Small Business - Social Media Marketing, Online Advertising

The age of social media is upon us whether we like it or not.  Almost everyone uses some form of social media at some point in the day; by having your business displayed amongst these media outlets more potential customers can discover your business.

Depending on your business social media may offer a new way to generate customers and build brand prestige that was not before possible.  A business can exist based on exposure through social media without ever physically interacting with consumers.  If a business cannot sell a product directly through social media it can definately benefit by exposing itself to a larger audience potentially generating contracts.

There are a few widely used form of social media that should be used ;

Facebook - Facebook has a tool which is meant to promote businesses and communities ; Facebook Pages.  It is a very handy tool for a small business because it can also be a free website for customers to collect information about a business.  Facebook also has their own advertising program which can be effective if implemented correctly.  Another article will speak about correctly using cost-per-click (CPC) advertising.

Twitter - Twitter is a widely used tool for updating your following with regular statuses.  Connecting with other businesses on Twitter , having users share your updates , and generating extra exposure are all benefits of Twitter.

Pinterest - Pinterest is an amazing tool for a business with a tangible product.  Users share their favorite things in every category ; especially new products!  As well , Pinterest has the highest sales conversion of any social media tool!

 This means generating attention on Pinterest is most likely to generate additional sales, so this tool is an obvious choice.

Instagram - With Instagram it is incredibly  easy to connect with other users, share a product or service to a wide but specific audience using hashtags, connect with suppliers and customers that you would never find anywhere else.  Also using pictures and text a lot of information can be conveyed quickly; users may be drawn by the picture but read advertising in captions.  It can generate buzz very quickly as widely followed users can easily promote unknown users.

Other considerations - Tumblr, LinkedIn, Google+ and Blogger, Yelp and Foursquare for retail locations

Stay posted for more on small business, business planning and starting a new business!