Small business using Social Media

There is not doubt that social media had benefited the business sectors to a great extent especially in online marketing. I came across some articles featuring small businesses that are experiencing success by using social media as part of their marketing strategy. Here are two small companies and how they did it.

The James Store is a 63-year old women's and children's clothing boutique in the historic downtown of Granville, Ohio. The store set up its online store a couple of years ago and only started using Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to attract new customers locally and internationally. The store captured a wide range of loyal customers who became fans and the store gives out coupons that are only available on its Facebook fan page. Twitter is also used to send updates to customers and to alert them of sales, specials and store events. This was found to be more effective than sending emails. The store now enjoys popularity especially among women who are fond of distinctive brands like Vera Bradley, Vanilia, French Dressing and NYDJ.

Another small business, Wiggly Wigglers, a natural gardening company based in the rural part of England, used social media tools such as Facebook, blogs, and podcasts instead of traditional marketing tools. This saved the company 80 percent in advertising costs. Moreover, getting into social media gained the company hundreds of fans on Facebook and involved them in 170 different discussion topics. Wiggly Wigglers weekly podcasts from "Wiggly Sofa", covering the environment, gardening, farming, biodiversity have thousands of listeners from all around the world. This small gardening business use to serve 100 locals in the Lower Blakemere Farm in Herefordshire, but now serves 90,000 customers worldwide and delivers its products across Europe. In 2008, Wiggly Wigglers won the inaugural Global Dell Small Business Award.

Based on the experiences of the two small businesses, the James Store and Wiggly Wigglers, we could say that social media is indeed a powerful digital marketing tool. It's not just a fad anymore. How businesses, big or small, and social media will blend in the future would be interesting to find out.

By: Jenette Chiong