Using social media to market your business: the basics

Most small businesses are careful about what type of marketing strategies they invest in. When you have a limited marketing budget, it’s important that you spend it wisely to get the most for your money. Marketing through social media is one of the most versatile and cost-effective strategies that small businesses can use to reach their target audience and boost sales over time. That’s why 97% of marketers are using social media to reach their audiences.

Social media are internet services that let you interact with others and share and create content through online communities.

Social media present great marketing opportunities for businesses of all sizes. You can use social media to:

• promote the name of your brand and business
• tell customers about your goods and services
• find out what customers think of your business
• attract new customers
• build stronger relationships with existing customers.

Advantages of using social media

Social media marketing has many advantages:

• broad reach - social media can reach millions of people all around the world
• ability to target particular groups - many forms of social media (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) allow businesses to target specific groups, often in particular locations
• free or low-cost - many forms of social media are free for business, and paid options are usually low-cost
• personal - social media allow you to communicate on a personal basis with individual customers and groups
• fast - you can quickly distribute information to many people
• easy - you don't need high-level skills or computer equipment to participate in social media. The average person with a standard computer should have no difficulty.

Risks of using social media

Of course, marketing through social media also has its risks. These include:

• wasted time and money for little or no tangible return
• the rapid spread of the wrong kind of information about your business (e.g. incorrect information accidentally posted by you, negative reviews posted by others)
• legal problems if you don't follow privacy legislation and the laws regarding spam, copyright and other online issues

It's important to be aware of these risks and to have strategies in place to avoid them if you decide to get involved in social media marketing.

Getting started with social media

If you aren't already familiar with social media, the terminology and the range of different services can seem daunting at first.

But it's worth learning more. Most social media services are affordable and easy to use, and they can put your business in touch with customers like never before.