I was reading a great article on Social Media Examiner that sparked a thought: many companies and small businesses still adhere to the questions “Why do we need social media, anyways?”  There is a long list of reasons, but I want to highlight the top 3 benefits here:

1. Participating in social media can organically increase your SEO.  Yes, by Tweeting and updating a Facebook status on a regular basis you are bumping yourself up within the Google ranks.  Consistency is key to having this strategy work effectively.  In addition to traditional social media, a regular blog post helps you even more!

2. Your competitors are likely already on social media.  Do you want to be the leader or the follower in your industry?  That’s what I thought.  Now let me repeat myself: your competitors are already there.  And if they aren’t, they soon will be.  Borrell Associates found that small and medium-sized businesses were expected to double their social media budgets in 2012.  I suggest you get a head start and begin your social media marketing now, before you are left in the dust by that other guy.

3. Your customers are definitely already on social media.  They have a Facebook page.  They likely tweet and may even be pinning veterans.  Social media is a great place to not only communicate with your existing customers to keep them coming back, but it is an ideal environment to find new ones.  You can position yourself as an expert in the field and an educator of your product or service.

 These are the most important reasons why your small business should be participating on social media, though there are many more.  Have you put your business on social media yet?  Do you find these reasons to be true?  Tell me about your experiences!

Related articles

• Results Are In: The Top Tool to Help with Social Media Marketing (community.constantcontact.com)
• How does a small business move into social media marketing? (businessesgrow.com)
• Social Media Cheat Sheet – The Basics (c24.co.uk)
• Leveraging social media means choices (bloggingtips.com)
• Social Media Industry Report 2012 Highlights (socialmediaclub.org)