(That you’re completely missing out on)

It goes without saying that social media services such as Facebook and Twitter have become commonplace in our daily lives, with over 350 million active users on Facebook (65 million of whom access Facebook from a mobile device) and 18.1 million unique visitors on Twitter, it is easier than ever for business to connect with their clients. While we don’t know every method to make money by utilizing social media, here are five suggestions:

1.) Loyalty based deals

With location based social networking starting to take off in the form of services like Foursquare, MyTown, and Gowalla; the onus is starting to fall on business owners to take advantage of these services by rewarding users who check in regularly from their phone or mobile device by giving them discounts or other benefits. For example, a restaurant could reward a user of Foursquare who has become a “mayor” at their business by checking in regularly because he is a bar regular with one free meal on the house.

2.) Milestone rewards

For companies out there who have a social media presence on Twitter, Facebook, or any other social networking site; rewarding their entire customer audience with discounts and promotions upon reaching user milestones would motivate more customers to keep track of their business as part of their daily Facebook routine. For example, a clothing store could hold a promotion where once they reached 1,000 fans on Facebook they would have a promotional event where everything in the store is sold at a discount.

3.) Viral advertising

Twitter is viral advertising on crack, if companies are willing to tap into it. This can be seen in the case of Squarespace, who used viral advertising effectively during a thirty day campaign where they gave one free iPhone a day to any one single person on Twitter who retweeted the hashtag #squarespace. This resulted in #squarespace being one of top trending topics on Twitter for the majority of the campaign, and despite some controversy over how the campaign rewarded it’s winners, there is no doubt that it got Squarespace large amounts of publicity and exposure.

4.) Mobile deals

People carry their phone with them everywhere nowadays, so why not make it easier (and funner) for customers who buy their products by giving them points that can be kept on their phone for use at any location, or have an app that keeps customers aware of deals going on in their store. Mobile deals done properly would turn shopping into less of a chore for everybody.

5.) Be accessible

Companies are starting to interact directly with their customers with social media, which helps improve customer service as seen in the case of Verizon and Comcast. Companies could better involve their customers by holding polls and letting people vote on deals and price drops, which would benefit everybody as well as helping build a community and an emotional investment in the company.

Thought of a way to make money with social media that we missed? Let us know in the comments!

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