Social Media Software
Like with many other small/local business owners you’re probably wondering whether investing in a social strategy would be worth the time any money? After all who has the budget of brands like Coca Cola, Nike, and Starbucks? With lots of media attention on Facebook and Twitter, these social networks seem hard to resist but present a daunting challenge ahead.
There are promising times ahead for small businesses that are willing to commit to a social media strategy. With reference to the Social Media Marketing Industry Report, small businesses are seeing the greatest results.
Top Benefits for Small Business Owners
The graph below (click to enlarge) shows a range of benefits identified by all marketers. We see:
• Increased exposure (88%)
• Increased traffic/subscribers (72%)
• Improved search ranking (62%)
• New business partnerships (56%)
• Generated qualified leads (51%)
• Reduced overall marketing expense (49%)
• Improve sales (43%)
The Power Of Endurance
Time is a key success factor for social media success. The question is how much time?
- The marketers with 3 or more years of experience show the greatest results, with 80% seeing improved results, although around 1/4 of businesses see generated leads within 1 year!
- On a short scale, the consistent effort required each week is only 6 hours. You are twice as likely to see leads generated than those who spend 5 hours or fewer per week.
Tools Of The Trade
With a wide variety of social networks to choose from and an endless selection of tools/analytics, what are the generic tools that every marketer must have in their tool kit?
- Almost all marketers use four different networks: Facebook, Twitter, Linked In and blogs.
Video Marketing Increase
Proving that video is one of the best ways to capture your audience’s attention with the hope of becoming viral.
There is no doubt that social media will play an increasing role in small and large business operations, after all, Facebook has a community greater than 500 million in all corners of the globe. With the rapid advancement in technology and mobile, social interconnectivity will become more prominent.
