Social Media Gives Your Local Business the Advantage

Is your local small business trying to compete with the national big brands? It can seem daunting given their immensely larger marketing budget, but your small business can gain an advantage over the national brand by using social media.

If you read any of my writings on social media, you will find a common theme: social media is about conversation. This is where the national brands lack because of logistic impossibilities, especially on Facebook and Twitter. Sure, they have millions of fans on Facebook and hundreds of thousands of followers on Twitter, but they can't realistically converse with local audiences. This is where your small business can gain an advantage.

Your small business can use Facebook and Twitter to develop relationships with customers that will likely become loyal brand evangelists for you. This is especially true given the fact that many people are beginning to use Facebook and Twitter to organize local meetups.

If you're like most small businesses that cater to locals, your business relies heavily on foot traffic coming through the door. With the increased usage of smartphones and location-based social networking, you have no excuse to not claim your business listing on Foursquare. This is the network where local small businesses have a clear-cut advantage over the national brands.

Your business can offer incentives for local customers to keep coming back and build loyalty. The national brands can't effectively manage such a marketing campaign. Plus, when people just happen to be in the area and looking for your type of business, Foursquare users will often look at their Foursquare application to decide where to go. They might even look at the Tips for your business to see what others are saying.

So if you haven't started using social media for your small business, get out there and DO IT NOW! Small businesses need all the advantages they can get. Take this one.