The best social media starting point for a small business?

[MktgRob]

I saw this question posted in one of my linkedin groups and thought it could be an interesting one for this forum. What would you say is the best social media outlet as a starting point for a small business to launch their social media strategy from?

I would say that it depends on two factors, product and target market. If it is a small business with a product that is targeted at a national market of businesses, Linkedin would be a good place to start as they can seek out and join groups that have the very companies they are targeting as potential clients. If they are targeting consumers in a smaller, regional market then they might want to look at Facebook where you can set up fan pages and advertise to people who are within your target market.

Any other thoughts?

[InsightsDigital]

I totally agree with you. LinkedIN is the best first stop followed by creating a Facebook page. From a push/pull perspective, I also recommend setting budget for advertising on Facebook and PPC.

[BarbieAnnauthor]

Very insightful discussion. Thanks. I was wondering if Myspace is a viable means to advertise for a small biz. I know that you can't be blatant about ads, however, is it still effective to use Myspace for a small e commerce biz?

[jay 11]

Good stuff! I don't participate in LinkedIn much but the more I hear about its marketing potential, the more intriguing it sounds. I guess I just thought that it was a watered down/boring version of Facebook - only for suits. :) Though, I just did some poking around, and see that some of these LinkedIn groups have tens of thousands of members. Duh..

Needless to say - i think i'll give it a shot...

[InsightsDigital]

Many advertisers shy away from Myspace unless they are specifically targeting musicians and teens. Imagine Myspace as a party central. For small business, it is best to go to Facebook and Twitter and LinkedIn.

[toneyahuja]

Good strategy,not only to attract the visitors, but also to compel them for visiting sites. Site updation plays a crucial role in getting traffic and video blogging is an aid to this.

[webenthusiast]

There are a lot of social media sites now. But what works best for me now is Facebook. The number of people doing site marketing through Facebook continues to increase. Since Facebook is the most popular social networking site now, a lot are taking advantage of its popularity to market their business. Twitter is also good but I find Facebook more effective now.

[joelchrist]

Definitely LinkedIN and Facebook are the two major aspects to get exposure from social media at preliminary stage. Also we need to get twitter followers.

[abedin]

I am looking for email marketing services that have social networks integrated, any idea where to start?

[mackone]

I started with blogging as a way to try and rank well for some keywords related to my business. From there I expanded to niche forums, review sites, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

[great2010]

We have our own online shop,I am learning how to find more vitors to my shop.

[leahmarie]

In term of traffic, facebook can generate enormous of traffic for new sites, plus you can support it with other social networking sites that have some traffic also and good PR rating

[InsightsDigital]

I strongly advise you to think who is your business target group and use the social media that can best reach this group. If you are trying to reach teens for your business, then myspace would be a good option.

[Zivile]

According to mine opinion it depends either you want to market B2B or B2C services/products. For B2C marketing facebook and twitter could be the effective tool to start, but if we talk about B2B marketing LinkedIn is better choice

[mystryworld]

Facebook and LinkedIN both are good. You need to use them properly and make connection with the site owner who belong in the similar niches. Using propely can be worthwhile for your business. You need to provide useful and informative postings that can make the people interested on your business.

[jgand]

Well there are a lot of places a business can start, ideally advertising on TV would be the best, immediate exposure and recognition. Definitely would drive traffic towards your site. As mentioned before it depends on your target audience, joining groups are good, google has a few of these.

[vivifoster]

i think it's facebook. i can basically buy whatever there. from clothes, to gadgets, to 2nd items. you get to talk to your customers and if they don't pay you. you can also advertise them as bogus buyers with a lot of people knowing about it.

[netvani]

For me it depends on what you need. Facebook and Twitter can help you in your viral sharing methods. For more social business, Tumblr has good followers too. LinkedIn also help you in marketing your own site or brand.