How to Use Social Media for Small Business

25 Oct 2011

Over the last ten years, the internet has seen a new revolution. Many are calling it the Web 3.0, the move towards the dominance of Social Media on the internet. As various social media empires have risen and fallen over the years, one thing has irrevocably changed. Social Interactions are here to stay. Odds are right now, somewhere on the internet, someone is discussing your small business, for better or for worse, or are looking for your services. If you don’t take advantage of every opportunity to engage your customers, you not only risk losing your current customer base, but any number potential future customers as well.

So how best to begin using Social Media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and Google+? Here are a few simple steps you can take to take advantage of these powerful tools.

Purpose

First, you need to do an honest assessment of your business. What services do you offer? What makes your company unique, and what will make people want to come to you for their specific needs and wants? If you are the only fireplace manufacturer in your rural area, then that is your niche, and what you want to target in your social media use. So make sure you promote yourself as such. “We are the only fireplace manufacturer within a seventy mile radius”. Or perhaps you simply offer the best services for what you do. Or the cheapest service. Or the fastest. You need to figure out what makes you more attractive than your competition, and make sure you promote that aspect of your business.

Frequency

Once you have signed up for various social media websites, make sure you post frequently. Engage your friends and followers in conversations. Wish them a happy birthday. You could even offer them a special birthday coupon or discount offer. But make your interactions are personal, and targeted. Have discussions not only about your business, but also things related to your business. Going back to the fireplace manufacturer example, perhaps you could post news stories on the Emerald Ash Borer risks in your area, or how to properly dry and treat wood before burning it in a fireplace. All of these things will help build a sense of community around your business, and will make you look like an expert in your field.

Interact

Search for new friends and followers every day. Don’t go overboard, but try adding just 2 or 3 new followers each day. You can often do searches by keyword, to find other professionals in your area, or people who are interested in your business and services. Searching for hobbies related to what you do, or jobs in your field, can go along way to finding new customers. As a fireplace manufacturer, you can try and find other local contractors, plumbers, electricians, etc., and as you complete work, you can send business their way, and vice versa. You never know when or from where your next job can come, and word of mouth can be used very effectively.

Engage

Lastly, make sure you stay up to date at all times, and engage your customers immediately. Have alerts sent to your mobile phone, so when a customer reaches out to you, you can immediately respond. Taking a few minutes out of your day to type a few sentences on Facebook isn’t going to hurt too much, and the benefits of such interactions vastly outweigh the small effort needed to stay up to date and on top of your social media interactions. And of course, if the effort becomes too much for you as the small business owner, hire someone to manage your social media interactions. They can make sure that each interaction is done with the utmost professionalism, and in a timely fashion.

As you can see, there are a number of steps that any small business can take to utilize the enormous tool that Social Media has become in our everyday lives. As social media continues to evolve and infiltrate nearly every aspect of our culture and personal lives, any company or small business that does not take advantage of the opportunity to interact with and build their customer base, will quickly be left behind.

Mtrguanlao

I plan to have a small business and I learned many things about your article,very helpful. I guess I have to really make time for adding new friends. Engaging to customers is the tough one,I’d be needing more time and dedication for the business that I would take, if I really want to make it a success!
Mariahhh

Great article. I have been planning to start an online business but I just couldn’t find a really good step by step guide. It’s a really good idea to use the social networking sites for a small business.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1191792500 Misbakhul Munir

social media is very helpful. and we have so many online social media which are free of charged. the time for small business go booming has come
Meadow

It is the best way to promote and to market your business. Find a raving fans or a active followers or friends that could be the target. Create a very attractive marketing tool and allow your friends to interact, through this way you can make known your business and expand your circle.
laarni ortega

Social media is not only for communication it can also be use for business. Indeed, we can do a lot through the internet and at the comfort of our homes. Small businesses can grow if patience is there.
Rajeev

Wow! Great article, All the things that a small business need to get benefited with the social media has been well explained. Small business owner must know how, whom and which way to go with these social media.
Social media had great role so business owners must do well to make sure conusmer or the user should engage and interact with them their products or services. It helps in better marketing.
COUNT

since I run a small business online I absolutely agree with your views.. in recent times social media has really benefited my businesses & I know the actual value of it……
http://www.facebook.com/people/Iya-Elab/1754786103 Iya Elab

this article made me think of the days before social media, and how in comparison, small business nowadays have a lot more option to reach potential customers (even supplier for that matter). i think using social media is also good in terms of quality control. the latter allows the business to hear direct feedback from their customers they can use to improve their products.
Miramaducdoc

Social media nowadays serves as outlet for small business.It is now becoming a way to advertise business with higher quality control.I personally have an experienced with this and it is really helping my small business a lot.
Manroks23

This Post is of real help to those people engage in business,I never thought that Social media could prove so helpful in building a successful business,and yes for achieving successful results in business it is very important to stay up to date with products and informations…….
Szeto Ching

I am interested in earning money online. And using the social media for small business is very attractive for me. I have joined some social websites already and hopefully this article can help me to take advantage of it.
Nice R.

Social media is one of the important factors in building an online market for your small business. And using them will definitely make your business much more popular. Thanks to this article, new business owners could be guided on how to start their market in the internet.
kerry

Internet now is the most common way to approach cusotmers. But that doesn’t mean it is easy. This article offers very useful guidence for those who want to start their own business.
Thomas Lim

Social media is definitely one of the most effective means to promote a business nowadays. In the previous years, there has always been a difficulty in mixing business into personal life. The line between business and personal activities is so clear, and that is generally where marketing comes to redraw the line into a thinner one. With social media, the distance line is easily eradicated, and promotion of a business becomes so easy. As more and more people get themselves active in social media, they get themselves closer into becoming givers of opportunities for business. I think the internet has even more revolutionary changes up its sleeves in a few more years to come.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Danish-Khan/100001611474879 Danish Khan

This one is a great article….me and my cousin(bro) were planning to start our own business..your article is a great help for me, would like to take a print out of this article. Many people are earn some money through social media now a days and it have also proved that social media is the best way to have an effective business.
Audrey V.

New world marketing techniques are explained simply and clearly here. A no-nonsense approach to advertising exist via Social Media, businesses that plan to grow must take advantage of current trends. This is a step-by-step guide designed to help you stay on track with current trends in advertising. It is definitely worth the read.
A K Rao

This is an interesting blog on the use of social media for small business! though we regularly visit these social sites it never struck me that these sites be used so effectively for thepromotion of our business! the step by step guidance given here is of very great value for people like me who are new andwould liketo enter a business on line!
Batencila Annabelle

This is very helpful to those who wanted to have small business through the social networks. It’s a great way to promote your business since you can add friends at your own pace and also work at your own time. Great article. Very helpful!
air abenes

Engaging for me is important, what’s the use of all the contacts if the owner itself don’t communicate. Really social networking is the best invention today for our services. Its free yet we use most of it.
Selinacopes

The main purpose of using Social Media Networking is to get the users engaged. To have a full-fledged interaction with them without spending much. For Developing awareness among people about your business. So Social Media for small business is very important.
http://www.waysinlife.com helen

It’s a good site. Thanks for the information. Yes social media can help a lot not only in small business but as well in big businesses. If you are only patience to publish, post your product, make a blog on it and post in many social media, this will really work. I already have this in my blog, and this helps me a lot to have more traffic.
Anonymous

Useful tio to explain the purpose of social network communication. It highlights for the necessity of building human relationship and asking for mutual exchange of collaboration for a business promotion.Infact eveybody agree the contribution of social networking.
Anonymous

Useful tio to explain the purpose of social network communication. It highlights for the necessity of building human relationship and asking for mutual exchange of collaboration for a business promotion.Infact eveybody agree the contribution of social networking.
http://www.facebook.com/people/Gigi-Sabie/100001893378247 Gigi Sabie

I always figured I was doing something wrong. The main thing I missed is probably the frecuency with which to post on the social netowrks that I am using. This blog has opened my eyes on many new information that will help bring up better results in my future endeavours. As i have now red I believe that all steps must be followed for a fully succesfull business.
Oindrila Ghoshal

The above tips are extremely useful and relevant as well.I have myself got results by using tips like following new people each day since I found that they follow back in return.This in turn helps us to promote our business to a wide range of potential customers.
http://twitter.com/porndaddy Porn Daddy

You’re right. It’s important to realize the power behind social media, but if you don’t have the time or resources to do so then it’s not worth doing it the wrong way. If this is the case then it’s important to have a qualified company consult or manage your social media efforts.
Hydraloth

Social media is really powerful when you want to make your business known not only locally, but also around the world because social medias has many people logged-on in it everyday. It’s also useful when you want to showcase your products/services in it because photos can be uploaded in it very easily. Social medias also increase the traffic in your business website because when a person is satisfied with your business, they will spread words about your business rapidly and get your business known.

How to Use Social Media for Small Business

Purpose

Frequency

Interact

Engage

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Online Advertising

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