Using New Media to Meet Your Small Business Goals: Part 1

Most small businesses have several common goals first they would like to create brand awareness, next they want to generate leads, and if they have a website they want it to be more visible. New Media can help meet all of these goals. This article will examine new media channels that can help small businesses achieve these goals and more.

One of the greatest free ways to generate brand awareness and connect with clients is facebook. It allows you to create a personal profile and from that generate a company or business page where people can become fans. Through this facebook “Fan Page” your business can create events, send invitations, update information on products or services, and upload pictures, share videos, and more. This also allows you to create links back to pages within your website which can increase your site’s rankings with the major search engines. A word of caution here: do not make all your communication sales based. The power of new media is not direct sales instead it is building relationships. In order to be successful you must constantly consider what value your content brings your audience and how you can leverage that value into building relationships. Only then can it lead to increased brand awareness.

This is the first in a series of articles covering the topic of new media for the small business. For the complete article please visit www.workingcharlotte.com or pick up a copy of the May 2010 issue of Working Charlotte Magazine.

About the Author - With over 15 years in the Charlotte design community Joe Burroughs brings a range of skills to the table. He has a bachelor’s degree in Communication with a concentration in Advertising from Appalachian State University and a masters of Science in print media from the prestigious Rochester Institute of Technology. He currently chairs the graphic design department at King’s College and is a sought after lecturer on various design topics. Joe is on the cutting edge of new media in the Charlotte community helping retailers and businesses cope with social networking and search engine marketing among other issues. Joe recently accepted the position of New Media Specialist with CGR Creative an advertising agency located in the South End area of Charlotte.