by Robert Freeman

Created on: December 11, 2011   Last Updated: May 29, 2012

Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and countless other social media websites have taken the globe by storm. These social media websites have altered how we conduct our daily lives, express ourselves, make decisions, and yes, even how we spend our money. Embracing the might of social media has grown into a proven strategy for large businesses to increase profits and tap into new, emerging markets.

Luckily, large businesses do not own a monopoly on social media utilization as social media is free-of-use service and is open to anyone with an e-mail address and time at their disposal. The truth is social media is a virtual gold mine for small businesses and for many of them, it has become an invaluable portion of their business plan.

A common question for any small business looking to bust into the social media frenzy is, "What can social media really do for my small business?" Well, other than allowing you to follow in the footsteps of large businesses like Toyota, Best Buy, Wal-Mart, and others; it provides numerous other opportunities that many small business owners may not have thought of.

For starters, social media websites offer free advertising. Creating a Facebook page or a Twitter account and then telling your most loyal customers to "friend" or "follow" you on these sites will begin to build your audience for advertisement. Eventually others will see your posts and through little effort of your own you will begin advertising to hundreds or thousands of people that would not have normally seen your small business due to your location or business type (i.e. internet-based business with no physical location).

This free advertising will also connect you with other companies that are similar to yours or those that can become suppliers or distributors of your products or services. Basically, social media websites offer you networking opportunities that would normally cost you large sums of money and time to set up meetings that could be far away from your home location. Social media websites allow you to speak directly with other companies via the World Wide Web, thus saving both parties time and money in the long run.

Beyond the two most obvious benefits for small businesses in using social media mentioned above, a tertiary benefit is that the business can receive direct feedback from the public in an easy way. If you think about it, how many people stop to take the time to fill out comment cards in businesses to tell them how they are doing? Honestly, most people don't, but social media websites allow the customer to send in a quick blurb on the company while on the go or from their home computer.

These public inputs will allow a small business to adjust marketing strategies, increase or decrease product prices, production, or distribution, and can also lead to greater advertisement in a national scale. Numerous times media outlets tap into social media websites, see what is trending at the time, and then advertise it to the nation and the world as "what's hot" or "what's trending now." This type of free-advertising is key to the success of any small business and in these tough economic times, it could make or break the business as a whole.

In reality the benefits of social media websites for small businesses are endless. It really depends on how each business decides to utilize social media opportunities. That is the great thing about social media: you can customize your experience to give you the most benefit. If you are on the edge when it comes to utilizing social media just take a look at all the success large businesses have had utilizing it. After all, social media is free, so why not just give it a shot?

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