Social media has revolutionized the way a business can market and promote itself to its customers. Apart from the low costs involved, social media offers a number of benefits to small businesses. Let’s look at how small businesses can grow using social media.

Recommendations

People find out about businesses on social media sites through their family, friends, colleagues and other contacts. In other words, these businesses come recommended to them from people that they already know. This carries a lot more credibility than an unknown link on search results or the testimonials of complete strangers. Thus, people are likely to take a keener interest in businesses they find through social media.

Increase Visibility

Large companies can afford to throw away money to catch the eye of their target audience. This is not a viable option for small businesses with limited budgets. Social media offers a completely free way of increasing visibility and creating brand awareness for your products and services to a large slice of your target audience.

More Palatable

Customers have grown sick and tired of in-your-face advertising and hard selling. In fact, they tend to avoid companies who disrespect their privacy and freedom to choose. Social media enables you to approach your customers in a far more palatable manner- one that does not put them off your business on one hand, and on the other awakens their interest in your company.

Building Relationships

Social media has played a very large role in taking away the sterility of the Internet by enabling people to connect and communicate. Small business can take advantage of this new dimension to build strong relationships with their customer base. Stronger client relationships with clients and customers can only lead to advantageous benefits like repeat business, top of the mind recall and references and recommendations.

Two Way Channel

Unlike most other forms of business promotion, social media is the only resource that allows for two way communication between the business and its customers. This can be useful in a number of ways. On one hand, you can communicate all the new steps your business is taking and the progress it is making with your customers. On the other hand, you can also provide them with a support structure. Finally, your customers can also communicate their grievances and complaints and provide you with valuable feedback that you can then use to improve your products and services as well as the image of your business.

What Your Customers Want

People today know exactly what they want and what products and services they would like to see in the future. Instead of settling for what is on offer, they want their demands to be heard by businesses. A savvy businessman will learn what the customers want and provide them with exactly that instead of trying to make them settle for what he has to offer. Social media enables you to stay ahead of the competition by always keeping you in touch with what your customers want.