Monday 14 June, 2010

Advantages of Social Media To Small Business




We all are aware of the impact of social media websites. A huge amount of people have been participating in social media websites and this has resulted in increased investment in the growing field of social media marketing. A large number of small businesses today have started using social media ideas and strategies in their goals. This is because of a number of reasons.


Social media websites include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linkedin etc. Many small businesses have become a part of these sites and have created their profile pages intending to get more traffic and new customers. It is important to remember that you cannot attract traffic just by creating a profile page; you have to actually be involved and participate in a community.


Social Media Marketing is the marketing strategy used to create content for your website and displaying it on Social News and Bookmark sites. The techniques of social media marketing can benefit websites and help them to grow very quickly. To mention, some of the advantages of social media marketing for small businesses are:

1. More awareness about your brand: If you are able to create a successful social media marketing campaign, there will be a lot more talk about your brand online. When users are appealed by your message, they will spread it across which will be more effective than traditional methods.

2. Quick results: If your message is on the front page of a major news, social video and bookmark site, you will be able to drive large amounts of traffic instantly. It is not necessary that the traffic will result in conversations but momentum will be created in the right direction.

3. Cheap prices: Social media marketing can be used as a replacement for conventional advertising and this is possible at a pretty lower price. With social media marketing, you do not need to spend huge amounts of money like you would have had to with the traditional mediums like newspapers, magazines, television, radio and many more.

4. Improves ranking on search engines: Social media marketing campaigns have an effect on search engine rankings. A huge amount of back links can be attained which improve your ranking on search engines.

5. Compatible with other mediums of advertising: If you start a social media marketing campaign, it does not mean that you need to stop you traditional methods of marketing. Social media marketing can be used along with traditional advertising and marketing.

6. Role of influencers: Through social media marketing, initiators and influencers reach audiences and encourage them to choose your brand. A person will always prefer to buy something that people recommend rather than just blindly make purchase from a faceless company.

7. Sidestepping and blindness: The age old methods of advertising online such as banner ads have almost lost their significance. Social media marketing has the capability to attract large amounts of traffic to your website without the help of traditional methods of advertising because of the increase in ad blindness.


[ Some Personal Rants:

To your surprise , the Best part about a Small Business Owner is that i really don't have to Sell the idea of Social Media to them. SMB's have the advantage of quick decision making and an appetite of taking risks thus one doesn't really have to push Social Media. So after knowing the Why? they simply ask How and When to do it? whereas corporate co.'s still loose the plot by being stuck on WHY?

In-fact some SMBs in the engineering space are pushing me to start their twitter a/c's when an eCommerce sites are better bet or at-least the first step towards their Online presence.]


Well Social Media provides you a simple platform to be out there for your customer and better still with your customers. So as they say .. your next customer is just 140 characters away...



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