Using social web is probably the most cost effective marketing tool available that allowed businesses to manage brand reputation, advertise, served customer, broadcast, and network (Fine, 2010). The social media has become a widespread phenomenon and global trend because of the popularity of Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook (Hinchcliffe & Kim, 2012). In the recent study conducted by LinkedIn, 94% of small businesses use social media as a marketing tool and 49% use it for research to grow business (Weiss, 2014). The social media maybe cheap but it is not easy to implement. Many small business owners still hesitate to implement it because of lack of knowledge. Small business owners also fear the cost of time to be invested in social media. Implementing social media in business requires operational, technological, and cultural changes. It is a long term process that should be implemented with the overall marketing plan. (Fine, 2010).
Below are the suggested four main ways how small business owners can succeed using social media:
1. Listen to customers and audience
Small business owners should create a social media strategy not solely focusing on marketing and sales. While the main objective of marketing strategy using social media is about increasing sales, it needs to start with a conversation. It is a mistake to spend the majority of small business owners’ time promoting just about the business. There is a need for small business owners to listen to the customers instead of just sending out irrelevant messages to social media. Small business owners should not use social media to blast news and updates only about their business. Listening and responding timely to customers is the best way to build a loyal following ...
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Marketing through Social Media (Exploratory Essay) Throughout the ages there have been many intriguing ways that businesses have portrayed their product or services for accessibility. Recently, businesses have been researching how to market the businesses product through the World Wide Web. With websites such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, it started becoming popular within the past 20 Years. People have started to rely heavily on the internet over the past decade, whether it be for searching for information on products or people.
Among the billions of social media users, there is a percentage dedicated to businesses who use social media as part of their marketing strategy. The sheer number of people who use services like Facebook and Instagram on a daily
Clemmitt, Marcia. "Social Media Explosion." CQ Researcher 25 Jan. 2013: 81-104. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
Sometimes the best way to see if your business needs help with social media is to get your hands dirty with a social media evaluation. Although you might not be a social media expert.yet, you can still use these questions to see how to improve your presence. 1) See what social media channels your business is already on. Every business, even B2b, should have Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. These are the most popular social networks and having a presence on these channels is necessary for your business reputation.
Social media avenues are a new, upcoming, and popular way to advertise for businesses and for people to connect to each other. Alexis Ohanian once said that "Being effective at social media, whether for business or personal use, means capturing people who have short attention spans. They 're only a click away from a picture of a funny cat, so you have to make your thing more compelling than that cat. And that can be a high bar." (Ohanian) Powerful usage of social media can have a big impact.
The writer finds social media is important in her current organization, Modern Business Concepts, Incorporated (MBC). With small business organizations such as hers, social media is important in spreading information on who the company is and what they do. Also as a business-to-business sales and marketing company, spreading the word is important in gaining customers and potential employees. Ucok (2014) uses research and experiments to prove how social media is essential to marketing. These platforms were essential in Ucok’s research, resulting in higher response with marketing campaigns proving “the importance of social media in marketing strategy and communication” (Ucock, 2014, p. 95).
Businesses can benefit from social media through cost reduction by reducing staff working hours and increasing revenue. Social media marketing is the fastest means of getting words out about a business or product, that is why eventually all businesses are buying the initiative. Most marketers who are already established in the new social media initiative are beginning to implement their own tactics, which has brought social media to a greater height than it was before. These popular websites could be a great approach for companies and customers to improve their communications by applying them to computers and mobile devices. Social media marketing is a term not really known by many people.
Secondly, the social media has made it easier for businesses and business people such as bankers, business owners, brands, and even celebrities to communicate faster and to get things accomplished. Through social media interaction networks such as Twitter, Instagram, What...
The first advantage of using social media in business is increasing brand awareness. Social media can help business to build their brand awareness by increasing interactions with a business brand. Brand awareness means the total percent of a target people who know the company exists and what the company offers of products or services. When the brand awareness is increased, the possibility of buying is increased. Thus, efforts should be made to make the brand a part of the consciousness of customers. For example, Coca- Cola is one of the best companies that enjoy unusual...