The Big Seven

With the use of social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and others, small businesses are connecting to their audiences faster and easier than ever before. Not only do these sites offer public engagement, but ad space that can potentially reach thousands of people in hours. Social media is changing the face of small businesses around the globe. The infographic below, created by Postling, provides an analysis of how small businesses have been using social media. (http://mashable.com/2011/02/14/small-business-social-media-infographic/)

 Not surprisingly, Facebook and Twitter rank well above other social media sites.With millions of members that are checking their feed or tweets multiple times a day, a small business could benefit from the interaction and traffic their internet audiences provide. Many consumers are even beginning to rely on sites like Facebook to get to know your company before they step foot in one of your stores, or go to one of your events. If your company doesn’t have a Facebook or Twitter, they may not take the time to come into your store to discover what your company is about. As a small business, these sites also allow you to reach audiences across the globe that may not have otherwise heard about your establishment.

Several articles floating around the web reiterate the same message. The article “Building Your Blogging and Facebook Empire,” (http://smallbiztrends.com/2011/10/building-your-blogging-and-facebook-empire.html) provides tips and links for small business owners that are getting involved with social media, namely Facebook.

“Just like advertisers, small businesses should be concerned about engagement. How many people are talking about you and your brand on Facebook? This may be the real measure of success when using the social media to market your small business.”

Social media is here to stay. It is changing public relations, marketing and advertising for nearly every company. As we see social media popularity continue to increase, so should the number of small businesses who are taking advantage of all it can do for them and their publics.