Social media for business– What’s all the fuss about?

It started out with blogs, now there’s Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked and a host of other social media platforms. Is there really a way you can harness the power of these platforms to grow your business?

 

Social media is the Internet’s fastest growing traffic generator. According to Facbook, the number of users is growing so fast that only the population of India and China exceed them. Twitter, the popular micro blogging platform is soon catching up. With the success of such social media platforms, the future for marketers looks promising in ways they never thought possible.

 

While large businesses have moved in on social media in a big way, social media has been a landfall for small business owners and internet marketers. As a small business owner or internet marketer, you can communicate with your target audience without having to conform to the rigid advertising guidelines of newspapers, TV or radio…or paying exorbitant advertising costs.

 

A major benefit that social media provides to small businesses is the flattening of the business playing field. Larger companies can no longer “buy” all the advertising space and edge small businesses out of the market..

 

Consumers tuning in to social media

 

Fed up with the exaggerated claims in mainstream advertising, consumers now have an option to check out products and services on social media platforms. Users frequently post information about their experiences with a product, service or even company, which prospects use as a guide to making an informed choice.  Consumers, tired of being subject to highly exaggerated sales pitches in mainstream media are eagerly turning to social media networking, where they have the opportunity to read, comment and share information about products and brands they really care about in real time.

 

How can you take advantage of social media for your business?

 

Imagine sitting down with your prospects and customers, and inviting them to give you feedback about your products and services. How much more credible would your business be if you could then act upon the feedback to improve your product and then inform these people what you have done. Much more credible than a feature loaded press or TV ad isn’t it?

 

Social media is all about two way communications with your target audience…however care has to be taken to get it right. Implementing a communication strategy on these lines has the potential to explode the traffic to your website and increase the recognition and popularity of you brand. Here’s how this happens. The internet has programmed users to click on links of products and services they are interested in. Some of them forward the link for their friends or business associates who are more likely to click on the links, than if they had received a “cold” link. As a result messages fly back and forth between members of a social network group with the result that page views and impressions escalate.

 

Unfortunately many small businesses bury their heads in a ground or choose to ignore the power of using social media and continue to rely on traditional advertising, while their competitors bleed them into insolvency. Marketing on the information highway is a two way street and consumers have an equal right to share the traffic. Small businesses who understand this and grab the opportunity that social media presents will outperform the competition and emerge victorious in the battle for a larger slice of the market.