Virtual communities, they seem to be popping up like popcorn lately across the web.  While they are difficult to maintain and time consuming they do seem to have some benefits if one sticks with them long enough to reap the rewards.  These benefits include:

A growing audience. If you can get people involved they will tell their friends and your community as well as your customer base will grow.

A wider market. As a result of gaining this audience you automatically receive the ability to market virally through these new “followers”.  Word of mouth advertising after all is one of the best ways to advertise.

Keeping them around. The community aspect of your site will keep your visitors around longer than if you just have a blog and content.  They will get involved, interact, and stick around.

Sharing your knowledge. In a community, people often come there for advice, this is where you get the ability to share your knowledge and expertise and gain their trust, which will keep them coming back for more.

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Social media has proved to be a worthwhile tool for small business owners and entrepreneurs to use to promote themselves and their businesses.  If you’re a small business owner or entrepreneur who has learned the ropes of social media and has begun sharing via tweets and status updates then you may be ready to take your use of social media for business to the next level.  It all really depends on the “network” you’ve built.

The companies out there who have taken it to the next level, which means adding selling to the mix, mostly via adding an “e-commerce” store to their Facebook fan pages have earned some modest results.  Basically it has had to do with how loyal their following is.

Business owners who have tried this technique have also discovered that they must first advertise their fan pages so that the consumers even know that they exist in the first place.  There is also the hurdle of needing a shopping cart and an application that will work with Facebook.  This is an added expense to your monthly business bills.  Really each business owner must weigh the pros and cons of attempting to jump on this trend or not.

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