Published on January 24th, 2019 | by Sunit Nandi

If You Aren’t on Google and Social Media, Your Business May Be Invisible to Millennials

Have you ever seen a store close to your home that, no matter how many times you need to buy the products they have, you ignore that store in favor of going to a mall, a place that’s much farther, or a store that sells the same product for a much higher price?

In my case, it’s a mom-and-pop hardware store a few blocks away from my house. Even if the place was walking distance, I’d choose to drive to the hardware store in the mall 20 minutes away from where I live. It seems counter-productive, but I have a good reason for it: I don’t know anything about the nearer store, if it has the product I want, what time it’s opened, or if they have a number I can call to check. I’d rather go to a mall where the product I want is most likely on the shelves than to a smaller but nearer store that I’m unsure of.

Of course, smaller business could prevent losing potential customers like this if they had a website or social media page customers could visit. A big misconception some businesses have is that because they’re a small business catering to a certain community, they don’t need to establish an online presence because locals would pass by their store and take note of their existence. But what they probably don’t know is that around 81 percent of consumers do online research on a store and a product before going to buy.

This is especially true with 75.4 million millennials who, now reaching their late-30’s and early-20’s, are slowly taking over the economy. Because of their connection to technology, if your business doesn’t appear on Google rankings or Google maps and you don’t have a strong social media presence, in their eyes, your business is practically invisible.

Getting on Google’s Snack Pack

Let’s say that you’re in the restaurant business, running your own small takeout store. Your store’s in a choice location filled with a lot of foot traffic because you’re located in a business district. Maybe you’ll get a good deal of business from people intrigued by the way your restaurant looks or what you offer. But for people who don’t pass by your area, if you’re not online, you’re practically invisible to them.

Sure, you can get your business running through word of mouth and flyers, but these are not very strategic marketing plans. If you’re relying on happy customers to recommend your restaurant to others, you’re also risking unhappy customers from telling their friends not to visit. And why spend money printing out flyers that only one or two people can see when you can upload the same flyer online for hundreds or thousands of people to see at no printing costs and a fraction of your marketing costs?

Make no mistake, though: even if you’re online, that’s not enough assurance that you will be seen. Take, for example, Google’s Snack Pack. When a user searches a keyword that is linked to looking for a business, Google shows them the best results closest to the user’s location. So, if you’re a restaurant owner without an account on Google or with low SEO rankings, Google will push your competitors towards the attentions of your potential customers and basically tell them to visit other restaurants, not yours.

Remedying Invisibility

The best way to get online? Get a website, go on social media, and engage in people to develop a strong social media presence. SEO analysts and other social media specialists have found how helpful creating a social media base can be in terms of reaching out to a millennial target market. Brands with active social media accounts that are constantly engaging are likely to reach 62 percent of millennials who are more likely to become loyal to your brand.

Creating a business social media presence isn’t the same as the way you would manage your personal social media accounts, though. Aside from creating eye-catching content, they have to consider tracking numbers, using paid advertisements, and getting traffic. This may be a huge burden on business owners, which is why SEO services such as social media management and local SEO are available so that the burden of managing their digital marketing isn’t as difficult.

In the age of technology, if you’re not updated and visible on search engines and social media, you’re practically invisible to millennials. And with this generation holding billions in terms of buying power, you’re losing a lot of potential revenue just to save on marketing costs. It’s likely that your business has a lot of competition in your area, so forget the outdated marketing strategies, go digital, and get seen.

Tags: google, invisible, millenials, social media

About the Author

Sunit Nandi I'm the leader of Techno FAQ. Also an engineering college student with immense interest in science and technology. Other interests include literature, coin collecting, gardening and photography. Always wish to live life like there's no tomorrow.