Rick Whittington Consulting

Shrewd business owners know that to survive a downturn, you have to cut unnecessary costs,  advertise to gain visibility and get referrals. In tough economic times, referrals are more important than ever. That’s where social networking comes in.

No doubt about it, word-of-mouth is a powerful marketing tool.  Networking at the local retail merchants association, chamber of commerce or other networking organizations can produce revenue during downturns. Investing time in online networking can reach many more people than attending the face-to-face events. (Note: face-to-face has it’s place — but networking online can be done in your pajamas or at the office, a little at a time.)

MarketingCharts.com recently reported that social networking can help retailers (it can help business owners of any kind) weather the economic storm.

While participating in social media can be time-consuming (more like addicting), it’s free and can open up a whole new marketing channel.  Here are some ways to build credibility and engage people using social networking.

Build “social proof” and credibility by engaging.

The number of fans your business has on your Facebook fan page or the number of followers you have on Twitter says a lot about the credibility of your business.  If you have a loyal customer base that believes in your business, they’re likely to tell others.  People want to be where other people are, and if your business is popular, then you just might earn customers that way.

Build and promote a Facebook fan page for your business.

I’ve admittedly been late to the punch here, but we’ll soon be launching a Facebook fan page, and we’ll be promoting it here on the blog, in e-mail signatures and more.  Facebook fan pages have a feature that allows you to invite people to become a fan, so that’s an easy way to get people to join you.  If you’re in retail, you should let customers know you’re on Facebook and that they should join you there.

Once you are promoting the fan page, offer some value.  Perhaps offering a special sale to Facebook fans or special events for fans (and have them invite a few friends to come along) can be effective.  If you’re in the professional services industry, post new blog posts to the fan page and notify fans.  Use the fan page for e-mail collection and to show off your work or products you’re selling.

Use Twitter as a networking tool

While I can’t say we’ve ever gotten work directly from Twitter, we have gotten press mentions, interviews and speaking engagements that help promote the business.  Twitter is a great tool to converse with like-minded people.  As you make connections, they will promote you and what you have to say.

As an example, I was working for a client (a blogger) on an unrelated project and tweeted the client’s web site along with a helpful tip she had posted to her blog.  The post was re-tweeted by 5 other people, so the message was seen by over 3,000 people.  It’s the power of that viral network that increased my client’s blog traffic that day by over 10%.  She sells advertising on her blog, and more traffic means a higher advertising fee and more revenue.  Tapping into social networking by sharing useful information and linking back to her site will benefit her business’ bottom line.

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These are just a few ways to use social networking to survive the tough economy.  While traditional networking helps you make connections in the community, online social networking helps you attract  people from all over the world into your business network.  The benefits are limitless.