Many local business owners are social media savvy. At the same time, I still come across several local business owners who are confused and bewildered by social media. The contents of this article will help shed some light on the different options available to you is your new to the social media world.
Social Media Sites have been used by all ages and continue to grow in every direction. For many individuals new to social media, they often think it’s primarily for keeping in contact with people and finding people they’ve lost touch with. However, this isn’t exactly true these days as more and more businesses of all sizes are getting involved and incorporating social media as part of their online marketing efforts.
Many social media sites have become very business oriented. If you’re a local business owner, and you’re looking to spread the word about your business, then social media sites are just what you need. A few types of web based social media that many businesses are using to advertise their business these days include:
- Blogs
- Google +
Blogs
Bloggers use blogging sites for a variety of reasons. Some use it as a journal and keep it private, while others publicize what they do for the world to see. This is something to consider if you’re a local business owner trying to tell people about your business and yourself on a regular basis. Actually, it’s a must. Updating your blog with information about products, your business, occasional success stories, and so forth is a great way to interest people and attract people to your local business. It’s also great to use blogs to educate people and teach them more about what your products are used for and why they would be beneficial to customers. Including links that drive people to your local business website is a great way to drive traffic to your ‘home base’ online, as well.
Facebook used to be a social network with a focal point of college students. Today, nearly anyone can have a Facebook account around the world. What’s even better, Facebook now has the option to create a business page for your local business, and they’ve done a lot to provide business worthy advertising, set up, etc. Facebook is a great way to share information with other businesses on Facebook, as well as friends and acquaintances you know are customers to your local business. You can build your brand through promotions, viral posts, and events, as well.
Twitter is a social networking site where you can advertise your business, as well. Many people use Twitter as a social network for keeping in touch, but many businesses use it to announce products and information about their business. It’s a great way to connect with certain people, and start up conversations with whomever you choose by adding a certain character at the beginning of Twitter names. The goal with Twitter is to build up a following with as many other Twitter users, as well. By doing so, you have access to more and more people who can share and retweet your posts for a greater reach.
LinkedIn users have found that using this social network has helped improve their business by networking with other business professionals. It’s a great way to become influential and begin making new contacts and finding referrals. It’s important to make sure your LinkedIn profile is 100 percent complete, or your local business’s success won’t be as great as it could be.
Google +
Google + is the newest social networking site listed here. It’s grown quickly since its inception last year, but hasn’t caught on as quickly as Facebook did, and likely won’t given that people are sort of ‘stuck’ on Facebook when it comes to networking with the world. At the same time, it is a part of Google which provides several integrated products to help boost your local business exposure in the search engines to boost search engine rankings.
Each of these social networking platforms listed here are compatible with different applications allowing you to get the full use of the sites for your local business. Having strong networks is important, and will help your local business out tremendously, so start with at least one social networking platform, optimize it fully, and then add on other platforms to build and grow your business.
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Todd
February 23, 2012 at 3:38 pm
Thank you so much for the information it was usefull. i was looking to broaden my horizons in the world of Internet Marketing for the local business operator in hopes of finding ways and means to better accomplish this task, as I am starting a local consulting firm to assist business owners achieve this.
I will bookmark this site and I look forward to future posts.
Todd
Danny
February 24, 2012 at 9:00 am
That’s a nice list. Very extensive. I hope more people will start using Google+ as it has a lot of potential. But it might still be a little bit too complicated.
Alex
February 25, 2012 at 1:23 pm
I hope it will inspire many more people. Thanks for this use full article.
sravani
March 15, 2012 at 6:16 am
Very nice information.. social media is promoting many local business. i also prefer if any body are in need of any services visit:http://yellowpages.infoonlinepages.com/
Trevor
March 22, 2012 at 1:07 pm
I had awareness of all of these before but you have clearly defined them here quite nicely. I quite addicted to trying to increase my linkedin presence so it is good to know that increasing it to 100% completion was worth it.