Using social media to help your small business

Twitter and Facebook are great places to meet your customers, test new ideas, gain information, and keep up with trends. What makes social media sites so unique is that they focus more on building a relationship with your customers versus marketing to them. As of April 2009, e Marketer projects that Twitter will have over 18 million users by 2010. This site is growing at an impressive rate, especially as more businesses are flocking to it and customers are flocking to it just to find out what all the fuss is about.

Social media is a great way to talk to your customers. Find out how you can make your company or your products better. Constantly look for ways to improve your business versus looking for new customers. Pay attention to what people are saying on social media sites, it does make an impact and it will make a difference on your company. One of the nice features of social media sites is that they are free to use and you can remain on the site as long as you do not violate any of their rules.

If you are trying to promote your business on social media sites, you need to do it tastefully. Don't flat out tell your customers that you are trying to sell products to them. Instead look for subtle ways to bring it up. Perhaps you can participate in discussion groups and you can respond to questions and then you can quickly promote your product at the end. Simply make a statement to your customers to let them know how your product will benefit their life in some way.

In order to become successful with social media sites, you need to get on them. It is important to get and stay active. Customers want to see new posts, discussion threads, and articles. Let them know that you use the site and you care about your customers. If they send you a message, try to respond to it quickly. If you notice customers are asking a lot of the same questions, consider posting a blog that features common questions. Use social media sites to find out what your customers are talking about and look for ways to address this. This is a great way to find topics for blog posts and to build your online credibility.

A great way to gain more exposure on social media sites is to start inviting people to participate in group discussions. Set a time each day for when you plan to be online and let everyone know and then send out the topic that you will be discussing. By doing this, you will be taking the lead in your industry and letting people know about your company and setting yourself apart at the company "in the know" on certain topics.

Getting a bunch of people to participate will start to attract more customers as they get to actually join in on the conversation. Have a consistent approach to the discussion threads. This way every employee can log in and respond to some of the questions and they will sound practically the same as if you were responding to the questions.

Always remember that social media is not a place to sell your products and your company. It is a place to talk to your customers and build relationships with them. This is the place to establish your reputation in the industry. Use these sites as a way to share your expertise and educate your customers. As you begin to build your reputation, your customers will start to follow it and pretty soon you will have a solid reputation in the industry.

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