Iridium Interactive Blog » small business

Socialmedia-ness for Small and Smart Business Owners

iridiumInteractive — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 09:23:37 +0000

After talking about some small businesses who have made it big with social media. Now is your chance to follow suit and let the green notes flow into your business with this social media guide. But remember that just opening numerous social media accounts is not enough. As I always say have a plan, be determined and treat this as a full time business plan. Social media marketing is not a “walk in and receive instant results” platform; patience, perseverance and continuous steady efforts is what makes success stories with an earnest and honest approach.

Here are few ways you can start your social media activities:

Facebook Fan Page/ Profile: With hits more than Google, Facebook is emerging as a social media giant. They also provide a good platform for advertising and getting in touch with your customers and create your community in the long run.With their recent new editions to enter pretty everywhere on the web, facebook is expected to become the platform for consumer behaviors and brand advocacy.

Twitter: This is one platform that allows you to market your company within 180 characters. Easy as it seems it provides immense marketing capabilities.

Company Blog: This is one way small businesses can add great value to their firm. This can be a great way to share knowledge, the company culture with the world. Smart companies are again and again proving to be the ‘employer’ of choice not through their flashy websites anymore, but by the blogs. One key reason, company blogs bring the real story, videos of people fresh and alive. Interaction is the hot button.

Linkedin: I have already spoken on reaching out to your professional network through Linkedin. Make contacts, get in touch with like minded people, find potential employees and even get recognized in your field of work. Linkedin with its virtual networking opportunities is something much beyond your face-to-face networking.

And finally measuring your return on influence from social media, to analyse your progress in the social media space is one thing you should do even before you venture engaging with people online.

There are so many other means to start off with social media, these are the most popular ways of taking off and therefore my sweep-take. My next blog will talk about how small businesses can start off with facebook and its various applications.

There is one most important thing that has to be mentioned time and again, no matter how many social networks you are present in, what matters most is your presence, make yourself felt and do it the right way. Quality always wins over quantity as humans relate with people who respond and connect..slowly winning the social trust.

Image Source: Jon_Marshall’s Photostream on Flickr

Small Businesses get savvy with Social Media

iridiumInteractive — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 11:44:54 +0000

Not long before when large brands started reaping profits, small companies raised their heads to this phenomenon called Social Media. Social Media Marketing that was once seen as off-bounds for small businesses has finally caught the fancy of small business owners. Its about time that they have realized social media is “one size fits all”. So, simply put it, any SME can experiment and create their formula to leverage their business potentials. In the competitive economy that is India, social media could be the biggest differentiator between competitors. Its becoming more evident by the day that every company is finding its unique recipe. ..and breaking the social beat!

Marketing has completed a full circle with social media. It started with making products customized to the needs of the consumers, then with the modernization of industries consumers were happy with what they were being provided for by the companies. With the advent of Social media, customers want a say in the products being offered to them, whether they are small businesses or large. Thus bringing in the importance of small businesses to reach out to their customers to understand their needs and build a rapport with them.

I have provided examples of some small businesses who have had a complete turn around with the use of social media. Lets take a look and re-use the success formula:

@coffeegrounds a simple coffee shop in Houston has doubled its visitors by simply engaging with their consumers online on twitter. Cordial interactions with consumers has led this coffee shop dealer to increase their customers twofold. Twitter provides a whole new platform to any business that are willing to take out time to get in touch with their consumers that will eventually lead them into a lifelong relationship of loyalty and trust with them.

Key Take Away: Small things make big impact …..start your twitterate..tiny but big steps!

Another example that best describes what I am explaining here is that of @zappos is an online retailer who led corporates to use twitter. This explains their stupendous success with social media. Their gregarious interactions with customers online and readiness to help is the reason why they have been a phenomenal success in social media.

As rightly quoted by Tony Hseih- “Zappos.com is a service company that just happens to sell shoes”.

These are just two examples in small business social networking success as more and more small companies enter this arena there will be more social media success waiting to be accoladed on blogs and other social media forums.

I am curious to know your social media success formulas are..Do write in and I would love to add yours to this Small Business list with full credits to your success story…!