Social Media for Business – 5 Reasons to Go Social

If you are a business owner, you might have noticed how other businesses have jumped in to the social media bandwagon ever since Facebook, Twitter, and other huge social networking sites came into the scene. And if you haven’t already joined the thousands or millions of businesses worldwide who have taken advantage of social media, you are definitely missing out. Social media for business has become an important part of every business owners’ overall online marketing campaign.

The mere thought of adding social media to your online marketing strategy could be stressful or discouraging, most especially if you are just starting out. If you do, chances are you are one of those who have decided not to get your business on Facebook or Twitter, because there’s a lot to learn and you just don’t have the time.

Take a deep breath. Learning social media for business could seem like a daunting task and could mean the learning curve is huge, but once you realize the impact of reaching out to your potential customers, it will make a lot more sense. If you are not used to interacting with different types of people online, or if you are too shy, you would have to make a little shift in your mindset.

Businesses of all sizes have utilized social media to build their brand and online visibility. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, helps you in keeping in touch with your target audience (which are your potential customers or clients), to build a strong community of loyal followers who will establish you as a leader in your niche, and who will be ready to buy from you. This is how significant social media for business is and this is why you need to be social.

Here are 5 more reasons why your business needs to go social:

Promote your products and services in an inexpensive way (or for free). Whatever your budget is, there is a solution to your needs. Getting out there and building your social media presence is an inexpensive way of informally advertising what you have to offer. I mentioned “informally advertising” simply because social media channels are not like classified ads sites. Social media is used to interact with people, to share interests, and to share information that your target audience would find valuable. When you earn your target customers’ trust, they will be ready to buy.

Receive advice from similar businesses. Every business has its competitors. The wonderful thing about social media is that it helps us have a healthy competition among other businesses. In order to succeed, you would want to learn from those who have been there and done that, don’t you? Personally, I surround myself with people who have already established themselves as experts in my field and I learn from them. By networking with other people who are in the same business as you, you will benefit from their wealth of knowledge in order to help you grow your business.

Share expertise to build your credibility. This is one of the things that I usually stress out to clients that I partner with. Social media for business isn’t purely for advertising your products and services, but more importantly, for establishing yourself as a leader in your niche. Let’s say you are a relationship coach. You can post relationship tips on your social networks, and offer a newsletter where singles or couples can subscribe to in order to get tips on how to handle their relationships. With the help of social media, you will be able to share your expertise with the people who need you.

Create buzz about your website, products, and services. You can easily create buzz for your business in a variety of ways using social media. Write how-to articles for your blog so you can address the problems that your target audience might be facing, and being the expert that you are, you will be able to give them solutions. Create short video series about your products and services, or weekly tips video series and upload them on YouTube and other video sharing sites. Extract a sentence from your article and post that as a status update on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Through these activities, not only will you be building your credibility, but you will be promoting your products and services as well.

Get Found by Your Customers Online. With location-based social networks, you can easily be found by your customers online. What this means for your local business is more exposure both to your website which leads to more foot traffic to your brick and mortar store.

Is your business found on social networks? What channels are you using to interact with your potential clients or customers? I’d love to hear how social media has helped you market your business online. Just share them by writing a comment below.