Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses

Cristina Piera | Nikhil Paul

Introduction

Over 9M small business use social media

74% of consumers rely on social networks to guide purchase decisions

“Social media marketing refers to the process of gaining traffic or attention through social media

sites.”

Advantages

• Contact thousands of

people

• Brand awareness

• Increase traffic

website.

• Generate leads and

social communities

• Listen to customers

• Cheap

Disadvantages

• Negative viral publicity

– Can’t control what people

say

• Requires constant updates

and monitoring

• Ads have negative effect

– Not a place for a hard sell

• Requires knowledgeable

individuals

• Limited resources of small

businesses

Good Example - Southport Dental

• Engage and educate

customers

• Use of Youtube for trust

Good Example – Timbuk2 Bags

Bag Customization Businesshttp://timbuk2sf.tumblr.com/ http://www.timbuk2.com/tb2/

Good Example – Timbuk2 Bags

• Engaged in conversation (surveys, questions)

• Monitored conversations (Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr)

• Discovered: Would-be customers were put off by wide variety of

choices and feelings of design inadequacy

• Updated Tumbler to show all bags ever created – Bag of the week

on Facebook

• Saved $20,000 on customer research programme

Bad Example – Habitat

Bad Example – Habitat

Bad Example – Need-A-Cake

Pastry Business

• Used Groupon campaign to advertise company and increase traffic

• Hard Sell

• Quick Fix Solution

• High discounts (75% off)

• Loss of £2.50 per order plus £12,500 extra in costs for staff and distribution

• Wiped out profits of 2011

Bad Example – Need-A-Cake

• Plan

• Show who you are

• Get badly needed feedback

• Be selective and focused

• Create amazing incentives

• Capitalize on and boost your word of mouth marketing

• Hard sell• Look for a quick fix• Don’t be everywhere• Post obvious ads• Spam

Dos Donts

Do you think negative feedback from SSM can be of benefit to small businesses?

Discussion Questions

 Because of the limited resources of small business, what forms of social media, out of the 200+, do you believe is the most effective for small businesses?