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Social Media Use in a Small Business
Social Media Use Introduction Medical Claims Consulting is an independently owned consulting business located in Austin, TX. The focus of the company is to help individuals understand and resolve their medical claims and insurance billing issues. It is a single person business that was established in November of 2009. The services offered can be handled virtually, eliminating the need for face to face, in person consultations, therefore clients can be physically located anywhere, however thus far the majority reside in Texas. Currently, little marketing is done to obtain new clients. Networking, word of mouth referrals and an affiliation with a national association, Medical Billing Advocates of America, are the only marketing efforts used to date to grow the business. Other avenues, such as social media marketing have been considered however no concerted effort has been put forth. Business Question The owner would like to answer the following question: Should social media marketing be used in a small business? It is understood that the owner may need additional training and education on the social media avenues and there will be a time commitment necessary to effectively implement a social media strategy. The following are hypothesized: 1. Social media is an effective method for marketing a small business 2. Social media will enable a small business to reach a larger client market base 3. Using social media will increase revenue
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Social Media Use Social media defined
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Social media is an open outlet for two-way communication and interactive dialogue (Lee, 2010). Social media stimulates live and immediate discussion (Bushey, 2010) on a plethora of topics and can be considered word-of-mouth advertising of the 21st century. Social media is an influential marketing and communication tool and its impact can be far reaching, at minimal to no cost and have powerful implications (Strauss,
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