Springfield Chamber’s Small Business Solutions Hub Program Tackles Digital Marketing Strategies
The Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce continued its strong 2023 programming with a very-in-demand Small Business Solutions Hub focused on digital marketing. Attendees represented a full gamut of age groups and job descriptions, from young marketing professionals to seasoned business owners. Specifically, the program explored search engine optimization and social media strategies for businesses of all sizes, and was presented in hybrid format – both in person at the Chamber Depot at 101 South A Street and virtually, via Zoom. The Depot’s freight room was at maximum capacity for the event.
Chris Hayes, Chief Strategy Officer at Ruby Porter Marketing & Design and Partnered Solutions IT, began the program with an intensive look at search engine optimization, starting with a thorough exploration of keywords. Chris informed attendees of the delicate balance between industry specificity and commonality when using keywords that gives internet searches the best chance of finding your business. He distilled essential SEO into on-page and off-page optimization, industry-adjacency, back-linking, and localized SEO, and stressed the importance of analytics in fine-tuning your business’ online presence.
“Back-linking tells the search engine you are an authority in your industry, in your market, in the service that you provide, and that you’re creating pertinent information that isn’t necessarily being found elsewhere online.”
– Chris Hayes, Chief Strategy Officer, Ruby Porter Marketing & Design | Partnered Solutions IT
Lauren Short, Creative Director at Highlite Agency, spoke thoroughly on social media’s ever-increasing role in digital marketing. Lauren’s engaging presentation included a deep dive into the features and ’personalities’ of the four major platforms for businesses: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and how these could be used alone and in conjunction to draw attention and traffic to your brand. Lauren’s tips about how to use each platform were fun and practical – for example, characterizing Facebook as the “reality TV” of social media, with YouTube as your “blockbuster” and LinkedIn as your “digital rolodex.” Platform-specific suggestions abounded, like using YouTube to instruct, Instagram to be visually appealing, and Linked In to delineate your business’ accomplishments and accolades – all in aid of tailoring the proper messaging to the appropriate audience.
Many thanks to our speakers: Chris Hayes, Chief Strategy Officer, Ruby Porter Marketing & Design | Partnered Solutions IT; and Lauren Short, Creative Director, Highlite Agency.
Thank you to Main St. Coffee Co. for providing light refreshments for the event.
The Chamber would also like to thank their Small Business Solutions Hub title sponsor, Kaiser Permanente, as well as their investors, Hershner Hunter, Hutchinson Cox, Chambers Construction, OCCU, and WaFd Bank.
Please enjoy the video of the full program embedded below; also available on the Small Business Solutions Digital Hub under the Springfield Chamber Resource Library.
