Move to license Facebook platform favours your small biz

Social networks and online communities are ideal marketing places for SMBs that have limited budgets. For instance, a lot of Canada-based artisans and artists as well as tech professionals and consultants are marketing their creations and services in Facebook.

Small Business Owners(SMBs) can now cheaply market goods and services to customers in various parts of the world where Facebook might not be the dominant social networking site, as Facebook is hugely popular in the United Kingdom and Canada, but MySpace still rules in the U.S., while GoogleSocial is the hot social network in Latin America, and Hi5 is Asia's online hub of choice.

Most small and medium scale enterprises have latched onto the so-called viral effect social media to spread the word about their products and services, he said.

Unlike other static marketing tools such as traditional media or even e-mail, online social networks allow advertisers to create a "community" around their online presence, interact with consumers and find out more information about their target market


Use these simple online social networking strategies to improve business:

Monitor the industry
There are various online sites and tools that enable marketers to gauge consumer temperament. For instance, Joel often visits Technorati a blog site that bills itself as the "recognized authority on what's happening on the World Live Web, right now."

Find out what people are saying about you
Do a search on yourself, Google your own company, product or service to learn who's talking about you and what are they saying. This knowledge can help determine future marketing campaigns.

Add you own voice to the discussion
One of the best ways to get noticed in your industry is to let people know what you have to say. Joel suggests, joining an industry forum, blogging or commenting on a blog. He goes to del.icio.us a social book marking site to find out what topics people are reading about.

Use apps to generate interest
Take advantage of simple but engaging applications such as videos that enable customers to view your product and see how they work. Use entertaining or useful widgets such as weather, news and celebrity gossip feeds or games to advertise your product. The idea is to be viral -something that people with tell and encourage their friends to try out.

Find out more about your customers
Traditional Web marketing can provide you with customer address, but social networks can provide you a window to your customers' tastes, interest, demographic information and other vital data. This is indispensable fodder for targeted marketing.

Update your clients
Provide customers with regular updates about new products, services or promotions. The idea is to develop a relationship, to show customers you care about them and their needs.

by Itbusiness