The importance of Social Media on Small Businesses in 2017

Do you remember when you hear the term “Word of Mouth” for the first time? Well, let me tell you it’s still as important today, as it was years ago. The only thing is that a word changed, now it goes as “Word of Mouse”.

The reality of 2017 is that the way we do business today has changed, buyers are well informed and they can buy anything they want just by typing something on their cell phone. They don’t even need a computer anymore.

Big corporations learn this years ago and took advantage of this, they created powerful Websites that include E-Commerce and Social Media integration. That without saying that they install powerful trackers on their websites that register your behavior when you are navigating through their web pages.

Do you think it was a coincidence that you made a search for a iPhone 7 and now everywhere you go on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or any other Website you see iPhone 7 ads? Or ads from all cell phone service providers?

No coincidence there my friends, you were tracked and now you are being followed, sounds scary no? Well, don’t be scared, it just cookies, not the sweet ones, but little bits of code they install on their websites, that way the can see what you search for and hit you up with advertising to try to make you do the purchase.

Now, talking about that, the same Big corporations know how much time you spend on Social Media and how you “Share” those funny videos with your friends, and they also know that they need to create a presence right there where you spend your time. People are not going as much to the Mall as they use to, so they are bringing the Mall to you.

They started with their Websites, and then identify that their customers are on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube, and they started putting their ads there.

Small business owners forget about this most of the time, they have a poor online presence and don’t even mention Social Media. One mistake I see often is that Small Business Owners use their personal accounts for their business and when a customer is checking out their products, they can also see pictures of them at the beach, on a birthday and even at the club.
You should keep your business pages as professional as you can, put valuable content, tips, pictures of your work, show how great you are at what you do.

You should also be careful with the grammar, even if the customer don’t care, you should, it’s your business and everything related to it should be as great as you are.

Here are a couple of suggestions for you:
• Create a Business Page for Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google+, and YouTube
• Make your goal to post something new every day, but not more than 2 or 3 times per day.
• Give helpful tips to your viewers, they will thank you for it and it shows your expertise.
• If you don’t have the time to manage your Social Media, hire a company to do it for you, or assign it to an employee.
• Post pictures of your facilities, works done, employees, etc…

Small Business that use Social Media correctly are well known on their communities, the best thing is that while some of your followers don’t need your products or services, they will have your name on their minds when a friend need a product or service you can provide.

The best thing about Social Media is that it’s FREE, and you can post as much as you want, as long as you don’t post more than 2 or 3 times per day, you don’t want to be considered as a spammer by your followers.

One thing to keep in mind is that Social Media is an excellent tool, but the main purpose is to direct your potential customers to your Business Website where you can elaborate more on what they need from you. There they will find detailed information about your company, your contact information, address, etc.

Always remember to hire a company to create the Website for your Business, there is more to creating a Website than just a “Do it Yourself” page. There are things like Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Graphic Design for the visual, content writing, and other things that will affect the performance of your page. You don’t want your Website to show on page 400 of Google, right?
You can find Web Design companies with prices as low as $399 that includes everything you need, and you can concentrate on what you do best, running your business.

So, don’t get left behind, start your Social Media strategy today and let us know how it went.