Canadian small business owners have faced a number of seemingly insurmountable challenges since the beginning of the global economic recession.
But as market conditions begin to improve, with small business confidence steadily improving according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, entrepreneurs and owners of small firms will need to focus on marketing in order to remain competitive.
Social media has recently become one of the most popular marketing tools for businesses of any size, as its costless platform provides users with access to millions of consumers. However, Facebook and Twitter users do not want to be viewed as consumers; that is not why they use social media. They want to engage.
"In other words, (social media users) want to make a connection," writes Gail Goodman in Entrepreneur magazine. "The challenge to grow a business goes beyond finding new prospects. It's about how to engage them. As marketers and business people, everything we do - online and offline - comes down to making these meaningful connections with our customers."
A recent survey by BtoB magazine found more than half of surveyed businesses plan to increase their marketing budgets this year, and of those firms, 78.5 percent plant to focus on online methods.
