6 Benefits of Social Media for Small Business Owners

What is social media?

If I quote the dictionary meaning of the word ‘social media’ it means websites or apps that help internet users to develop and share content in the form of pictures and videos and also written content or just participate in the various social media activities. In other words apps and websites of facebook, twitter, whatsapp etc are the forms of social media where you can interact and share with other members of the site. These social media sites and applications keep you virtually connected to the world helping you to keep in touch with its daily happenings.

Social media is an omnipresent part of our everyday life. The evolution of the social media can be traced back to the ‘70s when we had those ancient newsrooms and when those chat rooms were introduced. Social media has played a significant role to change the way we interact, research and share information and bring about the evolution of a society that is globally connected.

 

Who can benefit from social media?

During the phase of the introduction of the social media, its importance was not given a fair worth. It was considered as a passing craze where the hype was generated by mostly teenagers and otherwise socially active people. It was considered a tool for passing time which could never be considered for something as serious as a tool from the business point of view.

But an explosion in the social media platforms was an eye opener for all businesses, big or small, to pay attention and re-consider the social media as a very important tool to be immediately incorporated in the marketing strategy of the company.

Having said that, it was food for thought for small business owners whether the use of social media was worth the time and effort, not to mention the money invested in using it. And the answer is YES!! The constant rising of the popularity of the social media has paved the way for small business for interaction with their customers and look for newer markets.

Following is a list of 6 benefits that a small business can gain from using social media:

• Website traffic:

Today’s tech-savvy world makes it compulsory for businesses to have their websites developed to market their products and services. But just creating a website does not ensure visitors. The website has to be promoted to increase its traffic and what better way than the social media to do so. Social media helps a business to boost its website hence increasing its visitors eventually increasing its number of customers.

• Collect customer insight:

Every business’s success depends on how they respond to their customer’s likes and dislikes. Which is not an easy feat it you are planning to personally meet every customer to know their preference. Keeping a daily update of the social media via the tweets of your customers, exchange of conversations around your brand, running virtual reports can keep you connected to the customer’s preferences.

• Generate a buzz:

There are many ways to advertise and promote your business. You can put up daily updates about the happenings in the business via your business blogs which could be about the introduction of a new product and share information about its features. You can create a buzz by sharing the launch date of the product with photos to generate an atmosphere of anticipation for your customers. This could also help you build potential customers.

• Breaking geological boundaries:

Even if you have a small business, social media can help you promote it by and far to the farthest locations. If your business is tech savvy, you can come up with an online store which can help to virtually promote your products and services and also give them the facility of choosing a product from the comfort of their homes. Also you can make the use of location based apps to know your followers and the area that they come from which can help you to know where to concentrate more.

• Know your competition:

Every business faces competition. Some could be positive but majority are negative. Social media is not only important from the customer point of view but also helps to connect with other businesses in the field. You never know how these connections can prove beneficial so be sure to accept requests from the reputed businesses and professionals on the social circuit.

• Faster content sharing:

Advertising is all about sharing information with your clients and potential customers. And if the advertisement and promotion reaches the clients the faster, the better. Here, social media can aid the business by immediately broadcasting important news and advertisement about the company where all you need to do is publish the content in the company’s social network account and also in the different social networking sites.

It is never too late to make your business active on the social media circuit and reap the benefits by gaining information and insight about your customer’s needs and preferences by engaging in real time interactions.

 

For more tips on social media success, get some advice from a top Keynote Speaker.