Small Business 411: Free and Effective Ways to Increase Your Client Base

With the seemingly unending popularity of various forms of free social media marketing tools available I often hear the question: "Yes, it's free. But does it work?" As a business consultant and SCORE counselor I can tell you based both on personal experience as the owner of a small business and consumer sides of that equation the answer is, "It works, without question. Utilizing a combination of free social media marketing and in-person real-time marketing your small business can experience a substantial and steady growth in customer base." Done properly this will definitely put money in your pocket.

-- In addition to regular pages and fan pages Facebook now offers a product specifically for your business. If you haven't already, invest some time into familiarizing yourself with Facebook. If you're already using Facebook better still. Now you can utilize all of the personal contacts from Mafia Wars or Farmville to begin establishing a network to give your business a free presence on the internet. Tell your clients that your small business is now on Facebook and ask them to like and participate on your page. You now have a free, effective means of engaging your customer base both on a local, regional, national and international level. You can advertise special events, sales, promotions, and share information about your specific product or service. You can get your customers to sign up for your Facebook page by leaving a Facebook sign-up sheet in a conspicuous place. It is that easy.

-- Twitter is another social media marketing tool to keep your small business connected to your client base while establishing a strong internet presence. You can use Twitter in conjunction with Tinyurl (as Twitter Tweets are limited to 140 characters total) to share and promote articles about your small business. Link your Facebook page with your Twitter account so that the momentum of growth continues.

-- Promote the use of free internet review sites such as Yelp where your customers can provide reviews of your service or product. You can provide an inducement for your customers to participate by creating a free promotion, ie "If you share your experiences with us on Yelp you can come in for a free appetizer on your next visit." The best promotion for your small business is via word-of-mouth from your satisfied customers. Use every opportunity to ask them to share their experiences with your small business with their online community.

-- Blogging is another highly effective, free method to achieving the aforementioned goals. You don't have to be a particularly gifted writer. You just have to sit down and do the writing. It's that simple. And many of the social media marketing sites make it so easy to link and share information you place online that it is practically idiot-proof.

All of these social media marketing tools have evolved to the point where it is easy to link all of your free marketing efforts directly one to another if you so choose. As Google is now real-time, this creates an instant internet presence which lends credibility to your specific product brand/service thereby increasing your customer base organically. Best of all, it's free and effective marketing for your small business.

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