With uncertain economic times, small businesses have to keep their wallets tight to keep their books out of the red. In order to keep your head above water, you have to advertise. Although costly, it is necessary to boost sales, grow your business, and have a positive impact on the community around you.
Most small businesses return to traditional advertising, such as the newspaper, Yellow Pages, and radio. But some businesses have forsaken these advertising staples all together, and created successful marketing campaigns online — for far less money.
Facebook and Twitter present a unique opportunity for small business owners. There are currently more than 1 million small business profiles on Facebook which reach out to millions of customers everyday.
Businesses with fewer than five employees “see Facebook and others as a way to reach targeted consumers” while saving marketing expenditures during a rough economy, says Darren Waddell, vice president of marketing at MerchantCircle.
According to the MerchantCircle report, “More than half of the nearly 10,000 respondents to the survey say they plan to create or maintain a social-networking presence in the next three months.”
Some businesses have found a degree of success with their online exposure.
John Swartz writes in USA Today, “Online sales at Southern Jewlz have doubled in six months since recent college grad Randa Yezak, 23, started using Twitter and e-commerce software. Her 2-year-old business also has 8,000 fans on Facebook.”
As with any success stories, we must add the tag “results are not typical.” HipChat, a group chat and messaging service for companies, reports that more than 90% of the 2,000 small businesses it works with use social media, but few have seen a business benefit.
Fact is, Facebook and Twitter offer a way to effectively communicate with consumers interested specifically in your product or services. Small businesses are the only way to steer our economy back on track, and a majority of them are now using social networking to do so.
Will you join them?