Important Social Media Networking Tips For Retail Businesses

Retail store owners can benefit from the use of social media networking in a number of different ways. If you aren't actively engaging users through social media on a regular basis, you're missing out on a simple yet highly effective way to attract more customers while drawing more exposure to your brand. Whether your store sells apparel, sporting goods, groceries, home furnishings, collectibles, convenience items or practically any other 'retail' product, you should take advantage of the social media's massive reach.

To put the power of social media networking into perspective, an article published on Nielsen.com states that Facebook users alone share over 2.5 billion pieces of content each day. And Facebook is really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the various social media networking sites on the net. Once you begin to create accounts on other social sites, you'll boost your exposure even more.

Choosing The Right Social Media Sites

Facebook is by far the most powerful social media networking site available; therefore, you should begin with it. Users can create a 'business page' while logged into their personal account. The process is pretty straight forward and should only take a couple of minutes to complete. Facebook will ask you some basic questions about your business/company/brand. Do your best to enter in the correct information, but don't worry if you are unable to accurately answer some of the questions, as you can always go back later to fill it in.

Of course, Facebook isn't the only social media networking site that's beneficial for retail stores. Here's a short list of our picks for the 'top' social sites:

• Facebook
• Google+
• Twitter
• LinkedIn

Include Contact Information

I can't stress enough the importance of adding your retail store's contact information to your various social media accounts. Some customers may try to find your store's phone number or physical address by scanning your social accounts, and if it's not there, they may take their business elsewhere. It only takes a minute or two to add your store's contact information, but doing so could yield more customers and ultimately more sales.

Update Frequently

If there's one thing that ALL successful business social media accounts have in common, it's the simple fact that they are updated frequently. You can't expect your accounts to generate 'buzz' or 'likes' unless you're adding new content to it on a regular basis. Try to get into the habit of updating your accounts at least once every other day. The more you post on your accounts, the better your chance at attracting new friends and followers.