Small Business: Can Social Media help you sell more?

Social Media platforms such as Twitter or Facebook have become incredibly popular and many people spend hours a week checking updates or pictures of their friends. But not only consumers who are enjoying the benefits of Social media. More and more business are joining in and using Social Media to boost their sales and their online reputation. So in answer to Can social media help you sell more I can only say YES. And here's how:

Social Media marketing is a two way street. Your customers listen to you, but they also expect you to engage with them and listen to their concerns and feedback. What does your business get in exchange? Happy customers that spread word about your business among their friends or professional networks. Many small and medium business already rely on referrals and word of mouth marketing to get new clients, and Social Media can bring this to a whole new level. Most social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter or Facebook offer easy to implement integration options to share your web content, and a few hours of programming can increase your exposure and your sales exponentially. Making your content both interesting and easy to share is key to social media success.

More and more people will check the reputation of a website by searching for its name on a search engine and looking at the results. Search engines often include social media user generated content on their search results, so if your social media presence is positive and full of great comments from your existing customers you have already half the work done to create a great online reputation. While this doesn't directly translate into sales, it's yet another factor that can nudge a potential customer into actually purchasing your products. It's also important to note that social media platforms can be used really effectively to promote competitions and vouchers.

If you want to know what people think of your products, the best thing to do is ask them. Social media allows you to have a real time conversation with your audience, and they will freely give you information that market research companies often charge you for. And what is more, if you actually listen and take action on their feedback your customers will feel even more pleased and engaged with your business. There are many tools that can be used to monitor social media and keep an eye on what is being said about your brand, your products or even your competition.

Using social media for marketing doesn't need to be expensive or even time consuming. Simple things such as encouraging visitors to share your content on Twitter or Facebook by implementing their respective sharing widgets can have a massive effect on your online visiblity and encourage more sales. There are many ways in which a small business can use social media marketing to increase sales, and most of them just require time, a deep knowledge of your own products and a willingness to share with other Internet users on free, open social networking platforms such as Twitter. So what stops you from giving it a try?