In today’s information age, too many small businesses are missing out on a golden opportunity to reach out to both present and potential customers.

Simply put, they’re avoiding using social media to attract and engage consumers, therefore dropping the ball when they could be scoring a touchdown.

For those small businesses not exercising their possibilities in social media, they stand the potential of falling behind their competitors and missing out on increased revenue and more.

Social Media No Longer a Fad

When social media first came into play, many people probably looked at it as a fad that would eventually go the way of Beanie Babies, New Coke and other such products that came in with much fanfare. For those who predicted such a forecast, they’ve been proven wrong.

With some 750 million users on Facebook, along with a reported 200 million using Twitter, it is obvious that many individuals use these and other such sites for more than just a fad.

Many consumers turn to social networking sites for not only entertainment and news, but to shop for products, research those products, making buying decisions and much more. As a small business owner, you are foolish to miss out on engaging with consumers who are potential customers.

Connecting Social Media and Customer Relationship Management

If you’re familiar or not familiar with the term social CRM, it is the interaction of social media and customer relationship management. What does social CRM offer the small business owner? Among other things are:

• Building both trust and brand loyalty with individuals;
• Obtaining customer information and keeping it in an orderly manner;
• Distributing valuable information for your customer base;
• Savings expenses on pricey advertising campaigns;
• Engaging with customers today and not tomorrow with quick online responses to both questions and concerns.

Additionally, having a strong and effective social media presence for your small business gives you the opportunity to reach out to potential customers who are online looking for goods and services.

In order to go about this, your small business should use the online medium to:

• Blog about company products and services;
• Retweet and share important information that will serve both present and potential customers;
• Use polls and surveys to see what customers most need and how you can provide for them.

Social media is not going anywhere anytime soon.

For small businesses that have passed on using social media to date, there are many more reasons as to why to use it than not. If you’re not using social media in your small business employ it sooner rather than later.

About The Guest Author:   Dave Thomas, who covers among other subjects credit card processing writes extensively for Business.com an online resource destination for businesses of all sizes to research, find, and compare the products and services they need to run their businesses.