Promote Your Business for Free Using Social Media
Small businesses are in a roll the past few years. Gone are the days where they need to spend big bucks just to market their products or services. Now, any business owner with access to the Internet can showcase his wares to a wider audience with the help of social media. So you don’t have the funds to advertise in print and TV? No problem. All you need is Facebook, Twitter, and other online channels in order to get your business noticed at little or no cost.
For instance, you have a small business but can’t afford setting up a traditional store. By selling your stuff online, you do not have to maintain overhead costs apart from your Internet subscription. Here’s how to get started:
Create Your Online Store
Websites like Multiply are godsend to small business owners. All you have to do is sign up, create an account, post pictures of your products and voila! Instant online store created for free. Of course, you will have a lot of competition, which is what you can expect from free accounts. To stand out among the horde of online stores, you need to be creative. Multiply has lots of great-looking templates that you can use for your website. Take high quality pictures of your products and upload on your site. Presentation is everything so you need to use good quality camera to take snapshots of your products. Remember, you need to thwart the competition so you have to do the extra effort.
If you do have some cash to spare, you can create your own website, with its own hosting. Here you can customize all you want to get the look and feel you like for your store’s image. You can hire a web designer to make your website look pretty or you can just use a WordPress platform and choose from one of their professional-looking templates.
Use Facebook and Twitter
Now is the time you put your Facebook habits to good use. Create a fan page for your business and link your online store here. Post pictures of your products in your fan page and garner as many likes as you can. This shouldn’t be hard; a little emotional blackmail to your friends will do the trick. Ask them to spread the link to your store as well. Post regular updates about your products and services to keep them interested.
Same goes for Twitter. Twit the link of your online store and garner as many followers as you can. With a little help from your friends, your business will gain potential customers.
Of course, there’s eBay and many others.
You can’t write about online selling without mentioning one of its pioneers, eBay. It’s easy to set up an account and post pictures of your merchandise. In order to thrive in eBay, you need to get positive reviews to get more customers and retain existing ones.
If you would like to heed the call of entrepreneurship, now is the best time to do it. Think of ways to set yourself apart from the competition and watch your business grow and your profits soar.
