Seasonal? Use Social Media To Be All Year-Round- Click here http://bit.ly/jtfR9i for full article

Seasonal? Use Social Media To Be All Year-Round- Click here http://bit.ly/jtfR9i for full article

Even if you run a company that's focused specifically on a particular season, you can still use Social Media to drum up business throughout the year. That's the lesson that many small businesses and entrepreneurs are learning as sites like Twitter and Facebook evolve into mature, established web platforms. One of the best things about the Internet in general and E-commerce in particular is that they make physical locations and time frames irrelevant as far as business is concerned. Using Social Media, businesses at every level can strengthen relationships during their off-seasons and even create new customers with minimal effort.

One of the greatest challenges for largely seasonal businesses is maintaining awareness of their products and services with current and potential customers. Facebook is terrific way to remedy that problem. By setting up a free group page that followers can "like" and join, small businesses can establish an online presence that will keep them ranking highly in search results pages. When the high-revenue portion of the year rolls around, businesses that invest in a healthy online presence will have an advantage over those that don't by showing up towards the top of web search results. Using Twitter and Facebook to create an ongoing relationship or dialog with customers throughout the year is arguably the cheapest way to do that.

There are a number of different ways that Social Media can be used to enhance the visibility of a business online. Facebook can be used as an online billboard to maintain awareness of your offerings, but it can also be used quite effectively to draw in new business. One popular method is to hold free giveaways or raffles. Visitors to a Facebook page merely have to follow your page in order to be entered, and a winner selected at random gets a prize. Even if only a fraction of the new followers are converted into customers, it's worth it in the long run.

While Social Media is still in its infancy and is sure to undergo radical changes in the coming years, small business owners have already reaped serious dividends by putting time and effort into cultivating an online following. As far as ROI is concerned, it's one of the most prudent investments you can make. So even if your business is largely seasonal and experiences protracted periods of downtime, you can use Social Media to improve your bottom line throughout the year. For the price of a little effort during your off-season, you can make sure that business during your on-season is a lot more lucrative and profitable.