Tweet

Social Media and You

Written by: Will Atkinson

Article Overview: Should you be using Twitter, Facebook or MySpace to promote your small business?

Social Media and You

Social media is one of the hottest topics out there right now, and many small retailers are strugging to decide how to use the various outlets and to understand how they might apply to their businesses.

Should you be using Twitter? Should your business have a Facebook fan page? What should you be doing with your website?

The answer to all three is, "It depends."

If you have a local business with a strong following or a unique product set or message, and you want to promote your sales, special events and other news, then social media can definitely help. If you think that a good percentage of your customers are likely to be using some form of social media, then you should seriously consider looking into it.

Setting up a Facebook fan page for your business, and then inviting your best customers to join your Facebook page gives you an easy to way to send out invites to events, and news about promotions. Twitter gives you a similar capability to send out short updates about your business and any relevant news.

You should give your customers some incentive to sign up and follow you on these social media sites, such as a discount or special notice of events and new items, etc. Make these customers feel special and use social media to enhance your customer loyalty programs.

The bottom line is social media is important, and it's here to stay, but you need to figure out which sites are useful to your business, and then set out a realistic strategy for implementing them. Even though most sites are free, your time isn't, so you need to carefully choose and budget your time in order to execute properly. If you can do this though, you should definitely benefit.

I'd love to hear from you about your business and whether or not you're using social media. Check out our site or follow CAP on Twitter @CAPTime.

Related Articles
  “Should I or shouldn’t I”
  Resourcing B2B social media
  Social Media is NOT about Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin
  Legal Marketing: Social Media and Law Firms
  Social Media Gains Momentum for B2B Marketers

Article Tags: bottom line, capability, customer loyalty programs, fan page, page nbsp, promotions, realistic strategy, relevant news



Related Forum Posts
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff
Re: Kevin needs "social glue" ideas - [quote="WebBizIdeas.com":gvtxsu7g]Hi, I like the idea of "10 items that could act as "social glue" because I am an internet marketer. But I agree with the rest that the 10 recent post is nice. Maybe we should open up a new section in the forums on Social Media...or Social Media Marketing. I will tell you that the world is about 1 1/2 behind when it comes to understanding social media. Building a section now will put EvanCarmichael.com is a great position a year down the road when people realize Social Media can produce more traffic than SEO. Jeff[/quote:gvtxsu7g] Hi Jeff, Thanks for the suggestion. Why don't you start a new post (with a poll) to see if there's enough interest in your idea for a social media section?
Re: UPDATES: New Campaign! New Layout! New Ideas! - GT - thanks for the FYI - I'm not sure if we'll put a link back. Something to consider though! Trent - the new category is "Social Network and Media" which was put in to compliment the Online Businesses category that currently exists. Overall the new categories are: - Looking For, Networking and Events - Review My... - Social Network and Media - Brags and Rants These came as a result of Ringo doing research on other forums and thinking about what could be improved on ours to give a better experience for everyone. I hope you enjoy them! David, I'm looking forward to reading your Brag / Rant!
Re: Marketing 2.0 - What Are Your Thoughts - Hi Shri, Thanks for posting this. I also read it and I believe Social Media is here to stay, until the next best thing comes up. Social media proved to be useful for me many times and I think everyone should use it for their business.
Re: Social Media Marketing Ignorance - [quote="vbn411":7qciluxl]Social Media is space that you have to be in to succeed in our current climate. People are going to be discussing your brand / product whether you like it or not, so you might as well join the conversation and add value. [/quote:7qciluxl] I think that's probably one of the most realistic way to think about it. There's no real textbook way of understanding Social Media, it's the networks of people and their interactions that will exist with or without your input. As for Jennifer, You can always have 2 Facebook pages. Many people do. There is also LinkedIn, which is like a professional networking version of Facebook. The only way to know is to try it.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Download a template or see a lawyer?

Work at home Opportunities for the Disabled

Stress: What Causes It and How To Deal With It

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.