This is a presentation I gave recently on
using social networking as a small business. It’s basically a summary of all my posts this year on using social networking to grow your small business.
The Importance of Social Networking for Small Businesses
Polling shows that 93% of those asked want their favorite companies to have a presence in social media. *
• 60% of Americans regularly interact with companies on a social media site
• 43% of consumers say that companies should use social networks to solve the consumers’ problems
• 41% believe that companies should use social media tools to solicit feedback on products and services
• Men are more likely to use social media tools to interact with a company than women (33% vs. 17%)
• 33% of younger consumers (18-34) and those with household incomes over $75,000 believe that companies should try to market to them through social networks.
*These numbers are from 2008 and have most likely increased.
Small business owners are getting the message from everywhere that they must have a presence on Social Media to promote their brand, grow their customer base, and rank higher in search engine results.
Now consider these numbers:
1) On all but LinkedIn and Wikia, females dominate social media use. By age, the largest usage by age group are between 18 and 34 years old.
2) 23% of the time spent online is on social media networks and blogs.
3) Internet users spend more time on Facebook than all the other web brands combined – that includes Twitter, LinkedIn, and Tumblr!
4) Active social media users have a strong sense of networking and will speak up. They are likely to write reviews about both online and offline experiences.
5) Social networking sites reach 60% of internet users across the world.
Although business owners know they need to, they avoid getting started in Social Media because they doubt the value of it and the time involved.
Social media is, in fact, one of the most important things you can do for your small business – because it is nothing more than public relations and building customer relationships. When you can see social media as just that, you will see it as the important marketing tool it is.
Customer relationships are the number one marketing tool of any business. When you can build a bond with your clients and make them feel like they have your ear, they will be your marketing reps and bring you more business. With social media, you can reach out to dozens or even hundreds of your clients with a message and see results almost immediately, and it costs you nothing.
Social networking is the marketing tool of choice and ignoring it is missing out on one of the best direct selling opportunities ever.
Social Networking Sites
There are many social networking sites available, but the most popular for small businesses are Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, and WordPress – used for keeping a business blog. These sites offer many options for small businesses to create profiles and pages where the businesses can then advertise their products and services and build customer relationships. 
The important thing to consider is which network(s) you will use. You shouldn’t and don’t have to use them all – only those where your customers are and those that suit your needs. Most of us here in the room would do well with a Facebook and Google+ accounts, and maybe a Twitter account. A few should be blogging regularly.
Businesses that offer technical services can benefit greatly from blogging. About 250 words per article is the ideal blog length. When you share your information and expertise in a blog, you not only build your reputation as someone in-the-know for your particular field, but you’ll gain ranking status in the search engines.
Businesses with very active blogs (almost daily postings) see an average of 25% more in sales than companies that don’t blog at all. Blog sites such as WordPress allow you set up automatic postings to your other social media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) that will notify followers that you’ve made a blog post. This is a great time saver!
Getting Started
The first rule of social media is – an inactive account is worse than no account. If you won’t commit to keeping your social media account active with a minimum of three posts a week – one post a week for blogs – don’t open one
You can take a look at businesses in your field and see which social media sites they utilize. Then monitor their postings for a few weeks to get an idea of what works well for them and what doesn’t. This is an important first step in determining what course of action you’ll take for your small business. However, with over 800,000,000 users on Facebook, it’s pretty clear that just about every business can start there and see some gain for their company.
Before sitting down to open your account, prepare ahead of time by having the information you’re going to include in your profile on hand and exactly how you want it. It’s best to open a social media account with a fully completed profile. Putting it off almost always means months until you get back to it, and an incomplete profile can be more damaging than no social media account at all.
Your USP is critical as a brief description for you business, especially on Google+, which limits your description line to a few words. Your profile image or graphic should be carefully planned in advance, and you should have at least a couple week’s worth of posts written before opening your account. It is easy to fall behind in posting, so if you plan ahead and then write a week or two in advance (leaving room for current, relevant posts in-between) falling behind won’t be a concern.
In most cases, you cannot over-post. The average life span of a social media post is about 3 ½ hours. After that, most of your followers won’t see the post you made, so several posts a day, depending on your business type, may not be unreasonable. This, of course, depends on your business type and who follows you.
Finally, we’ll end with this last thought: As big and great as social media is, it is still just another form of marketing and cannot stand alone. Most people will not just magically find your Facebook or Twitter account. You must market effectively. Link or share your accounts everywhere: in your email and letterhead signatures, on your website, on your business cards, in your QR codes, on your brochures, t-shirts, in your advertising, and on promotional give-aways including pens, coffee mugs, gift bags, and notepads. Users love to follow their favorite brands on social media, but don’t make them go looking for you. Show them exactly where to find you and then you can really build a relationship with them.
Happy posting!
Micki – your web gal
connect@michelleharbour.com
804.642.2363
330.591.1070 cell
www.michelleharbour.com
Helpful Links:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/5-simple-ways-to-explore-your-social-media-following/39312/
http://www.facebook.com/PhotographyandDesignbyMichelleHarbour
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