Use Social Networking to Grow Your Small Business

July 28, 2008 :: cbensen

Have you gotten a Twitter account & added a bunch of friends? Or maybe you signed up for LinkedIn or Facebook & aren’t sure how it’s going to help your business?

There are so many networks that you can join! Each has it’s idiosyncracies but they all have one thing in common: It’s all about building relationships & connecting. For simplicity I’m going to talk about Twitter, but the concepts apply to all of them. (The key is to choose a network where your customers are at.)

Here is an overview of how you can use Twitter:

1. Share ideas with others in your niche

Build a network of like-minded people by noting conversations of interest. Follow the person that has caught your attention.
Participate in the conversations. Listening is good, but you need to get involved to gain the full benefit.

2. Find new customers

Make sure that your bio info describes your services
Monitor Twitter using summize.com (bookmark it & set up an RSS feed)
As you network you’ll find people interested in your services

3. Provide Customer Service

If your product is being discussed on Twitter (use Summize.com to find out) then you can respond to them. People love getting a response when they’re just venting.
There are many examples of this – I’m using @NetSolCares to assist Network Solutions customers.

4. Gather information

Creating a new product or improving on one? Twitter is a great place to ask what they think. Any social network is & what better group than people in your niche? They will tell you what they think. You simply need to ask.

5. Share product info, coupons, etc

How creative can you be? You could share pre-release info on a product, coupons, sales info, etc. What about running a contest on Twitter? I’m sure that you can come up with many more. You could even start a brainstorming session on Twitter!

Here is further reading with links to tutorials & some resources for finding new people on Twitter. If you want an idea of how many businesses are on Twitter check out this list & maybe even follow a few!

I also have written a number of articles on Twitter. Feel free to follow me @cbensen

Share and Enjoy:

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Kara Krautter

Great tips Connie. Social networking provides a great market research opportunity (tips 1 and 4) for small businesses with small or non-existent research budgets. Online brainstorming and pilot testing may not be 'scientifically' sound methods, but they are a great way to engage with your customers and others in your industry.

Kara Krautter
Dell Small Business Community Manager

Konnects

Great post. I've seen many small business and organizations develop networks on http://www.konnects.com. Many of them use the network pool not only to grow/expand but also to market different products and services.

Eric Miltsch

Hi Kara,

Great post (nice example from Connie)

Twitter is also an element of our online brand expansion and exposure. I try to reach out to my followers in an attempt to get to know them, hear their feedback and share ideas.

One example can be seen here: www.TweetandGreet.com - the response has been very positive.

Eric

cbensen

Thanks Kara for your input. Dell has certainly been leading by example in this! I know many from Dell are on Twitter.

Konnects.com looks interesting. I was looking at it last night.

Eric, you are doing interesting things on Twitter too!

SWillemsen

I use Konnects to promote my small nonprofit. With their community piece and interest groups it has really helped me to network amongst other like minded people.

Josh Aronowitz

I see the current trend increasingly leading towards free online CRM systems, instead of large software expenditures that can end up costing a fortune and way more than a company intended. A good option for small business that want something more along the lines of ACT or Goldmine but cost-effective is www.octopuscity.com. They offer a FREE!!! web-based crm system / contact manager that’s taking quite a different route from the large and costly CRM software systems. In addition to the crm system Octopuscity.com has a business network as well, which offers other great business services like free teleconferencing. Definitely worth taking a look at!!!

romeo

very informative and helps me to get an idea how to expand our business.

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