Social media marketing tips for small biz

6/10/2011

With access to commercial loans still tight, many entrepreneurs have been stretching their marketing budgets as tightly as they can, leading some to leverage social media as a promotional tool. Because there are no sign up fees, brands can use social media to interact with fans.

However, generating followers or fans is still a critical issue hindering many small business marketing campaigns. Social media expert Dave Kerpen recently told Los Altos Town Crier that the key is to reward followers with incentives to get them to subscribe to a social media profile.

"Don't tell customers to 'Like' and 'Follow' you - tell them why and how. 'Like us on Facebook' and 'Follow us on Twitter' are everywhere. Huh? Why? How? Give customers a reason to connect with the business on social networks. What's in it for them? And then make it easy to connect," he notes.

Social sites such as Facebook and Twitter give small business owners access to a broad base of potential buyers. Facebook has more than 500 million registered members while Twitter has upward of 200 million users.