Social media can be used as a tremendously effective tool for a small business.
It can transform your website into a fierce online competitor, by allowing people to follow your business. If you build up communication channels with your target audience, they'll get to know you better, and become invested as potential buyers. The concept behind effective social media use isn't that complex. It works off of the same principle that you see at a brick and mortar store. People will routinely build a following by word of mouth and recommendation. Social media works on the same idea.
It's all about conversation.
But you also need to develop a habit of recommending your social website to people. The foundation of a solid social following is getting people to recognize that you have one. It's important for a small business, perhaps even more than a larger corporation. Small business operates as the 'little guy,' in the business equation. People will come to like a small business for its dedication, and down-to-earth message. You can emphasize that with social media. Network with your message in mind, and convey to your potential audience that you're different than all the others, in an approachable manner.
If you're not yet familiar with social media, you have at the very least heard the buzz words, Twitter and Facebook, and most likely use one or the other for personal accounts. Twitter works much like a chat client for Web, keeping conversation up-to-date with your latest happenings, and daily tasks. Usually, there isn't much time between individual messages, or 'tweets.' You can also think of the act of posting a message on twitter, 'tweeting,' as text messaging for a social audience, at least in the way that the messages are transferred across the network and received by Twitter users, or 'tweeples' as they call it.
Twitter is about your following.
You start off at basically zero, meaning that you will not have any followers, and you will not be following any other Twitter user. People who follow you will have to decide if they want to or not. On the other hand, if you want to follow another Twitter user, you can do so at your leisure, and that will be added to your 'following' count. To build up your 'followers' count, or the number of people that click 'follow' on your name, takes a diligent effort on your part.
The key to developing an honest-to-goodness Twitter following is by actively engaging in the target market that you want. It also helps if the people that show interest in your business follow your Twitter account, but only if they see value to doing it. This shows that you want to actively engage your potential audience. Why do people follow you? Well, they come to your Twitter account and not only get an update on the daily happenings of the business, but they also receive some valuable insight on the inner-workings of the business, and industry that you serve. By the way, this applies to just about any social media following, and it most certainly does for Facebook.
The what-not-to-do list is long for Twitter.
Because like anything else, people employ silly tactics to up their so-called follower count and reputation. But effectively building a following doesn't mean you auto-follow people, have disinterested and distance family relations follow you, somehow force people close to you in relation to click the follow button, or attract visitors to your Twitter with the promise of cute puppy pictures, or 'the secret to becoming a millionaire,' which by the way is quite common.
Twitter also isn't about the mundane qualities of everyday life, although many people could believe this is true. Every tweet should be interesting enough so that your following will want more later. The best way to get the message out that you actually have a Twitter is to let the people know, politely. Many fly-by-night websites think the best way to do this is by plastering a virtual Sistine Chapel by Michelangelo of 'Follow us on Twitter, etc' images everywhere on their website, as if you didn't get the message the first, second, or fifth time.
A Twitter account is just an extension of your business, or your personality.
Having more 'Follow us' buttons doesn't equal more followers. If your small business has enough reputation to begin with, people will automatically seek out your Twitter and follow you. It's then up to you to keep them interested enough to stay. It also works on expectations. People expect a certain amount of quality from a Twitter. For example, if I subscribe to Conan O'Brien's Twitter, I am going to expect updates that are funny, and to-the-core of what Conan is. The same thing applies to your small business.
Mentioning Conan O'Brien brings up the fact that if you look at his Twitter following you'll notice something odd. He has 1.1 million followers, but is following just 1 person. Due to his popularity on nightly TV, he was able to transfer that to Twitter. He made that one follower the special recipient of his work; she now enjoys a pretty good Twitter following. Think about how this can be successful for your small business. Twitter doesn't just work off your reputation, it works off of all your follower's reputation too. As you add more qualified followers, you gain a virtual 'one up' in terms of your ability to network on Twitter.
Then, once you say something on Twitter, it will go out to your followers, then to theirs, and then to their follower's followers, get the picture? The possibility for exposure is virtually endless on Twitter, if you know how to gain a reputable following, and keep it. But even a small effort could have payoffs. There isn't a Twitter rulebook that says you need a large following, and there aren't any rules keeping you to it. If you have a small business, your Twitter following might just be 10, 20, 100 or so followers, and that's okay. The numbers don't count as much as the following does.
Put in practice, effective use of social media to market your business online is remarkable, in the way that it can drive valuable buyers to your website. But if you have professionals that can help you do even better, that's the best way to win your potential following over. Social media is just one, little aspect of a small business website. The bigger picture is everything that you could possibly do to make your small business succeed on the Web.