Social Media and Small Business

What is the impact of social media on local businesses? Is itpositive, negative, neutral? Why?

I believe the impact of social media on local businesses has hadmostly positive effects. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. offeran alternative and new way for small business to advertise. Evenbetter, a lot of these platforms are free! Social media has helpedlocal businesses gain visibility but also offer a better way ofcommunicating with their customers. Social media also offers searchengines which can help gain visibility from potential customers.Many businesses also have ratings where their customers can leavereviews on the business, their products, and/or services. Thisrating system can also help draw in more potential customers. Whenpeople see a high rated business or product, they are more likelyto purchase. Businesses can also take advantage of this ratingsystem to respond to customer complaints, compliments, andquestions. They can also use this to evaluate the businessesopportunities and strengths. Although there are many advantages,there are also a few negatives of social media. The first negativethat comes to mind with social media is the accessibility to reacha large audience. And although this can also be a positive, manycustomers now-a-day are quick to go to social media to voice theircomplaints and anger over a product, brand or service. Thesecomplaints can quickly gain momentum due to the sharing, orre-posting, option many social media sites offer. And what couldhave been a complaint settled privately with the business, is nowpublic which can cause detrimental damage to the businessesreputation. Another disadvantage of social media is the amount ofcompetition present on social media. It is important for a businessto be one step ahead of the game to continually attract newcustomers, as well as keeping their rating high to compete againstother competing businesses.

Required: What are you think about this abovepost. Please write positive comments. Please write 100words.