Why Small Businesses Need To Understand Social Media

With jaw dropping statistics on social media popularity, you know it is here to stay. Social media has become integral to the overall online marketing strategy. With over 1 billion Facebook users and millions of tweets sent out daily, social media has become one of the most powerful platforms in human existence. And now businesses cannot do without social media, small businesses in particular. A social media marketing report recently indicated that businesses are likely to find qualified leads through social media than any other medium.

Local businesses heavily depend on referrals from satisfied customers and word of mouth marketing. So using social media as your main word of mouth marketing tool will only amplify the message. However, due to lack of resources on the part of small businesses social media has not been used to its potential. There are some small businesses who avoid social media altogether.

One of the unfortunate mistakes made by small businesses is not having an effective marketing strategy in place. You cannot have a presence on every existing social media platform. You need to learn to filter the most effective platforms for your business and then invest in it. Nearly every small business wants to be on Facebook and this is perfectly understandable. There are a billion active users, you just have to find the right target audience.

While other social channels like Twitter, Instagram and SnapChat are growing fast, you need to take a step back and consider which channels would benefit you the most. Remember, not everyone in your target audience would be on these platforms. Figure out which channels your audience frequents before deciding to jump on the bandwagon.

If you get it right, a social media agency will help you build lasting relationships. Social media is current because of the interaction you can have with your customers, in real-time. You can read their posts, comments, tweets and status updates. It gives you insight into who they are and what they like. The more you interact with them, the more likely they will engage back. This back and forth communication is the first step to building a loyal base of customers.

And small businesses need a strong and established base of customers. Once you have that, you have a group of unified people who share the same vision.