Going social – time to push your brand

For many small business owners, social media may seem like another world. In reality it is, but that shouldn’t stop you from using it to promote and push your business message. As a business owner, elements like budgeting, finding small business accounts, and your yearly forecasts may feel like second nature. When it comes to social media, even if you feel like you’re stepping out of your comfort zone, it doesn’t mean that it isn’t for you.

It’s time for your business to evolve. You may already use web conferencing with video to speak to clients overseas, but are you getting enough out of your online options? A couple of years ago if one of your suppliers asked you to try a video conferencing call, it may have seemed like stepping out of your comfort zone. But it’s necessary for your business to evolve. The small business landscape is competitive, you need to continually grow and change. If you ignore social, it could be to your peril; it’s time to go social.

People are there already
The most popular social media sites have millions of users, with some of them being amongst the most visited sites online. If there is a huge volume of people using them day in day out, there is massive potential to make them aware of your brand and drive customers to your business.

Easy promotion
Driving promotions through social media channels is the easiest way to make people aware of your brand. The beauty of social media is that it is free, making it the cheapest medium of reaching a wide audience who may be interested in your promotions. While a TV ad is a significant expense, social isn’t.

The personal touch
Your social activity shouldn’t just be limited to promoting your products, it’s also the perfect platform to interact with your customers and offer more of a personal touch. If customers feel like they can identify with brands, they’ll keep coming back.

SEO benefits
Social is having more and more of an impact on SEO, so while you may think tweeting and shouting about your product through social mediums doesn’t impact on your search rankings; in actual fact it does. Setting up a Google+ account and actively using it, can potentially have an immediate impact on your Google rankings. It’s worthwhile doing it as soon as possible.

Lead generation
You can use social to get more customers. Offering exclusive offers to your Facebook fans and Twitter followers can potentially boost sales as well as create brand awareness.

Market research
Rather than spending capital on market research, you can do it for free on social media sites. Engage your customers and ask them to comment, reply to them and get a conversation going. It all comes back to the personal touch.

It’s time to get social.

Jane Tchan is editor of SmallBizPod. She has more than 30 years of experience gained from working across a diverse range of industries, including tourism and leisure, retailing, sports sponsorship and food. During that time she has edited a variety of publications and online media http://www.smallbizpod.co.uk