Digital media and social network marketing is no longer a game for the big companies of the world.  Any business no matter how small can benefit from the use of digital media from promoting their business to offering special incentives to current and prospective customers.

It really isn’t a difficult process and just about everything you need to launch a successful digital media marketing campaign is basically free. For most small businesses there are three tools that can be used to start online and digital marketing.

• A blog that showcases your products or services will give your customers a way to see what is happening with your business.  A daily or bi-weekly update highlighting a product, special or services will help you to show everyone what you are all about.  Cost – Free (by using a blogging platform like Blogger) or if you prefer something a little more robust you can set up a Word Press based blog which will require a domain name and hosting which should not cost you more than $140.00 per year.
• Even if you are in a small rural community you can use Facebook to your advantage by supplementing your blog entries with daily entries about products and services.  You can also mix business with fun on Facebook by posting “non sales” information such as tips on how to do things, or even talking about daily life in your store.  Just don’t get overzealous and start posting a dozen sales oriented entries each day or you will lose friends faster than you can count them.  Cost – Free.  Facebook is a free social networking platform that takes about 10 minutes to set up.  It may take some time to develop online relationships but in time you should start to see an increase in business from your Facebook relationships.
• Twitter is another way to keep in contact with your customers in a quick and easy format.  Unlike Facebook you are limited to 140 characters so the message is short and to the point.  Restaurants can really benefit from using Twitter by sending daily discount coupons to their followers.  For instance ABC Barbecue might offer a 10% discount on a full rack of ribs on Thursday. So on Thursday morning they send out a Tweet with a code and the customer who might not have gone there for lunch opts to go because of the discount. The result is a sale that might not have happened. Twitter can be used to send out daily or weekly discount coupons or codes to as many followers as you have. Of course if your message is really good it may get re-tweeted and then your potential increase in customers goes way up.  Cost – Free  Twitter is a free social networking platform that takes approximately 10 minutes to set up. Like Facebook it will take a little time to grow your contact list, but by offering quality savings and information you will see your contact list grow quickly.

These three simple steps will help any business, no matter how small, to increase their exposure to the community and to increase sales without a huge financial outlay.

What has your small business experience been with digital media marketing?

This article is for beginner social networking marketers and business owners new to social networking. Just about everyone is on either Facebook or Twitter these days. After all it appears that these two programs have become the interpersonal communications channel of choice. In other words it has replaced the telephone.  Social network sites are definitely a great way to keep in contact with friends and family on a daily if not more frequent basis.  But if you are a small business owner, sites like Facebook and Twitter can add a whole new deminsion to y0ur marketing efforts and proper use of these networks can result in an increase in sales.

Here are a few examples of how small businesses (even in rural areas) can benefit from social network marketing:

• Make your FB/Twitter followers fill special by offering special prices or discounts to them only.  For example let all your FB friends know that for “today only” you have 15% off of xyz product with free shipping.
• Are you restaurant owner? Send out daily specials to your Twitter followers.  A simple 1 liner such as “bbq rib plate 9.99 tomorrow only” is a great way to not only let your customers know they can get a special on ribs but gives them time to plan for that special lunch by working it into tomorrows schedule.
• Use FB to link to a special landing page on your website that is not available to the general public with a discount coupon or special membership club they can print out and join.
• Introduce your newest product or service with a FB/Twitter blast….. let everyone know that you have something new then ask your friends and followers to reTweet and pass along to their FB friends

These are just a few basic methods of using social media to increase your sales………….. try them and see what works for you. If you have success please let us know and will post your story and a link to your business…………. 

Remember – word of mouth is the best advertising and social networking is the best word of mouth method around.