Small Businesses in Social Media

The days of traditional advertising as the only way to sell your product or service are long gone.  Gone are the days of splitting advertising budget between print, radio, television and outdoor advertising and hoping for good word of mouth from satisfied customers.  If a vast majority of companies today share one thing, it is their love for social media marketing.  This is especially true for small and medium businesses.

A new research from BIA/Kelsey found that small and medium-sized businesses today rely more on social media marketing than in any other form of traditional advertising.  The study showed how almost 75% of these small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) invest in some sort of social media marketing.  Whether its Facebook, Linked In, Pinterest, Instagram, or Twitter, most SMBs use these outlets as promotional tools for their business.

Social media marketing has become a strong tool to reach out to clients through a more personal approach.  While a client is casually browsing through their friends’ Facebook profiles, their explore page on Instagram, or a stranger’s board on Pinterest, they come across different companies’ advertising efforts. These efforts include informational posts, promotional pictures, prizes, coupons, and offers with the intention of reeling the client in and grabbing their attention enough for them to reach out to the company.

While browsing through Instagram this morning (purely for the purpose of this blog post, not because I am a social media junkie… well, maybe) I came across a huge amount of companies advertising their products to my little personal photos page.  From Alex and Ani stores all over the country showing their jewelry, to my favorite bakery back at San Juan promoting their new lunch menu, and La Concha Resort posting beach pictures that made me homesick, all these companies’ marketing efforts got mixed together between my high school classmate’s wedding pictures and my brother’s picture of my dog.

When approached in the right way, social media can be a great way to sell products or services for small and medium-sized businesses.  Because of its instant nature and fast and familiar navigation for the consumer, social networks are the new marketing channel, with many growth opportunities and so many (virtual) places to go from here.