It is said that half of the money spent on marketing is wasted; you just don’t know which half! Many small business owners have misconception about marketing because of which they end up spending lot of money without getting proper return. One of the 5 fundamental rules of marketing we believe in is that good marketing techniques should not cost lot of money. Internet and social media marketing provides perfect opportunity to get the marketing exposure without spending lot of money.
The reasons for using social media marketing are numerous.
If you have grown-up children you know social media websites is where today’s customers are spending their more of their time. As we already mentioned, social media marketing costs less than traditional marketing. It also gives business owners opportunity to interact with their customers on a regular basis and in turn build long-lasting relationship with their customers. Finally, social media marketing lets you track how much return you are getting out of marketing spend.
Given the rise of number and types of Internet social media sites lately, many small business owners are struggling to decide which tools are suitable for their business. In an earlier post we showed different approaches small business owners can take to market their business using Internet. In this post we want to focus specifically on social media tools and how you can use them effectively. Small business owners should understand these social media tools well before deciding which ones are suitable for their business.
What is it?
It goes without saying that Facebook is a Granddaddy of all social media tools. With over 500 million worldwide users spending considerable amount of time on Facebook it is an obvious choice for all small business owners for marketing their business. Facebook provides opportunity to small business owners to interact with their “friends” and “fans” on their business page.
How to use it?
Small business owners can set up a “page” on Facebook for their business and invite their customers to become “friend”. You can use the page to interact with them and raise business profile. You can also use it provide deals and coupons to customers on this page. Another way to use Facebook is to do surveys and seek feedback from customers on everything from new products to customer service.
Some of the great examples of how businesses can use Facebook can be found at Best Buy and GameStop GameStop has even set up an entire online store on Facebook where customers can order games without leaving Facebook.
Who should use it?
Any small business owner would be foolish not to use Facebook to promote his business. If you do not have a Facebook page you need to stop reading this post now and head over there to setup your Facebook page.
What is it?
Twitter is another very popular social media tool that many small business owners do not take advantage of. Twitter lets you broadcast short messages that are 140 characters or less to your “followers”. You can also follow others to get their broadcast messages.
How to use it?
You can use Twitter to broadcast special deals or coupons to your customers. You can also use it to provide status on your whereabouts or product availability.
Dell is a great example of what Twitter can do for your small business. By broadcasting special, Twitter only deals Dell is selling nearly a million dollar worth of equipments on Twitter EVERYDAY! Another innovative use of Twitter is by a Korean BBQ Taco Truck in L.A. where they announce their whereabouts during lunch time encouraging their customers to visit. By creating unique experience for their customers they are building loyal customer base willing to go wherever the truck is!
Who should use it?
Twitter is more suitable for retail and restaurant businesses. By deploying Twitter in a variety of innovative ways described earlier they can build customer loyalty and increase sales.
While Facebook and Twitter are the obvious choices there are other innovative tools that hold great promise for small business owners. We will discuss those emerging social media tools some of which have potential to become next Facebook in the next post.
In the meantime, do let us know which tools do you use and how.
