The Importance of Social Media for a Small Business

Creating and running a small business is not easy in this day and age. There are many different issues that must be addressed that may require creative solutions. These include: how to obtain financing, how to run a business, and how to convince people to buy the product. With all of the issues surrounding a small business owner, it is easy to overlook a key factor that could make a business more noticeable, and increase the bottom line. Yes, I am talking about social media. I know right now you are thinking: “Social media isn’t for me, it is for people who want to share pictures and random thoughts on a forum for everybody to see.” Actually, according to Guerin: “It’s rare that businesses do not have some presence on social media.” (Guerin, 2013) He also shares that of the Fortune 500 companies, fifty percent created and maintained social media websites for their companies. (Guerin, 2013)

There are many reasons why a company would want to create and maintain a social media website, or multiple social media websites. One reason is that it gives the company a forum for their consumers to share information about themselves to include what they prefer when it comes to products and trends. A study conducted by Miller and Washington concluded that most of the information that marketers can obtain from their consumers is shared willingly by the consumer. (Miller & Washington 2013) As shown in this study, over eighty percent of both male and female consumers shared crucial information for any company including branding and shopping preferences. (Miller & Washington 2013) This research is reiterated by Blank who states that the willingness of consumers to volunteer this information allows companies easier means to collect and store data on their consumers. (Blank 2013) The study also states that it helps keep a record of “actual behavior or actual communication in the form of Tweets, emails or blog posts, so researchers don’t have to depend on self-reports and the uncertain memory of respondents.” (Blank 2013) Being that a small business usually does not have a lot of Income for consumer research, it would be a significant advantage to any company to effectively use a social media forum to let information come to the business at a low or absent cost.

Using social media is not only for collecting information about consumers. One of the main reasons to create and maintain an account is to increase the overall value and market the business ethos. (Guerin, 2013) This tactic employs the use of an already widely used social exchange market and gives a company the ability to engage consumers in new product offerings, share information about the business with friends and followers, and by extension, spread the word about who the business is and what it offers. It is important to reiterate that this can be employed as a free (or extremely low-cost) marketing tool. By default, a company also would not need to hire extra marketing personnel that it cannot afford. Instead, the business can use the consumer to maintain an open dialogue with both new and existing consumers about the company, and allows for the interaction with consumers in real time.

Although social media websites may be the last thing on the mind of a new business owner, there is much opportunity in promoting a business, and gathering market research. Joining isn’t hard, it just takes time and effort on the part of the business owner to create and maintain the sites to promote interaction. Although it is extra Work From Home, it is a valuable tool which can take any company from good to great.

References

Guerin, L. (2013). CHAPTER 7: Company-Sponsored Social Media. Smart Policies For Workplace Technologies: Email, Blogs, Cell Phones & More, 133-154.

Miller, R. K., & Washington, K. (2013). PART XII: CONSUMER TRACKING: Chapter 75: SHARING INFORMATION ON SOCIAL MEDIA. In, Consumer Behavior (pp. 456-460). Richard K. Miller & Associates.

Blank, G. (2013). Blurring the boundaries: New Social Media, New Social Science (NSMNSS). International Journal Of Market Research, 55(3), 461-464. doi:10.2501/IJMR-2013-040