With so many customers using social media, many consumers are turning to reader comments when deciding on a product or service.

According to a recent Boston Globe report, there are ways small businesses can turn these comments into customer testimonials to help boost sales. Companies are encouraged to offer a form that consumers can fill out to leave positive or negative feedback and sending email campaigns asking for reactions.

“Because it’s not promotional, customers will appreciate being asked to weigh in,” said the Boston Globe‘s Jason Keith. “Social media followers on Facebook or Twitter can also be ideal places to pull from, if those properties are something your business engages in.”

Keith also suggests that small businesses seek customer approval regarding their comments and use longer quotes for their testimonials. To maximize the power of customer feedback, companies can also create a tab or dedicated page of testimonials that offers consumers the chance to view the information.

Although negative feedback received through social media websites may be viewed as hurting a small business’ reputation, companies are still encouraged to respond through this medium to help solve the issues, according to Forbes contributing writer Pamela Springer.

Cbeyond SMB Tip: With so many people using email on a daily basis, the opportunity for small businesses to target these consumers can be advantageous if the message is delivered properly.

Copywriter Robert Bly recently hosted a roundtable for StepByStepMarketing.com and offered certain tips for small businesses using an email marketing campaign. Bly said that for a strategy to be successful, the message must be useful, urgent, unique and ultra-specific.

According to StepByStep’s Diana Pohly, Bly said that companies offering a free whitepaper are better served to offer the service on a limited basis to increase the urgency. Bly also said the headline of the email should contain keywords that reveal what the whitepaper offers.

Bly added that businesses are encouraged to include words that make the subject material useful to the reader.

Bly told the roundtable that “the headline would pull a far bigger response if it were changed to something creative, like ‘Bring Your Competitors to Their Knees: Free White Paper’ or, ‘Traveling Well Is the Best Revenge: Free White paper,’” wrote Pohly. Cbeyond recently released a mobile productivity whitepaper entitled “Smartphones: So Much More than Angry Birds,” which can be downloaded here.

Although many small businesses are adopting a social media campaign, regional development director for Constant Contact Lanelle Henderson said email is still a prevalent platform to reach consumers because most have an email account, according to a recent MySouthWestGA.com report.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips

Cbeyond SMB Tip: As the use of social media among small businesses continues to grow as a viable marketing option, companies may be overlooking social media policies that can foster greater success.

According to a recent Small Business Trends report, creating a social media policy is ideal for small businesses because it helps employees interact with customers and convey their marketing messages in a precise manner. Additionally, Cbeyond recommends using social media tools because of their low (or nonexistent) cost and their wide public use, which can build brand awareness while allowing for public interaction with customers and prospects alike.

The policy should address social media websites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and corporate blogs, according to SMB Trends’ Ivan Walsh.

“Remember, you don’t have to create individual policies for each social media site,” said Walsh. “Instead you can create a master policy document and develop short chapters for each specific site. This makes it easier to manage the document and keep changes under control.”

Although establishing a social media presence can be an effective marketing strategy for small businesses, companies should take their time before implementing their campaign. According to a Forbes report, not having a proper strategy in place prior to utilizing social media marketing can lead to wasted time and resources.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips

Cbeyond SMB Tip: Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have opened up new doors for small businesses to market their customers.

According to a recent Miami Herald report, there are several useful and free social media marketing tools that can help small businesses grow their online presence.

To find out how customers feel about their brand, Polly.IM monitors their responses and suggests which messages small businesses can send back, while Timely.is helps companies determine when people are most active on social media websites and writes Tweets in advance to reflect this development, writes the Herald‘s Tasha Cunningham.

“For the busy small business owner, this free tool is a must-have,” said Cunningham. “Roost allows you to create a single post and send it to your Facebook and Twitter pages at once.”

Cunningham added that another useful and free tool is CrowdBooster, which analyzes small businesses’ social media campaigns and determines how successful they are.

Although some small businesses may be hesitant to adopt a social media marketing campaign, ZDNet‘s Heather Clancy encourages companies to establish an online presence because 25 percent of all customers are active on the platform. Additionally, Cbeyond recommends that small businesses boost their social media presence because of the opportunities it provides for building brand awareness and for public interactions with customers and prospects alike.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips

Cbeyond SMB Tip: Word of mouth has served many small businesses well in the past, but technology and access to social media now makes it possible for small businesses to market at an even greater level.

According to a recent Pasadena Star News report, small businesses should not be so fast to dismiss the marketing possibilities of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

“If you have a thousand fans, what is the cost to reach them?” said the news provider’s Chris Vigil. “The power to engage with your customer and build tight relationships is what a growing business needs. What better place to do it than online, on a site that we know they are all on?”

Vigil added that Facebook offers small businesses with a simplistic approach that allows them to track communication easily through its Insight platform. This can be used by companies to study trends and how consumers view content.

While social media is a great opportunity for small businesses to expand their marketing tactics, companies are encouraged to first identify what specific services and products they plan to promote. Once this is determined, they should adopt a strategy and establish a presence on Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube, according to a Forbes report.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips

The proliferation of smartphones and have tablets have made it possible for companies to connect with customers through mobile applications.

According to a recent Informationweek report, mobile applications present small businesses with an opportunity to effectively connect with current and prospective customers. Appsbar founder Scott Hirsch told the news provider that unless a company is in the mobile development industry, they should offer their applications for free.

While mobile applications can be useful marketing tools, Hirsch encourages small businesses to focus on customer service, customer relationship management and market research as well. Companies must also devise ways to get the word out that their applications are available for download, according to Informationweek.

“Apps are cool, apps are new, apps are fun,” Hirsch told Informationweek. “At this point, it’s a very easy transition to get people to use your app – it’s just a matter of letting them know it’s available.”

Small businesses are also encouraged to make sure their applications are creative and offer social media integration for greater outreach.

According to the Consumer Electronics Association, tablet shipments are projected to increase by 157 percent in 2011, while smartphone sales will grow by 45 percent this year.

Facebook and Twitter, the two most popular social media sites in the world, have become useful marketing tools for companies, including small businesses.

Although these sites are helpful, some companies may find it difficult to constantly manage their activity through Facebook or Twitter. According to a recent Crain’s New York Business report, Roost is a company that allows any business to schedule when their social media information is published.

In fact, Roost also makes suggestions to which content businesses should produce regarding their industry or interest, according to Crain’s.

Freelance photographer Jackie Neale Chadwick has experienced a 10 percent increase in website activity by using Roost.

Roost CEO Alex Chang told Crain’s that some businesses have reported an increase in annual revenue of between $10,000 and $20,000 by using its services.

Small businesses not using social media for their marketing needs may be missing out on a burgeoning consumer market. According to a recent study of small business by Pagemodo, 47 percent said having a Facebook presence is helping to increase their website traffic and 48 percent said their sales are increasing.

Since many consumers nowadays are using mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones for their shopping needs, some companies may not manage their ecommerce websites to their fullest potential.

According to a recent ZippyCart report, there are several ways companies, even small businesses, can improve their mobile ecommerce websites to reach more consumers. Many mobile devices still have screens that are less than 4 inches wide, so designing a mobile site that is not cluttered can be more effective.

ZippyCart contributing writer Brian Doll encourages companies to trim their mobile content and make sure it is void of dense material so their data speed is not hindered.

“Developers should always optimize their checkout process to be as short as possible in order to facilitate a transaction once the decision to make a purchase has been made,” said Doll.

Also, companies should not dismiss the importance of web browsers when constructing their mobile ecommerce website for optimal performance, added Doll.

If managed effectively, ecommerce can help small businesses grow because traditional brick-and-mortar stores require greater costs and time to develop, according to a Noobpreneur.com report.

Cbeyond SMB Tip: Blogs have become an integral online marketing strategy for small businesses, but successfully managing this outreach can be a daunting task, especially for time-strapped companies.

According to a recent Small Business Trends report, there are several ways companies can expand their blog community to reach more consumers. Since some readers may not be as tech-savvy as others, small businesses should let people know how to interact by leaving comments.

Another way to grow a blog is to promote members and other businesses to develop a positive community. Small businesses operating in a specific industry are encouraged to visit other blogs to seek out active readers and introduce themselves, according to Small Business Trends’ Lisa Barone.

Other ways small businesses can grow their blogs is to offer promotions for reader participation, design posts that require community responses and reprimand members that abuse the communication lines, added Barone.

Since keywords are a crucial part of any online marketing campaign, blogs can also help in this respect.

Small businesses should include their phrases on their website, blogs and all content pages to expand their business, according to a recent Business Insider report.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips

Cbeyond SMB Tip: Although small businesses may want to use the services of a local celebrity to help increase their brand awareness and sales, it may not be the best option in the long run.

According to a recent Resources for Entrepreneurs report, any public conflict with a celebrity or spokesperson may have a negative effect on the small business’ service and products.

“If small businesses focus on low-profile investors and more affordable marketing tools, they can avoid a public embarrassment that could ultimately hurt the company,” the report said.

With many small businesses looking for ways to draw attention to their products and services, simple marketing techniques can make all the difference.

For companies dealing with tight budgets, guerrilla marketing offers simple ways to target consumers without the expensive bottom-line. According to a recent Investopedia report, placing post-it notes around town with their company message or wearing t-shirts with their company logo and information are simple, yet effective ways to increase brand awareness and stick out from the competition.

-Cbeyond Small Business Tips