1. Social Media Designed
For Small Businesses
S

2. Trend Section 1
S We have discovered websites that are designed to help small business
owners utilize other small business owner’s knowledge and skills to help
increase their success.
S Small companies do not have the work power and availability of resources
that large businesses do. In order for these small businesses to compete
they must collaborate there ideas and work together to help one another
develop through the use of these social media resources.
S A few of the most common social media sites designed for small
businesses and entrepreneurs include
Manta.com, Focus.com, Neudesic.com, Partnerup.com and many other
exhibits we will explain in depth in a few minutes.

3. Trend Section 1
(Continued)
S Hospitality groups that use these types are small golf
clubs, restaurants, yacht clubs, casinos, bed &
breakfasts, vacation homes, and resorts.
S These websites are extremely useful for small business
because many can not afford to pay for online website
fees. Websites like manta for example, is a great
alternative in maintaining the same benefits of a website
because they are free or have a cheap life time
registration fee with the same effect as a website.

4. Exhibit One
(Manta)
S Link – www.manta.com
S Manta is the world's largest online community for promoting and
connecting small business. With more than one million registered
users and 87 million company profiles.
S This site allows a business to promote & advertise, also allowing them
to connect with each other and help each other strive for success.

5. Exhibit Two
(Hoovers Inc.)
S Link – www.hoovers.com
S Hoovers is a site where they provide comprehensive insight and
analysis about the companies, industries and people that drive the
economy, along with the powerful tools to find and connect to the right
people to get business done.
S Hoover's maintains a database of 66 million companies and 85 million
people using an in-house editorial staff of industry experts.

6. Exhibit Three
(Thomas Net)
S Link – www.thomasnet.com
S This website allows small hospitality business to promote
their services.
S This site is truly amazing in the fact that on your page
you can advertise, promote deals, post monthly news
letters and post reviews of their services from others for
free.

7. Similar Sites
S Link – www.business.com
S Link- www.focus.com
S Link- www.neudesic.com
S Link- www.partnerup.com

8. Trend Section 2
How does this trend shape and impact our hospitality industry today?
- Our hospitality operations we have today is continuing to grow. Every business starts out
somewhere and majority of the time is small and takes time for them to grow. This trend of
promotional websites allow small hospitality industries to grow and prosper through
connections, promotions, new letters, blogs, reviews, and recommendations.
- These sites are crucial unlike limited social media sites such as Facebook and twitter. Sites
like (Manta and Thomas) are allowing each other to communicate through their pages and
chat logs. Which is beneficial because they can discus new hospitality trends and promote
new ideas. Most of all build off and promote each other rather than just promoting yourself
on Facebook or your own business website.
- In retrospect a lot of the information discussed on these sites relates to making social media a
more opportunistic way to interact with customers, and future customers.

9. Trend Section 3
Is this trend business worthy?
-The trend is business worthy in the following ways..
- Allows small hospitality businesses to advertise and
promote if they can not afford to pay for a website.
- Allows hospitality businesses to build off each other
rather then just themselves. This allows small businesses
to have an advantage that large companies already have
due to a their larger budgets.

10. Trend Section 3
How the trend itself will move forward?
- There are over ten sites which target small businesses that
we have discover through our trend research. To move
forward it would be huge if all these different sites came
together and created one site. This will create a larger
membership rate, less variance, and would create one
recognized small business social site, creating even greater
opportunities for hospitality businesses.

11. Trend Section 3
What will be needed to stay ahead of its competitors?
- As more and more of these types of sites are continuing to
be launched, different characteristics of website functions
and the tools available are being added to improve user
benefits. By improving these sites and creating new ones
this will allow small businesses to network and promote
affectively in more depth and affectively.

12. Bibliography (Sources)
S http://www.boston.com/business/specials/small_business_blog/
2012/09/small_businesse_flirt_with_social_media.html
S http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-small-biz-
survey-20120912,0,6925065.story
S http://www.ecnext.com/ecnext/Successes-MantaLeadGen.html
S http://www.nfib.com/business-resources/business-resources-
item?cmsid=55196 Ed Gonzalez, co-owner El Tequila
Northfield MN