Link Between Online Social Media and Small Business Success

A study conducted by University of Maryland's Smith School of Business, concludes that nearly one in five small business owners are integrating social media into their business processes. Social media platform, includes blogs, social search, social networking, bookmarking, etc. Social networks, such as Facebook, Linkedln, and twitter are one of the most effective marketing platforms, relative to other social media. This can be attributed to the traffic on these sites. If Facebook, were a country, it would be the fourth largest in the world.
According to a study, Small Businesses are increasingly engaging in social media based marketing, due to the notion that this would help them on the lead generation front. But, here it has been noticed, that many companies fail to recognize these leads and overlook some. This, might result in the loss of potential clients or customers. Thus, it is important that companies regularly track and watch the leads, so as to take advantage of this valuable information.
The fact that, Microsoft Office Live Small Business (http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf)  sponsored the creation of an e-book, to educate small business owners about the need as well as the ways of utilizing social media, for the purpose of business optimization, establishes the significance of social media beyond doubt. The e-book, explains in great detail, the ways and means of integrating social media into small businesses and then further improving and expanding, social media use, with respect to small business owners. The e-book states that, participating fully in social media as a business and marketing strategy, requires discipline, automation routines, and a daily commitment. Another important aspect of online social media use, is that, an owner  may always be in touch with customers and vice-versa. This aspect of social media would appeal to the breed of entrepreneurs, who's minds are preoccupied by their businesses, irrespective of being at home or on vacation.

Sources:
http://www.ducttapemarketing.com/socialmediaforbusiness.pdf
http://mashable.com/2010/03/02/small-business-stats/
http://www.interactivemarketinginc.com/lead-generation.htm

Neuro Marketing: How to press the BUY Button

The verbal responses of consumers, to questions such as, "What is your preference?" or "What is the brand, product or service you like", don't always give the right answers. To obtain a more accurate picture of consumer inclinations and wants, some marketing research analysts have turned towards, 'neuromarketing'.

This new field in market research is described as, "Neuromarketing helps you understand and reach the parts of the brain that decide". The subconscious mind constitutes the parts of the brain that decide. According to neuro-scientists, " As much as 95% of our decisions are made by the subconscious mind". Therefore, this has prompted some of the world's prominent companies and businesses to apply technological breakthroughs in the field of 'neuro-science' to improve their products, services, etc, along with their marketing strategies. 

I hold the opinion, that neuromarketing, would  help industries attain or achieve better consumer satisfaction, thus an advantage for both consumers and companies.  Neuromarketing, would also benefit companies, as they need not rely on the consumer's ability to express their opinions, but instead extract information from their subconscious mind, which has been proven to make the final decision 95% of the time. Neuromarketing, might also have adverse effects on the consumers. Companies intend to use neuromarketing to trigger certain emotions in the consumer, which would in turn influence the consumer's decision to buy. For example, the human brain is higly influenced by smell, this is due to the fact that some of our primitive instincts have been retained, through evolution. The human brain is called a reptilian brain and brain activity is affected by  odour. So companies might try and sell substandard or unwanted goods, buy inducing the brain using trigger factors such as smell or odour, which might be perceived as pleasant or pleasing. There are many such trigger factors. Neuromarketing is all about understanding the consumer's innate perception of products, services, etc and then, using this knowledge to allure consumers to buy products, by appealing to their subconscious mind.

Sources:
http://neuromarketing.ning.com/ 

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470601779,descCd-buy.html