Date Published: 7-Jul-2014 | By: Shane K Morgan

Marketing through Social media websites like Google+, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. is called social media marketing. It is gaining popularity these days and for many businesses, social media has become a part of their marketing strategy. Despite the popularity, there are some misconceptions among small business owners on social media marketing and for this reason, many of them have not adopted social media marketing yet. In this article, we will discuss four common misconceptions on social media among small business owners.

Misconception #1: Social media networking is only for teens
Most small business owners have a misconception that Facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites are meant for fun and entertainment and mostly used by teenagers only. It is true that when social media websites started, initially they were mostly used by teens. But slowly, the scenario changed. People of all age groups are using social media websites today. According to State of Search, users aged 45 to 54 years are the fastest growing segment on social media. 55% of the Internet users in this age group have an account on at least one social media website.

Misconception #2: Social media marketing is easy
Registering on social media networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. is easy. But, it takes time and effort to maintain profiles and be active. You need to invest time and effort in

• Creating and updating content, videos, graphics, inform developments in industry/products/services, etc.

• Interacting with customers and providing solutions whenever there are queries from customers

Misconception #3: Social media delivers immediate results
Having a good profile in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and posting blogs regularly doesn’t mean you will get immediate results in the form of sales/leads. It may take few months before you see the results. For that, you have to be patient and interested in building relationship with customers by effective social media campaign. Over time, you will see the results.

Misconception #4: Social media is meant only for marketing
Another misconception in some small business owners on social media marketing is that it is meant only for marketing products/services. Though broadly the purpose is the same, it is more than just marketing. Social media also helps small businesses in following ways

• Acquire new customer and retain existing customers – Social media networking is one of the best methods to reach out large number of target audiences with less efforts and within less time. By posting informational content, you can attract and acquire new customers and by updating the developments in business and products/services, you can keep your existing customers informed. This helps in building relationship with customers.

• Finding hires and partners for your business – Small businesses can also find people to hire for their businesses on social media sites. For example, LinkedIn is ideal for B2B businesses to find candidates and business partners.

• Search engine ranking – It is believed that Google and Bing search engines consider social signals – shares, retweets, G+ posts, etc. while ranking websites. Businesses that are active on social media websites have chances of ranking on search engine result pages.

• Customer service – According to Social Media Today, 53% of small businesses are using social media marketing as a two-way communication tool to serve their customers. Social media enables one-to-one dialogue/conversation with the customers. This leads to building customer loyalty and trust with your service.

It is a good time to have the presence on social media and leverage the benefits it offers. We suggest you to hire professionals for monitoring and maintaining social media profiles as it is not that easy as it looks.