Social Media and Business

While social media (Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, etc) has been used for years as purely "social" communication tools, companies are now starting to see the benefits of using social media. Social media can be used to update "followers" and "fans" of the business on new stock, upcoming sales, to receive customer feedback, and to keep the business in the "top" of the consumer's mind---especially when they are interacting with their social media platforms.

So why should businesses bother with using social media to promote themselves? Here are my top 3 reasons:

1. It’s (mostly) free. Almost all of the social media sites are free—the only cost involved is the cost of the time it takes to update the sites. Many companies just add this to the marketing personnel’s job, or even hiring an unpaid marketing intern. When the costs of advertising (print, radio, television, etc) keep skyrocketing, “free advertising” in the form of social media is very valuable to small businesses who may not have a large advertising budget.

2. Everyone is “on” social media. Twitter currently has 175 million users “tweeting” and Facebook 600 million active users. While not everyone on Facebook or twitter may be in your small business’s market, the exposure of that many users is worth it.

3. Customers can easily “Tell their friends.” When a customer “likes” or “friends” posts and updates from your company, all of their friends can see—and then “click through” to your company. Even more exposure!