Small business owners are more frequently embracing the benefits that social media can bring to their companies.
In fact, over 50 million businesses have pages for their customers on Facebook. These business pages not only provide vital information (hours, address, links, etc.) about the business, but they also include other features (such as chat) that allow the business to interact with their customer base.
If this doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to build a Facebook page for your small business, Facebook business pages also include marketing tools that allow businesses to extend their reach to even more potential customers.
More and more businesses are using Facebook as a low-cost marketing medium, and Facebook itself is taking notice. The social media company is working to develop more tools to make this easier.
For example, Facebook is looking to launch additional marketing tools and even handbooks to allow businesses to engage better with their customers. Facebook is also trying to help businesses expand globally.
Recently, Facebook launched a tool called “Lookalike Audience.” This tool will allow businesses to locate customers within their target audiences worldwide. Additionally, Facebook allows businesses to connect with their target audience by holding sponsored contests and/or giveaways. These events allow for customer participation while increasing publicity for businesses.
Facebook messenger also has the potential to drive up consumer engagement. Within the last year, messages between businesses and customers have nearly doubled. After noticing the popularity of the feature, Facebook is now working to release more advanced communication tools for business administrators, which include improved inboxes, access to consumer behavior demographics, comment page and analytical tools.
Small business owners who choose not to use Facebook are not dooming themselves to fail; however, given the number of people worldwide who use the social networking site, it seems silly not to utilize it in some way.
Utilizing social networking sites is just one way that small business owners can help their businesses thrive. For more tips (like “What It Takes To Start A Business”), check out MaxFilings.