Does Social Networking Really Help My Small Business?

Social networking has become the newest approach to be promoted by business marketing experts. However, many small business owners do not understand the workings of Twitter and Facebook well enough to be comfortable using them as a major part of their marketing efforts. Like the internet, social networking appears to be here to stay and is important that business owners consider using this valuable tool to increase their profits.

Promoting Your Small Business

Marketing is about making your business known to potential customers. This is where using services such as Twitter and Facebook can significantly increase sales. The ultimate goal of social network marketing is to create interest in your company and bring customers to your door, whether it is a traditional brick-and-mortar store or an internet-based business.

Facebook and Twitter can be effectively used to announce new products, promote seasonal sales and management promotions. Frequent network posts create a following, which increases website traffic and increased website traffic translates into improved sales opportunities. For example, a post announcing a special discount code to followers will likely be forwarded to followers of your own network of followers. Posts can be used to solicit followers through announcing product giveaways and contests.

Social network marketing is an excellent method of promoting small businesses. It is efficient and does not require a great deal of time or effort. Within a few minutes, it is possible to send out a message that can reach literally thousands of potential customers. Each post should include a link to your small business website. Interesting posts are forwarded by followers to their own followers, further increasing the number of potential customers a single post message can reach.

Website Design

Social network marketing for smaller businesses is only as effective as the small business website customers are directed to visit. Small business websites should be designed to integrate both targeted keywords and long-string keyword phrases into content and page titles. Include keywords in product descriptions, text content and video tags and descriptions.

Small business website design should also include a link to both Facebook and Twitter to allow visitors to “follow” or “like” a business. Using high quality website design also makes visitors more likely to return multiple times. Integrate easy-to-read fonts and website design colors that enhance the viewing experience for visitors. Avoid the use of loud colors and extensive flash graphics.

In addition to social network efforts, a good marketing plan should include a wide variety of other methods and approaches. Article marketing can be used to generate interest in products and services and to establish leadership and industry expertise. Press releases can be used to announce new products, services or promote product features. Other social network sites, such as FourSquare and YouTube are excellent sources of internet traffic and encourage followers.

In today’s world, it is almost impossible to be in business and not integrate the internet into a marketing plan. By including social networking sites, small businesses can easily generate interest in their products and services without investing a great deal of time and money in the process.