So you are a small business with limited budget and not sure where to allocate your marketing resources. Social media looks nice, lots of people use it, but you are wondering if it really works or if its just a fad. One thing has become extremely clear and that is businesses who are not going all in with social media are falling behind and missing out on potentially millions of prospective customers.

Just how big has social media become? Here are some quick stats:

• Over 800 million people actively use Facebook. That is 1 out of 8 people in the world!
• More people spend their time online on Facebook than any other website. (Nielsen Study)
• Approximately 91% of all American adults use a social media site (Experian Study)
• The average social media user is connected with 130 friends per account. (Experian Study)
• Social Media users are more active and influential: 47% likely to be heavy spenders on clothing, 75% likely to be heavy spenders on music, and 33% more likely to share their opinions (Nielsen Study)
• Twitter manages over 1.6 billion search queries per day.
• Over 2 billion views per day on YouTube.

So how do all these big numbers relate to your small business? Here are 7 reasons:

1. Find new Customers – Just having a company website is no longer enough. Consumers look to find out more information regarding businesses on Social Media sites not only from the company itself but from the friends and followers as well.
2. Engage with Existing Customers- It is so important to establish a connection with your customer, and Social Media sites make it incredibly easy to do so. Whether you are answering a question, helping solve an issue, educating or just getting to know your consumer sites such as Facebook and Twitter give you the platform to engage.
3. Low Cost – It costs absolutely nothing to start an account on most Social Media sites. In fact a study by Zoomerang found that 60% of Small Businesses that use Social Media spend less than $100 dollars a month to manage their accounts.
4. Self Promotion – Tell your company’s story in a creative way, highlight new products, produce cool videos and display vivid pictures, share your knowledge and expertise. The possibilities for promoting how great your business is are endless.
5. Social Media Followers more likely to Buy – A study by CrowsSpring found that 51% of Facebook users and 64% of Twitter users are more likely to buy from the brand they follow and like online.
6. Doesn’t take much effort – Just updating your brand page and accounts a few times per week is enough. (However the more you engage the better)
7. Highlight new Products & Promotions – Facebook and Twitter specifically have so many options to create buzz. Whether you want to start a promotion, a contest or market a big sale there are many creative and fun tools available.

In the coming weeks I will highlight each Social Media tool and go into further detail of how each can be utilized to best serve your business.

How do you feel about the impact of Social Media on Small Business? Do you agree with my reasons above or have any others to add? Please share in the comments section!