SOCIAL NETWORKS: BIG OPPORTUNITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES

Let’s start for saying that social networks have revolutionized the way people communicate and share information with one another. Millions of people are using the social media to interact on a daily basis, and the audience will continue to grow….so should small business pay attention to this potential market to promote its products?

Social media is an excellent marketing opportunity that small businesses should use to enhance their competitive advantages by adding value to their business, improving their customer service and boosting their market awareness. Taking advantage of these powerful engines can allow companies to attract customers from different segments, competing at the same level with huge corporations for market share and brand recognition. Social media is a powerful market research tool that enables marketers to get the right information about the customer needs and wants in order to achieve customer satisfaction.

Even though the most important function of using social networks for business purpose is to interact with clients, companies are getting new customers through its use, according to a recent study that explore the role of social media in customer acquisition, indicates that almost one-half of small businesses are successfully connecting with prospects through social networks.

Zappos, the online retailer, is a great example of how a company can take advantage of this resource, the aggressive use of social media has been a key factor of its success, the amazing way in which it uses social media by talking to their customers and prioritizing customer service has turned this once small company into a billion dollar business.

However to succeed every company must applied its own strategy when using social media to promote its business. It is important to establish policies, rules and regulations in order to share the right information and handle specific situations to protect the company for brand damages. Moreover because the content cannot be fully controlled companies should be prepared to deal with negative feedback and its appropriate response. Finally every small business should adapt and personalize the use of these social interactions because the benefits definitely outweigh the risks.

MESSING WITH YOUR BRAIN

Have you ever bought something that you don’t really need it? Or have you ever been in a situation in which you convince yourself that it would be a waste of money to buy something and some days later you end up buying the same thing?...if the answer is yes, you have been driven by your subconscious, emotional part of your brain. The analysis of this behavior is studied for a new marketing trend called Neuromarketing, which examine the affective response to marketing stimuli in order to predict the consumer conduct while making a purchasing decision by analyzing pupil dilatation, heart rate, blood pressure, and body heat…

No, it is not a movie, even though it seems just like Minority report, where people walk and sensors detect their eyes in order to personalize marketing information adapted to the individual profile. It seems this time the subliminal marketing knows what goes inside of our minds, how our brain is influenced by different factors when taking decisions in the purchase of a product.

It is not a secret that human decisions and preferences have always been influenced in different ways, even since childhood, adults try to convince children to do specific tasks stimulating their brains in a way that they know will bring results. Companies are doing the same with their products, using modern analytical strategies to peer into the minds of their consumers in order to effectively market and sale. Companies are going beyond the normal marketing strategies, using colors, shapes, smells, and different strategies to touch the senses of their customers. Successful companies such as Apple are leading the use of Neuromarketing to attract the world attention, making products appealing to their customers’ eyes.

We cannot deny the importance in the incredible progress of science to get a better knowledge and understanding of our brain, it is clear that this type of market analysis will tend to keep growing, providing marketers with even more powerful tools to analyze the consumer behavior. Even though the advantages in this type of research, is easy to wonder if its use will also bring negative consequences, leading to a debate about the ethics to equilibrate the parts involved in order to avoid the manipulation in the consumer decision. We hope that the inversion of capital in this field will lead not just to increase companies’ revenues but also to maximize customer satisfaction and to develop strategies in order to influence people thinking in issues such us environmental awareness.