Social Media - THE #1 Reason to Get Involved

The future is now! Sounds like a motivational speaker doesn't it? But there is some serious truth to that phrase when it comes to online marketing. Slowly but surely businesses are discovering how social media can help potential customers find out about their business but there are still countless businesses that aren't taking advantage of social media. Because internet searches are the Yellow Pages of our times you should use social media to maximize your business' chances of being found on the internet. That is THE reason to get involved.

If you have an online business you really should be looking into social media now. I stress that for online business because you are selling online so why shouldn't the internet be one of the first sources of creating business. Your customer base will likely come from people looking for your products by doing searches on Google, Yahoo, and other search engines. It depends on the line of work your business is in but likely your competitors are using social media already. Put your company's name in a blog, a Twitter account, a YouTube channel, etc. Search engines are like advertising in print. The more your name is out there the more likely someone will find your business in a search. We have begun using these means of marketing at Sourcical.com and it has resulted in better search engine positioning. We have a long way to go but every little bit helps.

If you have a brick and mortar store or service business you have an even better chance of social media paying off for you. In most situations businesses that aren't focused on internet based sales are slower to use the internet as a means of marketing. This gives you a chance to beat the competition to it and get the name of your local business or service out there on the internet. Everyone searches for local businesses every now and then so don't think you're wasting your time. Likely you've done it many times before yourself... "(insert city name here) restaurants" or "(insert city name here) plumber". Using social media will improve your chances of being found all the more in those internet searches.

A bonus reason for getting involved is that it's free! Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, YouTube channels are free and most others are free at least for basic accounts. Of course, you can buy ads on Google and a lot of sites but that is an entirely separate topic. You have to keep at it for social media to pay off but since the internet is the Yellow Pages of our times why not take advantage of it?

Alright, you and your friends, coworkers, etc. can debate if this really is the number one reason to get involved in social media but you are hurting your business if you are not taking advantage of social media in some way.

Do you agree? Some social media sites will fail but I firmly believe social media as a whole is here to stay. What do you think? Is there a more important reason to get involved in social media?