Advantages of Using Social Media for Your Small Business

If you own a small business then hopefully you have a presence on social media, because your competitor most likely does. Businesses, big and small, are hitching their marketing wagons to the social media star for a reason. They are getting results. Small businesses are reporting an increase in customer engagement, repeat business, brand awareness, improved targeting of local customers, and a lot more. The trick, of course, is you need to know how to get your audience to move beyond liking and sharing your content to becoming a loyal customer.

In case you haven’t quite made up your mind yet on whether you should invest time and money on social media then this quick lowdown on the benefits of social media will enable you to make an informed decision.

Social media drives traffic and when nurtured properly, your social media networks can drive a steady stream of visitors to your website. And every now and then, a really cool post that does well is going to result in a spike in traffic. And this is traffic that converts. Depending upon your content marketing strategy, you can benefit from visits to your lead generation page, home page, or your product sales page. Traffic from social media reduces your dependence on search engine traffic and serves as a backup should your site suffer adversely from a Google algorithm update.

Connect with Social Media

Social media makes it easy to reach out to people who are interested in your industry, products or services. You can easy build relationships with virtually anyone around the world via social media and it gives a face and a personality to your business. You can present benefits that your customers can relate to and gain insights into customer preferences. You can also tweak business offerings and processes for efficient operations and enhanced customer satisfaction.

Social Media is Cost Effective

Social media marketing is an effective and inexpensive marketing channel. If you’re ready to implement a thoughtfully prepared social media marketing plan, your small business can show a healthier bottom-line even without spending a dollar on traditional advertising. Build a targeted audience, engage with it, and it will spread the word on your behalf. That’s the definition of cost effective marketing that works.
Social media also provides a great ROI on ad spend. Social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter allow advertisers to target their ads based on a number of parameters such as the age, gender, education, likes, interests, and location of the viewer. You can deliver your message to a highly targeted audience and enjoy improved click through rates and conversions.

Social Media Can Create Buzz Quickly

Looking to generate interest in your upcoming product launch? Want more walk-in traffic to your store on a sluggish Wednesday afternoon? Turn to social media. Offer a discount, freebie, special experience, or social media only offer and you will have set things in motion. Helpful how-to videos, product demos, and positive user reviews are also ideas that can be implemented to help build customer loyalty and create buzz.

Social Media Helps with SEO

Social media can provide positive SEO signals to Google and other search engines. Search engines use social signals as ranking factors for both your branded and non-branded keywords. Optimized social media pages appear on the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) and your Pinterest, Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook pages and other social networks can rank for targeted keywords.

Don’t forget to keep tabs on the competition as well. With social media you can track competitors’ performance in real time, study their techniques and adopt practices that are working for them.

Small businesses have a lot to gain from creating a presence on social media. There’s no rocket science involved and once you start achieving results it becomes a fun activity that repays your efforts over and over.