The Internet and social media are causing a revolution around the world. They are allowing people to connect and exchange ideas at an accelerated rate. This same revolution is happening for independent businesses. For many small businesses and start-ups, using traditional media networks-newspaper, radio television-have been cost prohibitive and out of reach.
 New Media– websites, email newsletters, social media– empowers small businesses by giving them inexpensive, instant, and direct access to their customer base, allowing them to create their own independent media network. No longer are they dependent on the traditional media as the sole source.
Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook uncovered a simple yet powerful concept–that each person has a network of relationships, and that by connecting them, you increase communication exponentially. It starts with your closest friends and grows outward. The potential size of the network is unlimited. Building a business network works in the same way- by connecting all of your business relationships. Each business exists for a unique purpose for a unique group of people who have shared interests. The communication that naturally occurs between the two is what building a network seeks to capture–whether you’re a local retailer, mechanic, restaurant owner, artist, or members of an organization.
How to Build Your Media Network
In addition to a Facebook business fan page, a network is made up of your website and email newsletter program. Each part works together to be able to open up an ongoing line of communication between business and customer.
Web Site
Unfortunately, many small businesses are barely using the Web to its potential, and few use their sites to interact with their customers. Quite often, their sites are lifeless and static. When you visit the site once, you have no need to return. A dynamic site, in turn, brings interactivity and life to your site.
The website is the home base where you can expound in detail about your business. Showcase your products or services, your background, an event calendar, photo galleries, and more. Include a news section that can be updated regularly. Fresh and relevant content increases the odds for your site to rank higher in a Google search.
A website, however, means little if no one is visiting it. It’s equivalent to building your store out in the woods. It may be great, but if no one knows it’s there, remodeling won’t help. You have to build roads and drive traffic to it. This is where the other parts of the network- email newsletter and social media-come into play.
Email Newsletter
A monthly email newsletter is a great way to stay in touch with your customers. Make sure your newsletter appearance is consistent with your website. Customers choose to receive your newsletter by signing up for it on your site so it’s not viewed as spam. Keep in mind that your network is made up of individuals with a shared interest who want to receive your messages. The newsletter gives a sampling of the latest news on your site, such as recently completed projects, advice, industry-related info, even fun stuff about the staff that all links back to your site for additional info. There are also links for you to join Facebook and Twitter.
There are email newsletter services such as Constant Contact and Mail Chimp, to name a few, that help you organize your email lists, create templates, and track who opens it.
Social Media | Facebook & Twitter
There are so many people on Facebook that if it were a country, it would be the third largest in the world, ranked above the United States by population. The average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on the social networking site. Can you really afford to overlook this growing and engaged audience? Engaged is really the operative word here. Unlike traditional media that is a one-way conversation, Facebook and Twitter allow the dialog to happen in both directions as well as customer to customer. That’s both good and not so good news. Positive feedback lets you know you’re on the right track; negative, though not pleasant, is valuable info. for you to use to improve your business.
Any new additions to your your website can be posted and redirected back to your site. Facebook allows you to share photos and video and offers a variety of applications. Twitter is for instantaneous messaging that can also be directed to your phone. There are 370,000 new sign-ups for Twitter accounts each day. A restaurant might consider Twittering its daily specials everyday at 11 am. Assuming that you are cooking something good.a well-placed tweet should inspire orders.
Content
Once you have the attention of your audience, you need to say something of value. For some business owners, creating content seems to be the biggest mental stumbling block to becoming the mogul of your own communications network. It’s really not as hard as you think. What do you say to the people who come to your physical store or organization? Typically, you would talk about a new product, a recent success with a customer, an upcoming event, a special offer or promotion, or you would explain a frequently asked question. Just “say” the same thing online and consistently across your communications network-on the web site, in the newsletter, and in abbreviated posts on your social networking site. It may help to realize that the folks you are communicating with online are the ones who were talking to you face-to-face in the store last week.
Members
The size of the network is the sum of the website visitors, email recipients, fans, and followers. Don’t get too overly concerned with the number of members–more is better, of course. But work toward a quality network-one in which members tend to be passionate about the shared interest so your content and interaction are appreciated and welcomed.
Join the Revolution
This new era of new media is exciting one. When you remove the barriers between entrepreneurs and the customers that would support them, you create an environment that allows for new products and services that can bring a rich diversity to boost the economy.
New media offers great new tools to help empower those who have always been fighting on the economic front-the independent businesess.
Jim O’Connell is the Creative Director for IndependentNEPA magazine, with more than 20 years of experience helping small and large businesses be seen and heard in the marketplace. He is the owner of Resource Media, a customer-centric internet marketing company in Kingston.
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