Social Media and the Small Business Owner

Social Media and using social media marketing for business has been around for many years now. It is only in recent months that it has really caught fire amongst mainstream media. How many times do you turn on the news or favorite talk show without the television personality telling you how you can follow them on Twitter? However, my question to you as an online entrepreneur is “Are you taking full advantage of this for your business?”

So, what I thought I would do today is give you 9 very compelling reasons why you should be taking advantage of social media marketing for business purposes and why you should not be sitting on the fence...

1. Social media marketing allows you to compete with the big boys on the same level.

It does not matter if you are working from home or a small business. You can be perceived in the same light as any large corporation or even celebrity over time. Not only that, it is a great way to spread your message far and wide without impacting your marketing budget.

2. It is a great way to connect directly with your target market in an “informal” setting.

This is great for attracting new customers that you would never have met but for social media marketing.

3. You break down the barriers of communication using social media,

building rapport, trust and credibility with your audience. This naturally turns into long-term relationships and ultimately sales of your products or services.

4.  You can talk directly to your customers, answer questions or ask questions and get honest feedback,

This is a great way to be seen by your audience and this will also help you target your sales message to address concerns in your market as well as their needs and wants.

5. Social media marketing will help you stand out from the crowd in your industry.

If you adopt a solid social media marketing presence, you will have a huge advantage over your competition that does not utilize this form of communication.

6. You are accessing a global community of potential customers.

 If your product or service can be catered to customers all over the world, then take advantage of social media marketing to get your message to every corner of the world.

7. You can use social media for powerful market research.

If you have built a solid rapport with your audience, as well as trust, you can tap into this and perform detailed market research. You could put out surveys, ask questions of your market and watch exactly how your audience reacts to different tactics. This is priceless information for the online entrepreneur.

8. It gives everyone an equal voice.

So, even if you are naturally shy, you can still shine like a celebrity and have people listen to what you have to say with rapt attention.

9. It lets your genuine passion and interest in your business come through in your communications.

This helps build trust and allows people to relate to you and your products or services that you offer. This has the psychological effect of pre-selling and pre-qualifying your potential customers and is going to create a higher conversion of visitors to customers.

Ultimately, the choice is yours if you decide to use social media marketing for business or not. However, consider this one key point, is your competition going to sit on the fence forever and do you want to allow them to get a head start on you? Let me know your thoughts on this and tell the other readers why they should be using social media marketing in their business.