By Don Purdum (Owner/President, www.texstarweb.com)

Every day we are asked, how do you use Social Media to grow your business?

“Great question, I’m glad you asked,” is always my response.

Social media is forever changing the world and folks are hearing about it and the impact it has had on others. But few small business owners are actually reaping the benefits of it because they don’t understand it.

So, here are a few tips that I hope will clarify only a few ways you can use this free or very cheap media to meet a lot of prospects:

1. Foursquare is an interesting site where a business can encourage people to explore their neighborhoods and then reward people for doing so by offering specials, discounts, and prizes. They even have a mobile phone version of their site. Check it out at http://foursquare.com/businesses/.

2. Gowalla is another interesting site, similar to Foursquare, but it will actually hook in with Facebook. http://gowalla.com/

3. Find some blogs you are interested in where you think your prospects may be hanging out, and post some relevant content with a link back to your site. This strategy is both awesome and fantastic to connect with a lot of different people who may never have even thought to look for your company. You get to engage them, and best yet, the prospecting didn’t cost you a penny, just a little bit of your time.

Now, I’ve had people over the years say to me; “Don, I don’t have the time.”

Really, but you had time to sit there for three hours to browse the web, design a newspaper ad, a flyer, brochure, trade show literature, and lots of other stuff that may have no direct bearing on your company’s profitability whatsoever. And yet, you don’t have time to invest in doing something that may cost very little and in the long-term reap you great rewards.

As Brad Sugars may say, “Isn’t that interesting?”

4. Follow Facebook and Twitter – be sure to post frequently. Remember, RELEVANT content is king! By posting often, you stay in front of those followers who may be ready to purchase what you have to offer. If they don’t see you, they may see your competition and that is where they may spend their money.

Also, don’t forget to use these tools to promote specials exclusively offered on your Facebook or Twitter page. It will increase your followers, traffic to your site, and ultimately your bottom line.

For example, Southwest Airlines offers exclusive discounts to their Twitter followers. These discounts cannot be found anywhere else. Southwest simply says what the offer is, and provides a link to that offer only found through their Twitter page.

This can be easily done with both Facebook and Twitter.

Hope that helps?

One other brief thing, but it’s not minor, is the issue of your website. If you direct them to your site, it must be professional looking, clean, and user friendly. If not, the prospect may choose to move on. Just a thought.

If you have any ideas or thoughts on how you use social media to increase  your business, or have seen some cool ways others use it, please comment and let us know.

Visit out website at www.texstarweb.com

Don