Why Small Businesses Need Social Media

11 Nov Why Small Businesses Need Social Media

A lot of small businesses make the common mistake of thinking that social media doesn’t impact their business. It is usually not a priority for small businesses because it does not typically generate direct leads and revenue. There is a lot of solid information about why every business should be doing a social media strategy but this blog is going to focus on the three basic overlooked reasons why you as a small business owner should be running social media.

1. It’s expected: I cannot stress this enough, it is expected for your business, no matter how small to have a website and a social program. One of the first things a potential lead does now is look for the website and then the Facebook page. Especially if you are a very small business, a Facebook page that has updated content and posts is crucial to connect with your target audience. Local businesses use social media to spread awareness about their business and it helps build a brand within a community without trying to rank in the search engines right off the bat.

2. It’s the new word-of-mouth: This brings me to my next point. Why do potential customers look for your social profiles after they look for your website? Social is the new word-of-mouth. On Facebook and other social media you have the visibility to see if you have friends or connections with a business. This is a trust signal in the sign of the user. For example, if I’m looking to buy a car and I see that my uncle Jason has “like” a local used car lot in my area, I will instinctively trust this company more willingly.

3. Communication with Customers: People want to rant about businesses. If you are a small business and do not have a social media page, unhappy customers will rant about your business on their personal page and this will be much more visible and hurtful to your reputation. Some companies might think that having a social media page is open season for rough comments from less than happy customers, which is half true. If you have a page and a customer writes something negative about your business on your page you can address the issue with them right away. More importantly, other customers and potential customers will respect your responses to these customers. If it gets really out of hand though, you can delete it. This should be a last resort though. Transparency and admitting when a problem with the business occurred will build trust with your followers.

Social media is very important with building your brand awareness for small business as well as keeping the lines of communication open to customers. Some small businesses actually start with a social media page and then build a website as social media does get the word out faster to your target audience. If your small business is in it for the long haul however, make sure you have both. They work hand-in-hand to build trust signals with your target audience.