Social media platforms create buzz, drive business, and serve small businesses as low- or no-cost marketing tools. Small business owners need to understand how these tools strategically serve and support small businesses first so they can better implement social media strategies to sell products and/or services.

Social networks, in a nutshell, serve users and organizations in marketing in three ways:

1.Communication
Marketing is all about building relationships: Relationships begin with communication. New web tools such as blogs, micro-blogging (Twitter), social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, Ning), podcasting (BlogTalkRadio), video distribution (YouTube), event coordination tools (Meetup), wikis (Wikipedia) for sharing Photos (Flickr, Photobucket) and product review sites (epinions.com) allow small businesses to communicate, educate, and share information directly with their customers and prospects.

Content in the form of blog posts, audio, video, comparison/review sites, tweets, and social media messages help share information in a less formal way that builds the factors of awareness, liking, and trust that influence decision making. decisions. Content is no longer just text. Small businesses can use audio or visual content to “show me” and “tell me” to make communications more interactive.

The direct communication distinction of social media serves and supports small businesses by bringing the people you want to attract directly to you and making direct communication possible. Social media makes communication a conversation so small business owners can share, receive feedback, and connect on equal terms with their target markets.

2. Cooperation
When small businesses empower their target consumers, they feel empowered. When your target market feels powerful, they trust you, buy from you, and stay with you. Collaboration in social networks transforms consumers into “prosumers”. In an age of social media prosumers, buying patterns are created, shaped or broken by people (not companies).

Small businesses can initiate marketing collaboration by creating their own communities and/or joining communities. By doing so, they are able to listen and connect with their target customers and create a free forum to unite their market. Collaboration = Marketing Acceleration.

Social networking collaboration tools like review sites, video sharing sites, blogs, wikis, and more allow users to self-service, collaborate, and potentially support your small business. Social media works as a marketing tool because people are more likely to trust their peers than companies.

The power of mass collaboration serves and supports small business owners in a different way. Leveraging/creating valuable collaboration options can bring people together to share ideas, exchange information and help each other, and support the growth of relationships. Eliminating the “company/customer” disconnect can break down elitism and increase marketing mind power.

3.Entertainment
The biggest reason social media works as a marketing tool is simple: because it’s fun. People want to go where they feel they belong, have a voice, be heard and enjoy themselves. Small business owners need to be where their target markets are, and these days the masses are on Facebook, Ning, Twitter, Linkedin, Photobucket, YouTube and more because it has entertainment value.

Do you remember Will It Blend? Blendtec campaigns? They were a perfect example of social media marketing in brilliant action. The videos were relevant as they showcased the product, they were entertaining (they matched an iPhone!), and they were viral! People could easily share the fun with friends thanks to the ease of social sharing widgets.

You cannot put a dollar amount on the free promotion. The way social networks store data like an “interactive Rolodex” also has an entertainment factor. Sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are becoming the “new databases” because they’re fast, easy, and fun. People are more likely to update their Facebook and LinkedIn information than a sterile address book because it’s fun.

Small business owners use the entertainment factor of social media to build their online database of contacts and connections, be visible to potential customers, and spread the word in creative ways like YouTube videos, blog posts, images , podcasts to make people smile and spread the word. .

How Social Media Helps Small Businesses Sell
Social Media Marketing helps most small businesses drive sales indirectly by increasing relationships. Understanding that social media marketing serves users for communication, collaboration, and entertainment is the first step in considering how to strategically deploy the multitude of social media marketing tools and choosing the ones that work best for your unique organization.

The most important thing for small businesses to remember when using social media to help sell is that the efforts must have value. There has to be value in your content, community, and execution for people to engage with you or your organization. Social networks do not sell things, people sell things. Engaging in social media marketing starts the process of building relationships. Start small and snowball. Social networks require understanding, passion, effort and commitment to make them work. Give your small business an authentic voice with social media and commit to providing value and you’re off to a smart start.