10 Reasons to Recommit to Small Business Social Media in 2011

What are your plans for using social media in your small business in 2011?

In a recent post, small business consultant Jason Kienbaum mentioned a bunch of social media sites small business owners should be aware of in 2011, including BizSugar.com. Thanks for the shout out Jason!

We can think of at least 10 reasons to recommit your efforts to small business social media (including BizSugar.com) in the coming year.

Check out our list and two videos below for more on how social media sites like BizSugar.com can assist your business:

• More engagement. Every small business owner understands the importance of word-of-mouth for business. The best way to get people talking about your business is to start talking with people and social media provides the best online forum.
• More traffic.Attracting more traffic to your Website is probably the first thing many small business owners think of when using social media to promote your site. The following video looks at the many ways social media sites like BizSugar.com can be used to drive traffic back to your site.
• More ranking. More visits to your site from relevant connections via social media means ultimately higher ranking for your business on the search engines because visitors to your site are connections from social media who have already been drawn to your profile thanks to common interests/ideas. Thus they are more likely to find what they are looking for and more likely to link back to you from their related site sharing your content with their visitors.
• More branding.Before social media, identifying your small business with a brand that would stick with you in your market and beyond could be incredibly expensive. Now you can build a brand easily and cheaply on a global scale simply by sharing relevant information for your niche via BizSugar and Facebook.
• More referrals.The real power of social media lies in its ability to help you build community and from this a source for referrals. People who follow you regularly and count you among their connections create a pool from which to draw. The below video discusses how to broaden your community by participating in social media including sites like BizSugar.
• More leads. More referrals result in more leads, one of the best reasons to maintain a social media presence. Share helpful tips related to your niche including articles, video and, of course, more about you and your business. Over time this activity generates interest from those interested in the products or services you market. Like being at a huge chamber of commerce mixer, social media is way to generate those all-important leads that could turn into more business over time.
• More networking.The connections you develop in social media lead to yet others including partners, suppliers or potentrial customers and clients you might not otherwise have met. This network, in turn, becomes an invaluable resource, one that you can draw from day-to-day as you speak to them through social media.
• More opportunities.Without social media, your network remains limited and so do your opportunities. With social media, you can listen in on the news your social network is sharing in your industry 24/7…and learn of opportunities, markets and prospects you might never have even realized exissted.
• More customers.Customers are developed through longterm relationships not chance encouters. Given this basic fact and the importance of relationship building to the customer recruiting process, the value of social media becomes clear.
• More sales. All of this leads, of course, more sales. In fact, there’s a lot of talk about having the right metrics for demonstrating the effectiveness of your social media campaign, but in the end whether or not you get more business is one of the best.

We hope you get a lot out of your social media strategy this year and we also hope BizSugar can be a part of that strategy this year. Happy New Year and welcome to BizSugar.com!