FB, and twitter shares.