How Starting Entrepreneurs can use Social Media to their advantage

culled from:http://tipsforstartingentrepreneurs.com

Social media has become by far the most important use for the internet, most people spend hours on social sites everyday. Not surprisingly businesses have started to target these sites in an attempt to find customers. Used correctly this can be very effective and it is something that you should be taking advantage of.
The most important way that you can use social media is to use it as a branding tool. You can either do this to brand yourself or your company as a leader in the field that you are trying to enter. The best way to do this is to spend time on social sites interacting with people who have an interest in subjects that are related to your business. You would then offer advice and answer questions. The goal here is to make yourself out to look like an expert in the field, this will help encourage people to buy from you. If you look at Fisher Investments, for example, they are a great example of social media by investment companies that want to both focus on branding and educate their followers at the same time!
Another way that you can use social media to your advantage is to use it as a way to interact with your customers. If you are going to do this you have to keep in mind that it is a two way street. You will be able to tell people about your products but you will also be able to hear from your customers what they thought about your product. This can be very useful as market research and can help you to improve the product. The best way to do this is to set up a blog or a Facebook fan page where people can talk about your product.
Another use for social media for the new entrepreneur is that you can you use it to connect with other entrepreneurs. This can be a great way for you to get and give advice that can be helpful in running your business. It is also a great way to network, you never know when an entrepreneur that you met on a social site may need the service that your company offers. The more people you have a relationship with the more likely it is that this will happen.
Used correctly social media can be a great way to advertise your product, but you do have to be careful. The great thing about social media sites is that a lot of people visit them and those people tend to be divided by interest. That makes it great from an advertisers perspective. However you have to be careful because a lot of people on these sites are very sensitive about being advertised to. You need to make sure that you do it in a subtle way. This will take some time to learn but it is well worth it since once you know how it can be a great way to get customers.