January 31st, 2012
Social media can take internet marketing for small business to a whole new level.
The LA Times reported that a woman named Dede Parise was able to reach an audience of 15,000 for her sports headbands through Facebook. “It’s just the way the market has gone,” she explained, pointing to social media as the heart and soul of her growth strategy. Another small business owner, Kelly Lyles who launched a company selling Tip Top Shoe Savers, says that “one person putting a ‘like’ on your product or page reaches hundreds of people because someone will see it on their page and say ‘I like that.’”
You don’t have to be a start-up business to take advantage of internet marketing for small business like social media. Mid-sized companies like CableOrganizer.com Inc. use social media to gauge consumer satisfaction, run promotions, and offer up advice to their customers. Social media consultants add that social media is a “free alternative to advertising,” offers a lot of room for creativity, and has a “never-ending reach.”
An EMarketers study found that 80 percent of companies surveyed will participate in social media marketing in 2011 – a number which has doubled over the past three years alone. At first the return on investment and value of social media was largely unknown, but today 90 percent of marketers say social media exposure is important for their businesses and 72 percent say it increases traffic to their site significantly. Toronto internet marketing for small business can include social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and blogs.
