birangaas: 5 Social Media Sites My Small Business Needs to Be On ...

Social media is big, so small businesses that want to grow and gain exposure need to take advantage of the trend.

How important is it for small businesses to socialize online?

Considering that an August 2012 study by the Pew Research Center revealed that more than 60 percent of men and 75 percent of women daily use social media for networking, equating to millions of people on the Internet, small businesses need to be where the people are.

Where Should We Be?

According to various social media professionals, the top 5 social media sites every small business should be on include the following, in alphabetical order:

Facebook:? Who doesn?t know about Facebook? It?s one of the most popular social media sites online?approaching one billion users in early 2013?not only for personal use, but also for business use. Businesses can set up ?fan? pages and attract potential customers or clients who ?like? the page and follow it. Facebook is also useful for businesses to organize and share the news about public events or gatherings, or other company-related news.
Google+ (G+):? The newcomer in 2011, Google+ appears to be the search engine giant?s entry in the social media world, with the power of its financial resources and reputation behind it. The basic premise and benefit for businesses is a Google+ account allows individuals to make use of Google?s search engine technology so it?s easy to demonstrate authorship of blog posts and other online content, complete with the writer?s photo, facilitating a higher click-through rate.
LinkedIn:? LinkedIn probably has the most professional environment of the five social media sites.? The primary purpose of LinkedIn is to connect professionals and businesses, and share job leads and contacts. Many professional groups are also available in nearly any conceivable niche area for networking purposes.
Pinterest: Another relative newcomer in the social media world, since 2010, Pinterest allows individuals to ?pin? images, photos, video, and other multimedia of interest into virtual ?boards? sorted by assigned categories. People can create favorite collections of items and share them with other people.
Twitter:? Twitter, with its 140-character ?tweets? about anything and everything, is a 24/7/365 avenue for business exposure.? People can also follow an individual or business, read regular updates, and send/receive messages. Twitter also makes use of hash tags, designated with #, to allow people to track tweets about trending or popular topics.? For instance, someone may tweet a post and include something such as #smallbusiness or #entrepreneur.

How to Improve Engagement and Traffic on Social Media Sites

The first step to improve engagement and traffic on social media sites is to be there, consistently, participating and interacting with others.

When a small business makes its presence known, and shares what it has to offer in products and/or services, that?s an important step toward attracting traffic and engaging with potential customers.

All of the social media sites provide some sort of means to interact with others.

With some variations, most of the media sites allow people to create public posts, send private messages, engage in live chat, join groups, hold virtual events, and even participate in contests.

Ready, Set, Socialize!

As soon as a small business owner has read and digested this information, it?s time to get out there and socialize.

Being active in the five social media networks addressed can help a small business gain good exposure, as well as establish a good reputation, something that is especially important if false information has appeared in blog posts or social media circles.

After looking at the list, is your business as social as it can and should be?