Business leaders and entrepreneurs who are fighting to stay competitive in a tough economy can take advantage of the advertising possibilities offered by social networking sites. Such sites offer amazing marketing potential, especially for businesses that don’t have the budget to undertake expensive print and TV advertising campaigns. Most businesses can benefit from working with social media services to reach out to potential customers.

Summer is the perfect time to begin a new marketing campaign. Many individuals are looking for new venues to visit and new locations to explore. More than 50 percent of consumers begin the hunt for new adventures via the Internet. Using social networking sites for advertising is a great way to reach out to such consumers and promote brand awareness.
Social networking sites also offer businesses a great platform to communicate about special deals and events. Twitter and Facebook are the biggest, most powerful social networking sites around. Both sites offer great advertising potential. It’s important that businesses carefully target their marketing efforts to the strengths of both platforms.

Twitter is a social networking site designed to facilitate quick interactions and exchanges of information. Both individuals and businesses use the site to send short, witty messages to their followers. Business leaders who want to make use of this platform can do so by sending out small bits of information about products, services and events to followers. These messages, or tweets, appear instantly in the feed of individuals that follow a certain business.

The 140 character limit imposed by Twitter makes it an ideal platform to send quick announcements. Businesses can use Twitter to inform consumers about new products but should keep in mind that it is generally not an ideal platform on which to post information that consumers will want to revisit. It can be time-consuming to pull up past tweets, so it’s best to use Twitter to send out blurbs. The platform is also ideal for sending out information about last-minute schedule and venue changes for events.

Facebook is a great platform for building brand awareness and enhancing interactions with customers. Businesses can use Facebook to create longer, more in-depth posts than can be created on Twitter. This is the ideal platform for posting information that consumers can visit time and time again. Business leaders can make the most of Facebook by ensuring that their profiles include location and contact information, along with the business’s hours of operation.

Facebook is also the ideal platform for business leaders and entrepreneurs who want to interact with their customers. Customers can respond to status updates and post on a business’s Facebook wall. Business leaders can easily respond to customers via public or private messages. Such interactions are a great way to build brand loyalty. They also provide business leaders with a quick way to gauge how their brand is perceived by consumers.

Both Facebook and Twitter can be used to share coupons and flyers with customers. Twitter allows users to create shortened links to promotional materials hosted on other websites. Facebook allows users to post flyers and coupons directly. Many businesses have seen success with offering special deals to individuals who mention a coupon code from a social networking site when making a purchase. Business leaders who are interested in using social networking sites in advertising campaigns can benefit from the experience and know-how of social media services.

Matt Papa is a part of an elite team of writers who have contributed to hundreds of blogs and news sites. Follow him @MattPapa77.