Mediaboss Marketing

BLYTHEVILLE, Ark. (AP) - Being a small business owner is no easy feat, and in a town with a population the size of Blythevilles it can be even more challenging to sustain a business and see steady growth.

A recent growth in social media marketing is changing the small business climate, however, giving owners new ways to connect with their customer base, the Blytheville Courier News reported (http://bit.ly/1sQZgOd ).

Social media marketing has become a major tool in the belts of both large and small businesses in the last decade, thanks in large part to Facebook, which launched in February of 2004. Since then, the social media giant has been joined by a number of other social media outlets including Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and others.

This growth spurt in social networking has not only allowed people from every corner of the world to connect with one another, but it also serves as a solid platform for business owners to increase their businesss visibility, connect with consumers firsthand and control their own content.

In Blytheville, three locally owned shops are taking full advantage of what social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have to offer them as business owners and are now reaping the rewards.

Me & My Sister/Merle Norman, owned and operated by sisters Lori Hixson and Leslie Wells, have been using Facebook to promote their shop since opening the doors four years ago. What started as an easy way to show people what was happening with the store has grown and is now responsible for roughly 50 percent of the shops business, according to the two sisters, who say they use the account to post a variety on new inventory thats coming in as well as specials from time to time.

During these four years, Hixson and Wells have developed an almost formulaic approach to successfully utilizing social media to promote their business. Me & My Sister is active on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and Wells said the three most important things theyve learned to look at when using social media sites is timing, visibility and consistency.

You can tell, you know, that if you post something for our group at certain times of the day it may get 100 views, but if you post another time, when more people are on Facebook, we may get thousands of views, Hixson said.

I posted a new t-shirt line that were carrying, and I told Lori I need to get these posted so as soon as schools out, you know, people will see, Wells said. And we probably sold 5 or 10 that day. We even had one girl who was like I saw these on Instagram and we were just like holy cow, did the school bell ring and the first thing she did was jump on Instagram? But thats what they do now.

You have to know your customers, know your demographic, Hixson added. Younger groups lean more toward Instagram, because its so instant - right there. Then we have other customers who want to see everything through Facebook.

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Businesses get social to connect with customers