It is true small business owners are afraid of change to social media but a lot has changed and more people have used social media to attract customers.
By: Aby Sam Thomas
If you are running a small business that sells a product, it is safe to assume that your main focus would be to get people to your store to make some purchases. Having said that, getting people interested in what you have to offer is a different ballgame altogether—you may have the best cupcakes on the block, but if nobody knows about them, it’s not really going to help you grow your business. While advertisements of any kind are one way of getting people’s attention, there is a newer—and maybe even cheaper—way of doing just that: social media.
The very mention of social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and more is enough to turn off many small business owners—you’d be surprised at how many people would dismiss such channels as being of no use to them. But the truth is that more and more small businesses are using social media to promote and publicize both their brand and what they have to offer—and these campaigns are indeed working: many such businesses are reporting a lot of success through the use of Facebook, Twitter, et al.
The best thing about these social media channels is that they can be applied to almost any kind of business. If your store sells Christmas ornaments, a Pinterest account could be especially useful for you. Or maybe you own a hip and happening café and you could replace (or complement) your frequent customer card with Foursquare check-ins instead. Want to give out discounts and offers to attract more customers? Use a Facebook wall post instead of an ad in the paper—37 percent of consumers love such deals that appear on their feed!
So now that you know what you can do with social media, you might be wondering about how much time and money you should invest. While the impulse may be to go all-out with all the various tools available, it does seem better to instead select the ones that work best for you, and use that to your maximum advantage. A Facebook page seems to be a must-have: studies have suggested that Facebook fans are more likely to become customers and the social networking website does allow for a variety of ways that one can use to interact and reach customers.
For instance—you don’t need to offer a discount all the time on your social media platforms. In fact, moves like that could actually backfire and cause customers to lose interest in your brand. Instead, adopt as human a presence you can on your social media profile—remember, people do business with people. Share photos of your crew at your shop. Participate in your community and pop culture activities and join in with what your customers are talking about—just saying that you “like” Justin Bieber could send a whole herd of Beliebers in the direction of your store!
One other very important thing to remember about social media—be patient. Don’t think that having a Twitter handle is going to bring about lines of people standing outside your door. Instead, start with the customers you already have and ask them to become a part of your social media family. Cultivate and keep the relationships that you’ve already developed, and in time, the “sharing” aspect of social media will do its job in getting you a wider audience. Think of social media not just as a sales tool—think of it as a very useful marketing tool as well.
his article is part of the Drive Your Business Forward series. Check out allvoices.com/smallbusiness for more tips and advice on how to succeed as a small business. This series is supported by Mercedes-Benz Sprinter.
