Brief Thoughts about Social Media for Small Businesses

Social media can be an excellent marketing platform for small businesses, especially when it is used as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy. I like to think of social media as another marketing tool that I can use to expand my reach and more deeply engage with customers. It is a terrific platform for broadcasting promotional offers and directing traffic to your website. But most people are unaware that it is also a great research tool, a way to find out what your customers and prospects want and monitor what is being said about your business. There are a number of ways social media can be used to either enhance or replace traditional methods or ways of doing business-such as using it for customer service, research, advertising to a more targeted audience, generating leads, building trust or getting digital coupons to your prospects to drive almost immediate business. It takes time and a good strategy sprinkled in with some patience but for those disciplined to learn it and use it their efforts will pay off. See my article 5 Most Effective Ways Small Businesses Can Use Social Media and sign up for my newsletter at www.1stpositionmarketing.com for more information and advice about social media and tips and tools to manage it all.