HOW SOCIAL MEDIA CAN HELP A SMALL BUSINESS

In today’s world, social media is an important part of business life. While pervasive social media campaigns are usually associated with large, well-established businesses, small businesses can also benefit from utilizing Facebook, Instagram, and other popular sharing sites.

 

SPREADING THE WORD

Social media functions essentially as interactive advertising. Typical television or print advertising is a one-way street. The creator of the advertisement conveys the information to the audience, and the buck stops there. While people may have private conversations about ads they see, there’s no opportunity for extensive audience interaction. However, with social media posts, a vast audience of users can view the content and interact with others on the topic, instilling a much deeper impact than a simple print ad.

 

 

 

With social media, the posts you create act as ads appearing on the sites most often used by internet users. They can persist there for quite some time to be viewed over again, and they can also be shared with people’s networks at the touch of a button. Users’ ability to share content is one of the best features unique to social media websites. When this happens, the information about your business is coming from a source that viewers trust – someone they’re friends with on social media. Small businesses can also leverage social media to expand their market share and get the word out to people who didn’t know about their services before. And getting people excited about a new business can be much more effective with social media versus other advertising methods.

 

SAVING ON LOW-COST METHODS

Posting on social media is typically free; it’s a start contrast to the typical costs for ad space. You can pay for advertisements or boosted posts on most social media sites, but using the typical posting services should be free. You can hire a company to manage your social media presence, but if you’re business is small and strapped for cash, it’s probably best for your team to handle its own social media relations. Information about how to conduct a social media campaign is readily available online for anyone who searches for it. Social media allows any small business to reach an audience size previously reserved for more formal methods of advertising.

 

The frequency of social media interactions is also a benefit to a new or smaller business.
Even if you purchase advertising, you’ll have to pay for each iteration of the advertisement, while social media posts can be shared multiple times without any fees. A twitter account can teach new people about your brand an unlimited number of times each day for free. And your followers can then share your tweets an infinite number of times with each other. There’s truly no limit to the free exposure you can get on social media if you put in the time and effort on your accounts.

 

TAKING THE NEXT STEPS

Social media has the power to take a small business from an unknown entity to a popular trending topic, for free or very little cost. Unquestionably, it’s worth it for small business owners to get involved in social media. Especially when you factor in the unlimited exposure you get from user shares and interactions, it’s obvious that social media is an indispensable tool for new or growing companies.