Marketing is one of those areas that make or break many small businesses in particular. Competing with some of the larger brand name companies in the same industry who can offer lower costs, whether marginally or substantially, is no easy task. One thing that has leveled the playing field with those larger corporations is the power of social media marketing. The benefits of social media for small businesses go beyond the pure marketing aspect of a business and much more into the customer interaction and creating lasting relationships, business and otherwise.
Having a social media presence isn’t enough, however. What you do with it and how you maintain it is what is important when it comes to brand recognition, generating business, and creating lasting, meaningful relationships that help to grow your business. Below are some of the many benefits of social media for small businesses and how those benefits can help you compete with larger businesses.
Reinforces your brand.
The more recognizable, and larger, brands are all over social media sharing videos, pictures, and posts that reinforce their brand. By seeing what those brands post, you can tell what kind of business it is and what they stand for. By putting your small business on social media, you are necessarily competing with the big name brands but getting your brand awareness out in the public and reinforcing it by maintaining the profiles.
Lead generation at little cost.
Instead of constantly trying to maintain and promote every new thing on your page, meet your potential and actual customers where they are – social media. By doing so you are getting your name and brand recognized without needing to keep refreshing, revamping, or upgrading your website. The savings from that can be passed on to your customers and followers through those social media outlets.
Increases your search result rankings and website traffic.
The more websites, pages, etc. attributed to your small business the better off you are when someone searches for your product or service in a search engine. If you continue to post relevant and marketable information on your social media accounts, and those link to your website, you push your website and social media accounts up in the search engine results rankings.
Customer insight and recommendations.
If you are active in your social media accounts, customers are more likely to give valuable insight on improvements, feedback, or give reviews on a product or service they received from your company. Websites with review pages or feedback links and surveys are rarely seen as worth a customer’s time, especially if there is no response from the company. Social media is a place for the customer to have a more guaranteed response. No company is perfect and constructive criticism should be welcomed, so meet your customers where they are – social media!
Content distribution.
Do yourself a favor, use the power of social media sharing to get your content published in front of a larger audience. Create content that is fun and interesting to your customer base and encourage them to share with their social circles. Not only does this engage your current customer base but it generates leads from your followers’ social circles, which drives sales even further!
If you don’t have a social media presence, you are missing out on a key opportunity to connect with your current and potential customers. Tweets, shares, likes, and comments are all key benefits of social media for your small business vital to success in an ever-changing marketing and business landscape. Be Adaptive to the changing times to stay relevant in your industry!
