How Can Social Media Help Small Businesses - Research Paper Example

How can social media help small businesses to succeed and become bigger? During the 21st century, things have evolved tremendously and so has business. Initially, business was confined to the boundaries of an office or an organization which hired employees or set ups that required some prior investment to initiate. Entrepreneurship is a new and daunting concept which gives young individuals a chance to explore new possibilities and, thus, allowing them to be innovative with their businesses. With the recent boom seen in the progress and usage of social media with millions of people having regular access to it, small businesses or home-based businesses that do not require a very large set up are gaining immense popularity these days. The reason behind this great success is the diversified and extensive platform social media provide to their users. Success does not only refer to good sales or handsome income, but another important factors that incur little or no expense over marketing or other legal formalities. It needs to be noted here that social media are not just limited to social networking sites but are very extensive involving the use of various modern techniques. The most popular and the most intriguing social media forum is Facebook which is a marketing platform and start up point of various small scale businesses. Thus in a nutshell, social media have added greatly to the progress and propagation of small scale businesses. Firstly, social media help a small scale businessman to develop a complete marketing strategy. This is one of the most important steps to propagate the business. The convenient platform of social media provided allows individuals to develop a healthy and cheap marketing strategy. This helps businessmen to outline their ideal customer or, basically, their target market and audience. It determines how and what makes them distinct from others in the same field offering the same services, as well as why one should choose them. This gives the customer a story to relate or a glimpse of the services and facilities that await them. Thus, "Social Media for Marketing is perhaps one of the areas of business where social media may prove to be very useful. It can help your reach more markets, and serve as a guide so that you can target your marketing strategies accordingly." (Juon, Dunrie and Buerkle, 56) Secondly, social media aid in developing public relations, as they are quite important to develop a small scale business and make it prosper. Building up on public relations and customer support by using social media is very common these days. This does not only involves queries, orders or details etc. but also helps individuals to evaluate the response and popularity of the object. The conversations or blogging done on these platforms allow people to understand the product better; if there are any critiques or negative feedback, that can also restrict the customer from doing business. These trends have also evolved the concept of customer services in recent times. Hence, if a social media is used to make good public relations with healthy sales and positive feedback, then that can propagate the business more. "A strong public relations foundation, using feedback from publics, and enhancing the sense of community can make a good digital media plan a great one." (Stoldt, Dittmore and Branvold, 88) It has been observed that through social media, one can engage the customers. "Such a raft of activity surrounding social media it is no wonder that business is beginning to recognize the need to engage social media and overcome any associated fears in adopting this technology to communicate with potential clients." (Davies, 175) Through various promotional strategies that are being used these days like competitions and sharing of the page etc. has caused great success to businesses. Today, page owners or, in other words, entrepreneurs offer certain incentives which encourage users or customers to promote the business. These incentives might cost the entrepreneur a lot, but it certainly helps them to sell and promote their page which apparently results in an increase in sale and engagement of the clients in the business. Promotion is very important when it comes to small scale businesses. Social media provides a wide range of possibilities for any business owner as business can generate more revenues and success when they are associated with any social media. It is known that sometimes social media are ambiguous, being a network which works in both ways. At one time it lets an individual meet and deal with many other new people and creates a lot of opportunity for him. While, on the contrary, some people might wander around the vast possibilities social media offer. Social media have become a revolutionary tool to establish a business. "The 2011 study proved that the time is a key success factor for social media marketers. Spend more time (wisely, of course) and you are likely to see greater results." (Strauss, 441) The entrepreneur who joins these social media should keep this in mind that the strategy to use to social media for business and fun are two very different things. The only goal and objective for a business to use social media is to grow the business. Social media is known to be the most obvious reason which helps the small business to be successful and one step ahead of their competitors. "48% of self-employed and small businesses owners saw improved sales as a direct result of their social media efforts." (Strauss, 441) It helps businesses to improve their sales and generate more revenues. "The self-employed (59%) were more likely than others to see reductions in marketing costs when using social media marketing." (Strauss, 441) Social media marketing needs a lot of experience when it comes to promoting a business. Concerning about the promotion of a brand or product in the targeted audience; social media represent a platform which has done a lot for the small business owners and it has even transformed some tiny businesses into giant ones. "Social media and customer care are rapidly coming together." (Safko, 37) However, managing a business on social media needs a lot of effort. It is not an easy task to run a business in front of the billions of people. Experience counts when it comes to managing a business on the social media marketing. "Those with 3 or more years of experience in social media marketing are seeing the greatest results [but] only 25% of those just getting started in social media saw new partnerships form, as compared to 80% or more of those with 3 or more years of experience." (Strauss, 256) Social media tools are only time consuming and cost effective. Basically, social media have become an advanced and a revolutionary tool when it comes to establishing a business. Every business owner who wants their brands or products to be interacted with the target audience must have to be on the four main applications such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and a blog. Utilizing such tools depends on the targeted niche of a business. This would let more traffic and a better brand awareness which will enhance the chances of success of the business in the future. "Fortunately, social media need not be all consuming. In the social media marketing industry report, 75% of those spending as little as 6 hours per week on social media marketing saw increased traffic." (Strauss, 198) It is one of the best options when it comes to presenting and promoting a business globally. For small businesses, social media are usually used more actively and firmly in order to grow the business. Hence, in a nutshell, social media are playing a very important and vital role in growing and increasing the business. They not only increase sales but also provide an easy and safe platform for marketing. Managing a business on a social media is not a short term goal or a short time occupation, but it is a task which needs to be handled and done properly on regular basis in order to have great results. Social media can benefit a small business in several ways as it humanizes the company’s brand, monitors and analyzes the brand’s reputation and performance, as well as increases the name of the business in search engine optimization (SEO). Overall, social media provide a great platform for all the small business owners and enhance the chances of progress and propagation of small scale businesses. Works Cited Davies, Chris. Winning Client Trust: The Retail Distribution Review and the UK Financial Services Industry's Battle for Their Clients' Hearts and Minds. St. Albans: Academy Press, 2011. Internet resource. Juon, Catherine, Greiling Dunrie, and Catherine Buerkle. Internet Marketing: Start-to-finish. Indianapolis, Ind: Que, 2012. Print. Safko, Lon. The social media bible: tactics, tools, and strategies for business success. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2010. Print. Stoldt, Clayton, Stephen Dittmore, and Scott Branvold. Sport Public Relations, 2nd Edition: Managing Stakeholder Communication. 2012. Print. Strauss, Steven D. The small business bible: everything you need to know to succeed in your small business. 2nd ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2008. Print. Read More