Small business owners get it. They need to bring social media into their organizations, but often they don’t know exactly why.

Think about it like this: social media takes old school face-time networking and puts it online. So now you can see all of the benefits of advertising and networking take place through social media. It’s not that social media has replaced more traditional methods. Instead, building relationships online has become a more effective method because you reach more people at one time and increase buzz more quickly.

The benefits of in-person networking will never go away. The relationships you build face-to-face will simply continue online and will become more powerful than you ever imagined. Social media is great for small businesses, because it is often more efficient than in-person networking, which means lower costs.

25 reasons why your small business needs to be using social media:

1. Your customers expect you to be there
2. People are already talking about you and your products on social media – whether you are there or not
3. To give your brand a voice
4. To strengthen your brand locally
5.  To share the “inside story” of your business and make your brand human and personable
6. To make your brand more approachable and friendly
7. To find new potential customers
8. To show off your company culture through photos and videos
9. To make your employees proud to work at a social company (and they will want to get involved in your social media efforts – we promise!)
10. To build relationships with new people locally and nationwide…even internationally
11. To build relationships with people in your industry
12. To find partnerships with other businesses
13. To know what’s going on in your community and participate
14. To improve help your customer reviews by engaging with people on social media
15. To know who has been to your location and reward them
16. To increase website traffic
17. To connect with other people at events you are attending
18. To connect with local and national media
19. To drive foot traffic to your events
20. To promote your blog posts
21. To become a thought leader locally or within your industry
22. To show off your expertise within your field
23. To show off the visual aspects of your products and services
24. To get feedback from your audience
25. To get your questions answered and recruit new employees

Now that you understand the benefits, you are probably wondering how you will implement social media into your organization. Should you hire an intern? Where do you start and how do you know that you will get results?

How to Claim your Name on Social Media Networks

Next week’s blog will help you answer these questions. In the meantime, head over to KnowEm to make sure you have claimed your business name on social media networks.

Most social media tools are free and easy-to-use, but if you’re not quite sure where to start, we recommend claiming at least these accounts:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Foursquare
• Flickr
• Tumblr
• Pinterest

If you have a WordPress website, also claim WordPress (this was not necessarily set up with your website) and Disqus.

Either pay for KnowEm’s $64.95 Essential Plan or get scrappy and go to each website to claim your account.

If you have questions about claiming your social media handles or if you would like a free copy of Scrappy Face’s white paper, The Value of Social Media, email us at scrappy@scrappyface.com.