The arguments you hear against a small business website are the same you hear against small business social media; “Where can the small business owner find the time and resources to use social media properly? How do I keep up with all of the changes? Where do I even start?”
Social Media is critical to helping customers find you online.
You start with knowing the benefits social media can bring to a small business.
Bring increased exposure to your business
It’s a great way for customers to find you. Social Media is today’s “Word-of-Mouth.” And you know how well that works for a small business. Social Media allows you to leverage that word-of-mouth to a much larger audience and immediately. It allows your fans to tell potential customers what you do well and how much knowledge you have in your line of work or how much fun they had at your place of business. It will even help differentiate your business helping you compete with large companies and brands.
Being active in social media conversations helps you compete with small businesses and brands that can be sold from anywhere in the world. Even small businesses with a small geographic reach are competing with businesses with a global reach. Make sure you keep the playing field level.
Increase the traffic to your website
Social Media is now affecting website searches more than ever before. Just recently, (Feb 2015) Twitter came to an agreement with Google to allow tweets to show up in search results. This means the more relevant conversations you are having on Twitter, the more likely your tweets could show up in searches within the keywords you have chosen for your business. That’s just one example of what Social Media does for website traffic.
When you post sharable website content to your SM platforms, the more possibilities someone will see it and want to click to go see your website. It’s really about the conversation that lures a visitor to your website where you can then track visitors in a more useful way.
Reduce marketing and advertising costs.
According to a Social Media Today annual survey, nearly half of those who spend at least six hours per week on social media efforts saw a benefit of reduced marketing expenses. At least 57% of businesses with 10 or fewer employees agreed social media reduced marketing expenses.
Even with paid social advertising, the cost is so much less than traditional ads.
Develop brand recognition and proving yourself an authority in your industry
Establishing yourself and your business as experts in your field is an effective way to attract people to your social media platforms and your website. Most of the time, when people take to the internet for research of a product, they are looking to solve a problem. If information they find on your SM site leads them to investigate further on your website, there is a greater potential for a sale.
Improve sales
More than half of marketers who’ve been using social media for at least three years report it has helped them improve sales. 64% of Twitter users and 51% of Facebook users are more likely to buy the products of brands they follow online.
Listen to what is going on in your industry
By listening to what is going on in your industry it makes it easier to gain marketplace insight. SM also makes it easier to find out what your customers and potential customers want and need.
Bottom Line
A Social Media presence is a validation of a legitimate business in today’s social world.